Trickery Through Time

by Silvermyr

Rating: teen
Tags: Suri Polomare, Trixie, Adventure, Flim and Flam, Derpy Hooves, Power Ponies, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Thriller, Drama
Length: 74644

Three months after The Canterlot Caper, Flim, Flam, Trixie, Suri Polomare, Filthy Rich, Ditzy Doo and Topsy Twitchy are ready to make a move on Twilight. The plan? Steal the legendary Idol of Boreas.

After the (relative) success of The Canterlot Caper, the professional crime group known as The Circus has regrouped to Ponyville and are now pondering their next step. They need somepony to cover their tracks. Somepony who can stop investigation, bribe officials, or bury evidence while still remaining above suspect.

Somepony like… Twilight Sparkle.

After all, everypony has a price. Now Flim, Flam, Trixie, Suri Polomare, Filthy Rich, Ditzy Doo and Topsy Twitchy just have to figure out hers and steal it.

How about the Idol of Boreas, for example?

Sure, it’s lost in time and space, but with the help a certain friend of Ditzy’s and an energy source from another world, such minor inconveniences can surely be taken care of…

This story is a sequel to The Canterlot Caper, which is recommended (if not necessary) to read first. There will be some references to it here but only details.

Proofread by Rosebug

Published 2016-09-27 15:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2016-09-27 15:50:01 UTC

Preparative Perplexity

”Of all mad, foolish, stupid plans you have ever come up with, this is bound to be the worst,” Suri stated with a deadpan voice. ”And that’s saying a lot at this point, m’kay.” Everypony looked at Flam, who looked back with a somewhat sheepish expression. Even his brother had a hesitant look in his eyes.

”Now now, look,” Flam began. ”I’m fully aware that my plan may seem a little…”

”Impossible?” Trixie suggested dryly.

”Strange,” Flam corrected sharply. ”But I think it can work. Somehow we can make it work, just give me some time.”

Filthy Rich spoke up. ”I… wonder that,” Filthy seemed to hesitate for a moment while glancing at Flam. ”I mean… The Idol of Boreas… it’s more or less sacred, isn’t it? If nopony has found it yet, there must be reason for that. The griffons must have searched high and low for it ever since it got lost.”

”But what if we could go back in time and steal it before it becomes lost?” Ditzy proposed with her trademark aura of happiness. She was met with blank stairs from five other ponies. ”Well… the doctor says he can send ponies back in time, so maybe we can do that too.”

”Or maybe not,” Suri said tiredly. ”let’s try to keep this somewhat realistic, m’kay? No asinine plans- and no time travel.” She added the last part after seeing Ditzy trying to speak again. The cloud gray pegasus closed her mouth and looked down at the mahogany table, deep in thought.

”Fine, fine,” Flam held up his hooves in resignation. His voice suggested that he was not at all ”fine” with seeing his plan rejected so quickly. ”We are not going after the idol then. Does anypony else have any suggestion as to how we woo Princess Twilight? I don’t.”

”Not to speak of the rest of her friends,” Flim pointed out. ”Their gang is almost as tight as we are. If we want her to accept our… line of work, then we will need her friends to do so too.”

”So we need to convince Rarity as well?” Suri asked with an ominous voice. ”We can’t just… not do that, then?”

”Don’t think you are the only one who has history with Twilight’s friends,” Flam said calmly, but with a hard glint in his eyes. ”You swore to leave any grudges behind when you joined us, and I accept no less.”

”I know, I know, m’kay,” Suri said dismissively. ”But I don’t have to like it.”

”Certainly not,” Flam said with a calm, if cold, voice. ”I most certainly will never like running errands for Applejack…” Flim looked like he had just swallowed a flagon of vinegar when he heard his brother.

Trixie got in involuntary picture of her dressed in a maid outfit, preparing breakfast for Twilight Sparkle. ”Trixie did not need that image,” she exclaimed with a somewhat terrified look. She swallowed a few times. ”I guess it’s to much to ask for that somepony has come up with an idea thanks to these… depressing prospects, is it?”

”Dragon treasure!” Ditzy exclaimed with a hopeful voice. She beamed at everypony around her. ”We steal a dragon treasure, and then Twilight can give it back to the dragons. Then the dragons are our friends, and Twilight loves making new friends!” Ditzy grinned proudly. It was the perfect plan.

”Look, Ditzy,” Trixie said with an explanatory and somewhat slow voice. ”We need to find something that Twilight can use to aid aaaaall,” Trixie made a sweeping motion with her forehooves ”of Equestria. Trixie agrees that an alliance with the dragons would do that, but she somehow doubt that the dragons will like Twilight when she gives back their stolen treasures. Trixie finds it is more likely they will roast her.” The tone suggested that Trixie would not lose sleep if Twilight was indeed roasted.

”Ooh,” Ditzy thought for a moment. ”I… didn’t think of that…”

”The Minotaurs?” Flim asked nopony in particular. ”Think there could be opportunity in that community?”

”We are going about this the wrong way,” Flam interjected. ”We can’t just throw different civilizations around the room like this. That is not how you plan anything.”

There was a few seconds of silence in the large glass gazebo in Filthy Rich’s extensive garden.

”So basically none of you have any clue what you are doing?” Trixie asked. Nopony answered. ”Trixie shall take that as a ’no’ then.” They all knew it was futile to point out that Trixie herself didn’t seem to have any clue either.

”Eh, whatever,” Filthy said and rose from his chair. ”It’s probably past midnight by now. I’m tired. Let’s continue tomorrow. We have all the time in the world, after all.” He stifled a yawn and ignored Trixie’s annoyed mutterings about being bored.

Ditzy yawned loudly. ”Sounds good to me. Night, everypony.” She fluttered over the table, hit the glass wall and tumbled down in front of the door. After she snapped out of her disorientation she pulled the handle, but it refused to open. She tried again.

”It opens outwards,” Filthy reminded for the third time this week.

Ditzy stopped pulling and looked with one eye at Filthy and at the roof with the other. ”Sorry,” she said sheepishly and pushed the door open to begin her short flight home to the post office. The others retreated to wherever they slept behind her.

Flim, Flam and Suri slept in Filthy Rich’s mansion as they were, officially, under his employ. Trixie had bought a small stagecoach where she slept. Ditzy had invited her to sleep in her house, but she had refused. She claimed that the stagecoach was more like home to her.

Ditzy landed silently in front of the post office and took out the key from her saddlebag. She bit around it and tired to place it in the keyhole. She grunted, a bit annoyed. It was pitch black save for the silvery light of Luna’s moon, and her sight was not the best even in perfect conditions. As such, it took her almost a minute just to unlock her own front door. When she finally got it up, she tiptoed through the small reception area with the pile of outgoing mail. She would have to deliver it tomorrow, but first she had five to six something hours of sleep. She become a little happier when she saw that Dinky must have sorted through some of the mail. Incoming and outgoing in two neat stacks on the floor behind the counter.

Ditzy trotted up to the door behind the counter and opened it. The interior was not nearly as cluttered as the reception. These were her living quarters, and those should be as clean and ordered as possible. She went through the short corridor and into the living room. The stairs from that room would take her to her room on the second floor.

”Hey, mom,” a tiny and sleepy voice came from the worn sofa on the other side of the room. Ditzy looked, and saw a tiny unicorn climb over the backrest. She was light purple, even if she appeared mostly gray in the darkness. The filly’s mane was hay blonde, just like Ditzy’s, and her eyes like liquid gold. Dinky yawned. ”Why are you home so late?”

”I have things to do, my little muffin,” Ditzy explained evasively. Then she sighed. She knew she had not spent as much time as she would have liked with Dinky lately. If the filly sat up until this late just to see her, then she really needed to do something about it. ”I’m so sorry, little muffin… I… I’m sorry,” she finished awkwardly.

”I miss you,” Dinky said as she let her ears fall flat. ”You are never home nowadays.” Ditzy’s heart melted immediately when she saw her filly’s honest and earnest look. Since the Canterlot Caper, she had been busy trying to come up with the next coup, and on top of that she had her mailmare job. It was also the first time she could meet her only real friends every day. She realized she had been selfish, seeing them so much she hardly saw her foal.

”I’m sorry. There is just so much going on right now,” Ditzy said tiredly. She would make it up to Dinky, starting tomorrow.

”What is going on?” Dinky peeped from the floor. ”You were never this busy before you met Diamond’s father, Filthy Rich. Is he making you work more?”

”Mmmmhmm,” Ditzy admitted, nodding. ”But I like him. He is a kind pony. And don’t call him Rich, he wants to be called Filthy.”

”Diamond Tiara has been much kinder too lately.” Dinky said with a yawn, but happily nonetheless. ”I was invited over to her tomorrow. Can I go?”

”Of course you can, little muffin,” Ditzy said and ruffled Dinky’s mane. ”Come on. Let’s go to sleep, and I promise we will visit Sugarcube Corner tomorrow after Diamond’s party, okay?”

”Thanks,” Dinky said and picked her ears up again.

Ditzy draped her wing over her little foal, and together they went up the stairs. Ditzy gently kissed Dinky at the tip of her horn as they went to their respective bedrooms.

Ditzy’s bedroom was not very large, but it sure was cozy. Her cloudbed and nightstand took up most of the space and the rest was mostly organized chaos, with random stuff placed wherever it could find a place. She knew she ought to clean her room a bit more, but deep down she realized it was a futile task. In a week’s time she would be back to square one again. She went past some of the things on the floor, among them a Power Ponies comic book. She looked at it and reminded herself that she should read a little to Dinky tomorrow. They both loved their reading sessions.

She hopped up in her cloudbed and curled up in a ball with her wings draped over her as a blanket. She had always preferred her wing to an actual blanket. It was much cozier that way, and it was hard to get the soft cirrus clouds pegasi normally used for blankets down on the ground. She felt her eyes grow heavy the moment she put her head on the pillow and in just a matter of minutes Ditzy Doo was soundly asleep, dreaming of muffins galore.

*****

Ditzy awoke by the sunlight shining through her bedroom window and feathers of her wing. She groggily opened her eyes, rubbed them lightly with her hooves and stood up. She yawned and stretched while looking around her room. She left the soft could bed and went down to the small kitchen to make herself some breakfast before the morning rounds. She could probably take her time today, as the piles with letters she had seen last night did not look too large.

Knowing this, Ditzy put some tea on the stove, and looked at the breadbasket to see if there was any muffins left. She smiled happily when she discovered a raspberry and dandelion muffin at the bottom of the basket. This, combined with a healthy cup of tea and a cherry sandwich was the perfect way to start a day.

The healthy taste of cherries exploded in her mouth and automatically banished all residue tiredness. Her lips curled upwards in a blissful smile. It was not a cherry muffin, but this was not far behind. Cherries had always been one of Dinky’s (and her own) favorite treats, but they were too expensive for her to afford during ninety-nine precent of the year. But now, when she was one of the richest mares in Ponyville thanks to her share of The Canterlot Caper’s payment, could they eat whatever she wanted, be it cherries, muffins or anything else.

Ditzy ate quickly. She wanted to get home to Dinky again to spend some quality time with her daughter before the party. Her friends would understand. She went out in the reception area and looked over the pile of outgoing mail.

Just as she thought; not too much today. She quickly sifted through the pile to chart out the best route.

”Hmm… Daisy, The Apples, Pinkie, Carrot Top, Filthy, Lyra, Oh, then I might see Bon-bon again…” Ditzy’s mood fell a little. She had, for obvious reasons, not been on very good terms with Bon-bon lately. ”…Cloud Kicker, Thunderlane, Junebug, Doc, Flitter, and Spike.”

She quickly made a flight plan in her mind, picked up the pile of letters and put them in her mailbag. She donned her typical mailmare’s vest and cap and fluttered out in the brisk morning air. Days like this were her favorite. It was sheer bliss to glide slowly through the air, feeling the fresh, damp air flow into her lungs and fill her with vigor. Almost no other pegasi were out yet, so she had all the sky to herself. She decided to fly to the doctor first. She should at least see if time travel was possible. It never hurt to check, no matter what Flam said.

”Hello, Ditzy!” The doctor opened the door as she lifted her hoof to knock. He wore a large contraption on his head that completely covered his eyes. It looked a bit like a scooter helmet with a multitude of cables and flashing, colorful lights. It also seemed to heavy to be worn comfortably, as the doctors neck was bent in a strange way. ”I was just testing my newsflash goggles. As you can see, they are a great success. With these on, I can see a few seconds into the future.” Doctor Whooves silenced for a moment. ”For example, you are going to ask ’what are those?’ right about now.”

”What are those?” Ditzy asked the moment the doctor silenced. She looked at him with bewildered, veering eyes.

”Quite a success indeed,” The doctor said with a smile that was half hidden under the strange device. ”Can I have my mail?” He held out his hoof and promptly hit Ditzy in the face. She staggered backwards.

”Great wickering stallions!” he exclaimed in a loud voice. ”I’m so sorry. I’m afraid I can’t see anything in this contraption. Well, except for the future, that is… Hmmm, I will have to make some adjustments…”

Ditzy giggled. The doctor was always such a funny stallion with all his weird things. She hopped up on her hooves as the doctor removed his helmet. Ditzy handed him the letters.

”Doc, can you send seven ponies back in time?” she asked without ceremony. The doctor gasped.

”Oh, of course not,” he answered. ”To send more than one pony back in time would require magic of unimaginable power. Now, making time come forward to seven ponies though, that would only take impossibly much power.”

”Is there a difference?” Ditzy asked, confused.

”Ah, yes,” Doctor Whooves answered, as if it was the most obvious thing ever. ”To go back in time would mean that you send somepony to the past, and then they aren’t born yet. One would have to bring a little bit out our time space and put it in the past, thus tangling up the space-time continuum. Only then would-”

”No, I mean between ’impossibly much power’, and ’unimaginably much power’?” Ditzy clarified. She had a feeling she would be standing here for hours if she didn’t stop the doctor before he got too far into his lecture. That had happened before, and Mayor Mare had missed an important social party in Canterlot because she did not get the invitation in time.

”But of course,” Doctor Whooves answered, again as if it was the most obvious thing ever. ”Unimaginably much power is more than out tiny minds can conceive. Even if we gathered all power in Equestria we still wouldn’t have even begun to scratch the surface of the unimaginable. Impossibly much power though, now that can be comprehended and calculated. It is simply too much to ever practically gather.”

”Ooh, okay…” Ditzy mumbled, disappointed. She had nourished a tiny flame of hope that her time-travel-plan might work after all, but it looked like everything was against her. She shook her head. One should not be unhappy on a day like this.

”I need to be going,” she said.

”Allons-y,” the doctor said and took on the newsflash goggles again. He turned around and smacked into the wall to his left. ”Ha! I predicted that!” he exclaimed with a triumphant voice. Ditzy heard him mumble something that sounded like ”Still hurt though…” before she took of towards Cloud Kicker.

About an hour later she approached the large crystalline castle of Equestria’s newest Princess. She held the small package in her mouth and knocked on the door. She hoped Spike would open. She would prefer not to face Twilight if it could be avoided, as she was another pony Ditzy was not on very good terms with since the Canterlot Caper.

”Ditzy!? Is that you!?” Spike’s voice came from inside the castle.

”Yep,” Ditzy answered, happy that Twilight hadn’t answered. ”With mail for you!” When she opened her mouth she dropped the package on the ground. She looked down and took a moment to figure out what had happened.

”Not so loud!” Spike squeaked with a slightly panicked voice. ”Come up here, would you? I need to speak with you about… something…”

Ditzy swallowed. She would have preferred not to go into Twilight’s castle. But Spike was expecting mail, so it was her solemn duty as mailmare of Ponyville to deliver it. She pushed open the door and peeked inside. She was met with a long hall. She flew in silently with the package in her hooves. It didn’t sound like anything had broken.

She found herself in a long hallway with a lot of nearly identical doors. She looked around, trying to deduce anything that might lead her to Spike. The castle seemed much bigger on the inside than the outside.

”Psst,” It was barely more than a whisper, but her ears picked it up nonetheless. She turned around and saw a part terrified, part excited Spike beckoning towards a door while he looked left and right as if he was being stalked by timberwolves. ”Here Ditzy, quick!”

Ditzy didn’t quite know what to make of him, but she hurried over to him anyway. A little to quickly, for she had not quite realized how slippery the crystal floors were. She tried to stop herself, but instead slid over the floor and smacked into a pedestal with an urn on it. Both Ditzy and spike stood as bewitched and watched the urn fall. The crash was far louder than she had anticipated, and the sound bounced in around the castle. Spike looked like he stood face to face with a livid Chrysalis. Utmost terror shone in his eyes and his mouth hung slightly ajar.

Silence settled again, and Spike seemed to wait for the grim reaper to claim his immortal soul. When no shadowy figure with a hollow laugh and scythe appeared, he snapped back to his senses, grabbed Ditzy and shoved her inside the room where he had been hiding. He closed the door afterwards.

Ditzy looked around in the room. The most striking impression was the walls. They were wallpapered with either pictures of the Power Ponies or pictures of Rarity, most of the latter evidently taken without her knowing. On the floor there was a small basket with a couple of blankets in it, and a Rarity plush. Beside it stood a large bowl of various gemstones. In a large bookcase Ditzy saw the finest collection of Power Ponies comics she had ever seen, some of them mint-in-bag.

”You have it, right? It’s the latest issue of the Power Ponies, isn’t it?” Spike asked with starry and adoring eyes.

Ditzy looked away from a Picture of Rarity eating ice cream on her couch and hoofed spike the package. He ripped the wrapping off in a moment and proceeded to drool over the new issue. At the cover Ditzy spotted an earth pony with a dark blue cape and mask. Behind him came The Masked Matter-horn and Radiance.

”Yes!” Spike said and struck a victory pose. ”Neighvar Kreuger returns! He’s the best villain ever!”

Ditzy shook her head. ”No, Four-Leaf Clover is best villain. He is so funny.”

”What, seriously?” Spike looked away from his now slimy comic. ” Four-Leaf Clover? He had like one issue. Sure, he was cool guys, but we need more background info on him before he really becomes interesting. And for that matter, his motives are just to have fun; no real reason whatsoever. How interesting is that?”

”Neighvar is weird,” Ditzy retaliated. His stories tended to be more puzzle-like than others, and to really enjoy them one had to read it multiple times to catch all details. Dinky didn’t like them very much as they were to slow for her taste. Ditzy herself liked reading some of them from time to time, for they were a welcome change of pace with the others, but ultimately she read for Dinky’s sake.

”Eh, he’s not weird, he’s awesome,” Spike said dismissively. He got something nervous and sinister in his eyes. ”Ehm, Ditzy,” he began tentatively. ”Look, due to… an incident… with these comics, Twilight have forbidden me to order them from House of Enchanted Comics, so perhaps you wouldn’t tell her that you have delivered this, alright?”

Ditzy looked at Spike with an uncomprehending gaze. ”How come?” She tilted her head.

Spike seemed to be somewhat confused by Ditzy’s eyes for a moment. He shook his head to snap out of it. ”Well…” Spike looked over his shoulder as if he expected Twilight to eavesdrop on him. ”My friends and I may or may not have been sucked into one of these before, okay? And Twilight was not too happy about that…”

”What?” Ditzy was more confused now than she had been before Spike answered.

”Look, the details aren’t important, just try to keep quiet about this, alright?” Spike pleaded. ”It’s really no harm done, as long as you don’t read the incantation on the back cover, okay? And for that matter the comic disappears once you leave it. No harm, no foul, and I really want to read them… House of Enchanted Comics has the best selection.”

Ditzy decided not to ask how Spike could have a whole room pretty much dedicated to the Power Ponies if Twilight had forbidden them, and nodded. ”Hey Spike? You didn’t bring anything out of the comic, did you?” It was a long shot, but what had she got to lose?

”Actually, yea,” Spike replied after a moment of thought. ”Pinkie brought some cupcakes with her out.”

Ditzy stopped listening. She saw it in front of her. An idea so wild, so strange, and so ingenious, so Ditzy Doo, that she had never thought it remotely possible if she had heard it a few minutes earlier. Now, however, there might be a chance.

And if it worked… If it worked, then it would be glorious.

This coup would be far more… fun… than anything else ever. This would trump even The Canterlot Caper.

This would be a coup, Ditzy Doo style.

*****

”Are you serious? Please tell Trixie you aren’t, that this is some kind of joke or something?” They had gathered once again in Filthy’s gazebo. It was the perfect place to discuss their plans. The table was larger than the one they had used in Canterlot, and the view over Filthy’s garden was nice too. The walls were made of glass with mirror effect on the outside to prevent anypony from spying on them, and thanks to an expensive air conditioner the gazebo held a perfect temperature.

”But it can work!” Ditzy said giddily. Not even Trixie’s comments could bring her down right now. She was sure that her plan was good, it was simply to fun not to be. ”Even the doctor said this can work?”

”You didn’t tell him about us, did you?” Flam’s voice was calm, but there was something harsh in his face all of a sudden.

”Nono,” Ditzy energetically shook her head. ”I just asked about how time travel works, nothing else.”

”And this might work, is that what you are saying?” Flim said. He tapped his hoof against the table while he thought. ”Can this really work?”

”No,” Trixie and Suri said in chorus.

”I don’t think it will either,” Filthy chipped in. ”But I have been wrong before. And I know this doctor Ditzy is referring to. He is an engineer through and through, and he has an hourglass cutie mark. I imagine that if anypony can do this, then it’s him.”

”So you want us to… enter a comic, steal something, whatever you called it, and then…?” Flam asked and motioned Ditzy to continue. He sounded rather uncertain.

Ditzy’s answer was interrupted by a knock on the gazebo’s glass wall. The six ponies all looked and saw Diamond Tiara stare into her mirror image. Filthy Rich got of his chair and opened the door. ”Hello, little diamond,” he said with a tender smile. He hugged his daughter quickly and she hugged back. ”How is you little get-together coming along?”

”Great, daddy. Your strangely shaped fruit are, like, the sweetest things I have ever had,” she said with the sparkling and smiling eyes that Filthy knew meant she wanted something more. ”Buuut, it could get even better if I could show the parrot. Can I? Pretty please?”

”Prankster is not mine, so I can’t decide,” Filthy Rich said apologetically. ”You will have to ask Flim and Flam.”

The filly turned to the two brothers, who each looked back with a somewhat sheepish smile. ”Who could say no to that face?” Flim asked with mocked resignation. ”I will show Prankster if you like.”

”Can you do your amazing rope tricks too?” Diamond Tiara asked with a half questioning, half commanding tone.

Flim didn’t answer, but suddenly a rope appeared around his hoof. He snapped it once like a whip and proceeded to move it around. Diamond Tiara watched with wide eyes as Flim spelled out letters in rapid succession. S-U-R-E-G-I-V-E-M-E-A-M-O-M-E-N-T. Flim picked up his cup of apple juice and finished it in one gulp. He then trotted along with Diamond Tiara.

”Say hello to Dinky from me!” Ditzy called after him.

”Will do,” Flim called back.

There was a moment of silence.

”Well, I say,” Flam said with a relaxed smile. ”perhaps you should have been the Element of Generosity instead of Rarity, Filthy. To give your daughter pineapples for a weekend party… Last time I check they were five hundred bits apiece.”

”Hush you,” Filthy said without any heat. ”You and your brother spent near five thousand on Prankster’s golden cage. I spend the same to get something far more beautiful; my daughter’s smile.” Filthy got a look of realization on his face. ”And call me Rich if you please.”

”He is right,” Ditzy chimed in. ”Nothing is more beautiful than your daughter’s smile. It’s even better now that Diamond has become so nice.”

Filthy Rich sighed. His relaxed smile vanished and was replaced with an irritated look.

”Hmm? Is there something wrong?” Ditzy said when she saw Filthy’s look fall. ”Did I say something bad?”

”Nothing,” Filthy replied shortly. ”I… just need to do something…”

”Nothing Trixie can help you with?” Trixie asked with an interested voice. ”She is a mare of many talents, as you know.”

”I’m aware,” Filthy said with a small smile. ”But I don’t think you know how to confront my wife about her… dominant mindset. If I recall correctly, last time you had to deal with ponies who annoyed you, an Ursa Minor nearly tore the roof off my mansion.”

Trixie stuck a snooty pose and flicked her mane.

”Thank Celestia you know it too,” Suri said with a voice that suggested she had wanted to say something about this for quite some time. ”Can you please inform Spoiled that I am a seamstress, at the most, and not her mareservant, chef, butler, gardener, and everything else she can think of.”

”She won’t listen,” Filthy Rich said dourly. ”Now, where were we?” His voice made it clear that he didn’t want to discuss his private affairs right now.

”My plan! We were talking about my plan,” Ditzy reminded happily, and immediately the mood lightened. It was impossible to stay downhearted for long when Ditzy was happy. The mare all but jumped up and down on her stool. ”What do you think…” Ditzy looked at Flam and hesitated. ”…Flim? Are you Flim?”

”I’m Flam,” Flam corrected. ”Provided we can get into the comic in the first place, what exactly do we want to steal, and if we succeed, how does that improve our life quality?”

”Sending ponies back in time takes impossibly much power,” Ditzy explained knowledgeably. ”So we will need the most powerful… thingy… we can find to make it work.” She paused for dramatic effect. ”We need the Electro Orb.”

Silence stretched for a few seconds before Flam sighed and motioned Ditzy to continue.

”Electro Orb,” Ditzy repeated tentatively. She had expected standing ovations, but everypony just stared blankly at her. ”It’s a blue sparkly thing that is powerful enough to power the Maneiac’s doomsday device. It should be able to power the doctor’s wibbly wobbly timey wimey… stuff too,” Ditzy explained. Flam still seemed lost. Somepony coughed.

”It’s an artifact in the Power Ponies franchise.” Filthy Rich clarified. ”It’s stored in a museum. Shouldn’t be to hard to steal, provided we can get into the comic at all, that is.”

”Ooookay,” Flam said, unsure whether Ditzy and Filthy were serious or just joking. ”Well, this is… strange. Very…”

”Stupid?” Trixie suggested dryly. ”The Great and Powerful Trixie can’t believe we are still discussing this. She could be eating peanut butter crackers by now, but instead she is stuck here, listening to something anypony could tell you won’t work.”

”That she is,” Flam said with light malice. ”And it’s not stupid…” he hesitated for a moment. ”…well, maybe it is, but more important, it is creative. All plans are good except for the bad ones. And I like this idea, though I’m not yet sure it actually can work.”

”Are you really suggesting we go on with this?” Trixie asked tiredly. ”Trixie is seriously considering asking a psychologist about you.”

”Psychology is the studying of ponies by those who needs psychological care,” Flam replied, effectively silencing Trixie. ”Now, let’s try not to get sidetracked again. Ditzy, how does one enter a comic?”

”Spike’s comic was sent from someplace called the House of Enchanted Comics,” Ditzy answered pensively. ”Maybe they have some magic on them comics?”

”No, you think?” Suri asked sarcastically. ”I’d never guessed, m’kay. I thought you just had to jump on the comic hard enough.”

”The Power Ponies franchise is owned by PC comics. Their print works is in Vanhoover…” Flam said slowly, ignoring Suri. ”So I guess we should write our own comic, break into the print works, print our comic, enter, and steal the orb? That way we are sure the… Electro Orb actually appear in it.”

”Can’t we just use one of Spike’s comics, if he has so many?” Filthy asked. ”We just… ”borrow” one for a few hours and then plant it back in the castle. Piece of cake.”

”Muffin,” Ditzy corrected. ”piece of muffin. And Spike said the comic disappears once you leave it. He would miss it.”

”That settles it. Suri, you fix,” Flam commanded lazily. ”You have a knack for mapping out designs on paper, so a comic shouldn’t cause you to much problems.”

”I don’t have much of a choice, do I?” Suri asked, knowing the answer. ”Fine, I will draw your comic, though I still think this is a waste of time, m’kay.”

”Strange plans are best plans,” Flam said with certainty as he leaned back and pulled the boater hat over his face. ”Nopony can catch you if they can’t predict your next move, and it’s hard to predict us if not even we know what we are doing.”

”Trixie does not agree that not knowing what we are doing something good,” Trixie remarked with a pointy voice. ”But either way, a quick strike against PC comics is just what Great and Powerful Trixie needs to get back into Great and Powerful shape again after three months holiday.”

”We really have nothing to lose,” Filthy said evenly. ”PC comics security poses no real threat to us, and we are not really stealing anything, are we?”

”No, we are giving them a nice comic issue,” Ditzy said, ever cheerful.

The five ponies sat still around the table, everypony in lost in their own thoughts for a moment. Trixie broke the silence. ”Trixie should probably say that she still does not approve of this plan. She would prefer something that has any chance of working.”

”We shall look into this, and if it can work, then we shall go through with it. If it doesn’t seem to work, we forget about it and find some other idea. You happy now, Trixie?” Flam asked cooly.

”Trixie doesn’t think it matters what she says,” Trixie grumbled.

”Correct,” Flam said, earning him a glare from the showpony.

Attraction Attention

Ten minutes later, Filthy stood in front of the large mirror in his and Spoiled’s room and looked over his appearance. He had not dressed up very carefully this morning, since he liked to keep the planning sessions informal and relaxed. However, he had a quick trip business trip to Canterlot booked in today, so he had to look his best for that. ”No, it won’t work.” Filthy mumbled and picked up a comb to rectify his mane. ”Need to look professional, sharp and… just a little bit mean too.”

”Filthy!” A harsh, raspy voice came from behind him. His mood fell a little, but he didn’t let that show as he turned around to face his wife. He nearly cringed at the sight. Spoiled was mad as a hornet, and he was well within range.

”I asked for a little mean, not Tirek-mean,” Filthy thought haplessly. ”Yes, dear?” he said.

”We need to talk,” Spoiled said with the same harsh voice that sounded like hooves on a chalkboard. ”I’m worried about the company you allow our daughter to spend her time in. It is bad enough that poor little Diamond Tiara have been so influenced that she has accepted the…” Spoiled grimaced ”…Cutie Mark Crusaders as her friends. She must not be able to be influenced any further, and her get-together with the peasants foals certainly is not helping her.” Spoiled stomped. ”How could you have let this happen, you fool?”

Filthy gritted his teeth in annoyance, but kept a (mostly) straight face. Very few ponies could insult him without consequences. Sadly, Spoiled was one of those few. ”I’m sorry. I have been… preoccupied lately,” he answered stiffly.

”A bit late for a ’sorry’, don’t you think,” Spoiled interrupted sharply. ”But luckily I have looked into this matter on my own, since you don’t seem to care.” Filthy winced as if he had been physically struck.

He loved his daughter. He knew that in between his work as head of Barnyard Bargains and his work with The Circus, he did not have a lot of time to spend with her, even if things had improved since they made Ponyville their headquarters. Still Filthy would never accept a slight like the one he just heard from anypony. Except for Spoiled Rich. Filthy stood silent.

Spoiled seemed annoyed the he did not answer, but continued. ”Just make sure nothing like this ever happen again in my house,” Spoiled said with a commanding tone. ”I shall be writing to a private school in Canterlot and hear if Diamond could transfer. Until I get an answer, she mustn’t meet the blank-flanks or peasants again.”

Spoiled paused to breathe, and then continued, fixing a glare at him. ”I must say I’m deeply disappointed in you, Filthy. Your company too is definitely under criticism. How can you believe Diamond will learn proper manners if you don’t lead by example, like me? The twin accountants you have hired are clearly lowlives, not at all befitting my household. My seamstress is downright rude and even had the nerve of refusing my order! And don’t even get me started about the beggar unicorn you picked up from the side of the road or the pegasus with the eyes.” Spoiled stomped her hoof in anger. ”She is cross-eyed! Do you realize how that looks!? That klutz doesn’t belong in my house! She should not even be allowed to live in Ponyville if I had my way! You will not spend time with any of them from now on, understand me?”

Filthy felt like his blood had caught fire. He stood paralyzed and shaking as he tried to comprehend what his wife was saying. Not only did she fault his little diamond for finally having friends, and living a life any filly should, not only did she want Filthy to keep Diamond more or less permanently grounded, not only did she just insult all of his friends, but to top it all off she wanted poor Ditzy out of town.

Filthy forced himself to take a couple of deep breaths to calm down a little. It did not help, he still felt like shouting to his wife that he would rather move out than stop seeing his friends. His voice was half chocked and threateningly low when he spoke. ”And… Diamond Tiara? What does she think about… transferring? Is that what she wants?”

Spoiled scoffed. ”It doesn’t matter what she wants; I now what’s best for her. For her future’s sake she will do as I say.”

Filthy could no longer suppress that his hooves were shaking slightly. He heard his heart beat in his inner ear. ”So… let me get this straight. You want me to lock Diamond up while you ruin what little happiness she has finally found? Also, you want me to ditch the only real friends I have?”

”Friends?” Spoiled said with an amused snort. ”How can they be friends with somepony like you? They use you, you gullible fool. They eat of you tables and dress in your clothes without-”

”Shut up,” Filthy interrupted with a shaky voice. ”S-shut your mouth or I’ll make you eat your words…”

Filthy gruffly went out of the room without sparing his wife a second glance. He could not remember last time he felt this angry; he wanted to find something, slam it into the floor and stomp o the pieces. ”You are spending a lot of time which your servants lately. Especially that seamstress!” Spoiled called after him.

Filthy stopped, turned around and took a breath to calm down. ”They are the best company I have,” he replied with a nasty sneer.

He knew he would regret saying that later. Petty insults like that were below him and he knew it. But right now it brought him a grim satisfaction to see his wife’s expression shift.

Spoiled looked like Filthy had thrown a bucket of ice cold water in her face. Her eyes bulged out and she silently formed Filthy’s words with her lips, as if to confirm that they had indeed ben said. She regained her composure and threw him a glare worthy of a Cockatrice. ”Well then, Filthy,” she hissed darkly. ”I shall have to take matters into my own hooves.”

Spoiled passed him with thundering hoof steps. She took the opportunity to whip her tail at Filthy’s face as she passed.

Filthy stood petrified in the bedroom doorway. It stung a little where the tail had hit him. He stood panting as if he had been running. No matter how he tried to suppress it he felt a fore hoof shaking with desire to break something. The more practical side of his mind took over, even if his anger was far from gone. Spoiled liked to drink something when she was angry, so she should be in the kitchen right about now. He should probably get out of dodge while she calmed down. And while he calmed down too, else he might do something he would regret.

He walked like in a thick red haze through his house. He hardly heard the foals clopping their hooves and shouting in adoration as Flim performed some other trick. Without really thinking, he went through the small back door and took to a crossbow with a couple of darts and flipped a small switch. He went out of his home and out to the back part of his expansive garden, where he had installed a shooting range. The small targets on the range started to move.

He backed away as far as his well kept hedge would allow, took careful aim and shot.

Bullseye. Of course. He reloaded slowly, taking ample of time for each step. Shooting was something that required a steady grip and careful aim. One had to be calm and focused. Shooting was the perfect way to blow off some steam before figuring out what to do next. He shot a couple of bolts before he felt calm enough to think clearly again.

”I imagine…” Filthy shot again and watched the dart fly. ”That I should keep away from her for a few days. Maybe then we can talk like adult ponies. I will have to look out for my little diamond too, if Spoiled takes out the anger on her…” Filthy did not want to believe Spoiled would do that, but he should probably be on the lookout, just in case.

”And… I should ask Ditzy before I…” Filthy thought, not quite wanting to finish the thought, even to himself. Filthy did occasionally use some tricks of dubious morality to get his way, that was part of both his jobs, but something like this we wanted to discuss with somepony first.

”Filthy, what just happened?” Filthy snapped out of his rumination and met Flim’s look. The unicorn and a half worried and half awkward look. ”Your wife literarily threw me out of the room mid-sentence with an expression that could give Nightmare Moon… well, nightmares. Perhaps you could explain?”

”No,” Filthy said, harsher than he had imagined. He sighed and continued despite what he just had said. ”I… uh, I may have said something she did not approve of…”

”You pissed her off?” Flim asked with a genuinely surprised voice. ”Without inviting me to watch? I’m hurt.”

”Not now, Equilibrist,” Filthy mumbled with a sigh.

Flim took the hint. ”I… see. Well…” Flim was silent again for a moment. ”In that case, I will have your little business trip to Canterlot postponed. I will see to the letters…”

”Yes, I…” Filthy hesitated as he got a sudden question. ”Hey, Flim? Have you or your brother ever been in a relationship?”

Flim chuckled. ”Do you count the times we charmed somepony, exhausted him or her to sleep, swiped everything they owned and hightailed away? If not, then no, if yes, then more than you can imagine. Why?”

”Never mind, just curious is all,” Filthy said dismissively. That was probably not the kind of advice he needed right now.

*****

Suri sat before her sewing machine in the room she had in Filthy’s mansion. There was a rather small, but comfy bed in there, a window with a few decorations, including some embroidered napkins she had made in her spare time. In a corner she had a boxing bag. She was not very fond of such a brutish activity; a mare should never raise a hoof to anypony if it could be avoided, but in her line of work one had to be in good shape. She made sure to train at least one hour every day, on top of regular walks with Trixie.

She watched the needle impaling the two pieces of fabric she were sewing together. As Spoiled Rich’s seamstress she had to put on a show that she made her some things now and then. And she liked sewing. It was what she had always imagined she would do; a daring, haute designer who took the fashion world with storm. Suri indulged in a small smile at her fantasy. She knew it would not happen. Been there, failed that, and now she was here.

She had never imagined herself becoming a professional criminal, and while it was not her first choice she could see that her new life was not without compensations. She could still sew like she loved to, and she had ponies around her that she could respect. It was nearly the first time in her life she had ponies she really respected around her.

”Every pony for themselves…” Suri mumbled to the fabric. She had been thinking lately. For her whole life she had been a firm believer of that phrase. In her experience, when push came to shove, everypony put themselves fist despite all lovey-dovey words about friendship and loyalty. In the end there was, and always would be, everypony for herself. Suri knew that from experience.

But something felt different about The Circus, especially the twins. They seemed to have an uncanny ability to inspire, and she had seen in The Canterlot Caper that they did not leave ponies behind. The coup would have been a million times easier it they had escaped with the train from Canterlot, but they did not because it would sacrifice both Ditzy and Topsy.

”Mareservant!” The harsh voice cut through Suri’s ears like her scissors cut fabric. Suri looked to the door and saw Spoiled stand there.

Filthy’s wife looked horrible. Her mane was a tangled mess, her eyes wide and furious. Spoiled stalked into the room with a posture like a panther. She closed the door behind her. Suri scooted backwards slightly. The other mare looked downright threatening.

”Now you listen to me, nasty little filly,” Spoiled hissed as she closed in on her pray. She practically pinned Suri down to her stool. ”Don’t think I don’t realize what you are trying, you filthy riffraff. Trying to steal my husband away, are you? Well, dream on. I’m not going to let you touch him, understood? Filthy is mine, and he will never be seen with the likes of you. If I had it my way, such lowlife as you would not set hoof in my home.”

Spoiled reached behind Suri and tore the fabric she was sewing away from the sewing machine, ripping it in the process, and slapped it in Suri’s confused and submissive face. ”Don’t you dare to forget that, you swine.” Spoiled turned around and slapped Suri again with her tail. She went up to one of the attires Suri had made her, decisively took it down and ripped it in two. ”And don’t think I will ever touch the tatters you call clothes again!” Spoiled went out, making sure to stomp on the mutilated clothing on her way.

Back in the room sat a stunned Suri Polomare, trying to comprehend what had just happened. She sniffled a little. It was not so much for the insult as it was for the unfairness of it all. Suri had never looked at Filthy that way, and she had never tried to come between him and Spoiled. To be called such things for something so out of the blue… hurt.

But the ripping of the dress hurt more. Suri solved sewing, she had ever since she first held a needle and thread. She even got her cute mark for it; sewing was her destiny, her purpose. She knew she was good at it too, she prided herself on her work. The masks she made for The Circus were proof enough. To see work she put her heart and soul into condemned like that hurt her more than she wanted to admit.

Suri swallowed and tried to hold back the beginnings of tears. She took out two knitting needles from a drawer and began on… something. She did not want to think right now.

*****

Ditzy hopped and skipped through Ponyville, well away from Filthy’s mansion. She did not really know what she could do right now regarding their planning, so she had settled for taking a break from her work while she waited for Dinky to come home from Diamond Tiara. She hummed softly to herself as she made her way to Sugarcube corner. She needed a muffin (or five, or ten, or fifteen. Actually, make that twenty), and she needed it now. A few ponies nodded to Ditzy as she went, but most didn’t care. That was just as nice. At least no pony was directly mean.

The gingerbread styled house came into view and she trotted up the small stair. Carrot Cake stood behind the counter and smiled at her when she entered.

”Hey, Derpy!” he greeted in a carefree way. ”Here for your muffins?” Ditzy hid the small sting she felt at the nickname. She knew Mr. Cake didn’t mean anything bad, so she did her best to not show anything. She still disliked the name though. It made her think of times she would rather forget.

”Yes,” Ditzy nodded. ”Is Pinkie Pie here?” It was normally Pinkie who made Ditzy’s muffins.

”Afraid not,” Mr. Cake responded apologetically. ”She has left town for a few days. A family celebration. But don’t you worry none; she made enough muffins to fill your next three orders.”

”Ooh, okay…” Ditzy said, a little disheartened. Now she couldn't choose what flavors she got. She beat the ungrateful thoughts out of her head. Pinkie had still baked all muffins she wanted, even if Ditzy’s request had only been informal and not a strict order. ”Well, then you have today’s order?”

”Of course, just a moment,” Carrot cake said and trotted out in the kitchen to get the muffins. He returned in a few seconds, a package in his mouth. ”There you go,” he said with a small smile. Ditzy picked at her saddlebag and accidentally ripped up a seam. The contents of the saddlebags spilled and a score of bits fell on the ground, rolling in all directions.

”Oh no, sorry, I didn’t mean to, sorry,” Ditzy fumbled while trying to catch the rolling coins. She leaped at one of them, only to miss and instead ram a table which toppled over and hit her in the head, much to the annoyance of Carrot Top and Roseluck, whose pastries fell into Ditzy’s mane. ”Sorry,” Ditzy said again, blushing.

Carrot Cake promptly hid the surprised look he got when she saw all the all the bits. It was far more than he assumed Ditzy would own, not that it had anything to do with him. Ditzy scooped out a pile of bits and placed them on the counter, still mumbling awkward excuses to a highly displeased Carrot Top. It did not take Mr. Cake long to see that it was enough to pay for whole next month’s muffins. He took out what the order cost and left the rest. ”Don’t worry about that,” he said simply and nodded to the mess she had made. ”You leave that to me and enjoy your muffins. See you tomorrow.”

”Say…” Ditzy began, somewhat tentative. ”Who is Pinkie’s family anyway?” She had never thought about that before.

”Rock farmers outside Ponyville,” Carrot Cake answered. ”Apparently her older sister just received a rocktorate in Rock-Science.” Carrot Cake’s tone suggested that he had no clue what he was talking about.

Ditzy shrugged and left with her muffins. An idea struck her. Why not go fly out to her special friend and share the treats with him? It was probably a long time since Topsy had a muffin. She flapped her wings and started to fly out towards the Everfree Forest. She swallowed and slowed down a little. The forest was unsettling, to say the least. Too soon was she flying over it. She kept her veering eyes down on the ground, half expecting a manticore or dragon to leap out of the thick canopy and attack. She had flown this way many times, but it still unnerved her. Like anypony, she knew the many tales of this forest and none of them eased her anxiety.

About thirty nervous minutes later she was flying over a just about the only open part of the forest for miles around. She approached the hill slowly and began to fly downwards, towards the ruined castle. She tapped down on the cracked courtyard and tried to orient herself. Every hallway in the ruined castle looked exactly the same. She had no clue where to start looking.

Ditzy shrugged and trotted into one of the slightly less crumbled corridors. Then she remembered first time she was here. She had fallen down a trapdoor, and it had taken Topsy hours to find her, and even longer to actually get her out. She began to fly a few hooflegnths over the floor.

”Where is this now?” she mumbled to herself. Ditzy found herself in the collapsed section of the library. She did not recall coming here last time. She should probably go back and try another hallway.

After retracing her steps, she somehow did not find herself back in the courtyard, but in the ancient throne room. She looked up at the thrones, somewhat confused that she must have taken a wrong turn somewhere. Ditzy shook her head and fluttered up to one of the ruined thrones and sat down on her haunches. Might as well use the thrones when she was here.

”Bring me muffins!” She called to the imaginary servants and lords. ”Your princessness demands that you get her all the muffins in the realm!”

”All of them?” she mumbled back to herself in a meek voice. ”But your highness, what about everypony else?”

”All the muffins!” Ditzy said with a grin that would have made Sombra proud. ”I’m best pony, I’m Muffin Princess, bring me all muffins!” Ditzy giggled softly. She looked around and found a broken stick. She grabbed it in one hoof and sat back down on her throne. ”You are found guilty of… stealing muffins! You will pay fifty muffins to the royal treasury!” Ditzy called down the judgement of the gods on the imaginary thief with a sweep of her ”scepter”. Why had Celestia not replaced bits with muffins? That would be a very good idea.

DIIIIING!!!

Ditzy yelped as the throne spun around and sent her through the wall. When she looked up, she found herself outside of the castle, flat on her stomach. She grinned. Now it should be way easier to find Topsy; she just had to follow the music. But that could wait for a little while. She closed her eyes and listened.

The music was slow and sad, ancient as the castle itself. In fact, Topsy had likely found the music in the castle. It seemed to flow in a continuous stream through the ruin. A haunting melody, yet strangely beautiful. It was the type of music that made you stop and listen, that asked an unknown question one cannot quite put the hoof on. Ditzy got up and let herself be guided by the sorrowful tones. For a moment, she forgot that it was a pony who played, and not the castle itself.

It took her almost fifteen minutes before she got down to the organ. A lone pony sat before the intimidating instrument. He had a midnight blue coat and forest green mane. The short, glaring red tail laid neatly around him on the stool where he sat. His hooves shifted quickly over the keys, as did his wings. She trotted up silently as to not disturb Topsy’s music. Only now did she note that, since he did not have his razor here, Topsy’s ears had grown small fuzzy wisps.

With a final, lonesome note, Topsy stopped playing. ”Ditzy Doo,” he said slowly, without any stammer. ”It is good that you are here.” Topsy flapped his wings, went into a pirouette in midair and gently fell down on his stool again, now facing her with his heterochromatic eyes, one orange and the other purple. Ditzy blinked. She would never be able to pull that twist off just at the drop of a muffin. Then again, she was never the best flyer.

Topsy looked down on the floor. ”I’m sorry,” he mumbled. ”So very sorry.”

”What?” Ditzy tilted her head slightly. ”Why are you sorry?” Something dawned on the cloud gray pegasus. ”Did you eat one of my muffins?” she mumbled, dejected.

”I’m sorry, Ditzy,” Topsy repeated, still without meeting her eyes. ”For what h-happened during The C-Canterlot… Caper.”

”Twilight was hurt badly,” Ditzy said with a scolding voice. ”But it was not you, was it? It was the winds?”

Topsy met Ditzy’s eyes, purple and orange met gold. ”I don’t care for the alicorn. The winds made me h-hurt you. You.” Topsy clarified. ”That m-made me realize how… evil they were. I m-must learn how to control them. That’s why I retreated h-here, to somehow learn to shut them out. At least here I wouldn’t hurt-t anypony in The Circus.”

Ditzy opened her mouth and closed it. She did not want Topsy to basically ignore the fact that he had beat Twilight Sparkle senseless, and she felt uncertain about how affectionate he was to her. To go into self-imposed exile just because of her… thinking like that made Ditzy forget about Twilight.

Ditzy knew that Topsy cared deeply for her, but his actions these last months took that resolve to a whole new level. So it was because of her he lived in this ruined castle, far away from friends, muffins, family, comfort, amusement and muffins? Only such basic things as eating and sleeping must be a challenge in the middle of the Everfree Forest, and yet he had endured it for three months now, just for her sake. While she was flattered, it still did not feel very good. She did not want anypony to do something like this for her sake. She was not worth it.

”How do you feel?” Ditzy asked, worry clear in her voice. ”You don’t have to stay here. You won’t hurt anypony, I know you won’t. You are a good pony and-” Topsy silenced her with a gesture.

”Music helps,” he said stilly. ”I d-don’t hear the winds when I p-play.” Topsy took a deep breath. ”It feels so… g-good. So good to h-hear my own thoughts. I’m… not dangerous now.”

Ditzy hopped trotted up and hugged him. He hugged back tenderly, carefully, as if she was a delicate flower. ”That makes me happy, Topsy,” Ditzy said. She held his hooves in hers. He hardly twitched at all now. ”Do you… not hear them at all now?”

”I do, b-but the more I play… the easier it becomes to… i-ignore them,” Topsy managed a wry grin. ”I… I work on it,” Ditzy’s heart melted. Topsy’s smile was real; it was his smile, not the wind’s. It was nearly the first time she saw that.

”Have you learned not to listen?” Ditzy asked, somewhat worried. ”But listening is your special talent, isn’t it? Is it really good too… too unlearn your destiny?”

”My talent is to listen.” Topsy said evenly, which was an accomplishment for him. ”But what I have begun to learn is how… n-not to listen. I can still do it when I want to, but I-I no longer hear them constantly. And… I’m starting t-to learn how to choose to be guided… how not to become the winds’ slave…”

”Is this why you live here of all places? For the music?” Ditzy looked at the large pipe organ. It was definitely the only possibility Topsy would have for music, being located in a place were nopony could hear. Ditzy tried to remember if any other of Topsy’s many hideaways were located as out-of-the-way as this one. She could not think of any.

She got her answer when Topsy nodded. ”Here I have peace and quiet for my music. I need that.”

Ditzy found herself wondering how Topsy had managed to combine the words ”peace and quiet” with something located in the middle of Everfree, but she pushed the thought away. She sat down beside him on the stool and put her packet of muffins down on the keyboard.

”Muffin?” Ditzy grinned and opened the box. ”And maybe you could play a little more for me, yes?”

”My p-pleasure,” Topsy replied softly and nuzzled Ditzy’s wing.

”Funny,” Ditzy thought as she let her eyes relax and slide off in different directions, ”how such a strong pony can be so…”

*****

Trixie was getting annoyed. She needed to do something. She was Trixie for Trixie’s sake, she was not made to sit around and wait. It was not any hard demand; she did not need a Canterlot Caper to be happy, she just needed to feel like they were actually doing something, anything. Just something that made her heart beat faster and her body tense with excitement. She thought she would get it yesterday when they, at least, had made up basic plans. But of course not. Something had gone haywire just after she left, and Flim had called off everything until they could meet again. She was on her way now.

”Incredible,” Trixie grumbled as she went up the garden path to Filthy’s mansion. ”Trixie leaves them alone for five minutes, and this is what happens? Ooh, they’d be so lost without me.”

She spotted Suri walking towards her with over Filthy’s garden. Trixie went up to her closest friend. Suri and Trixie were on the same on the same wavelength, and it was nice to have another mare to talk with, considering most of The Circus were stallions. Not that Trixie had any problems with Ditzy, but she was not the most inspiring conversationalist.

”What have they done now?” Trixie asked snidely, but not exactly unkind. ”As soon as the two of us leave everything goes to Tartarus, doesn’t it?”

”I don’t know,” Suri mumbled. Trixie was surprised to see that Suri’s voice sounded hollow and slightly dazed. The contrast to her normally superior and assertive demeanor was clear as Topsy’s clashing colors. ”I…uh, don’t know.”

”Why does Trixie have a feeling you are not telling her everything?” Trixie asked inquisitively.

”None of your business!” Suri replied, suddenly hostile. Trixie balked at the sudden change in character. Suri seemed more frazzled than she had ever seen her. She was more out of balance now than when Trixie had seen her during the Canterlot Caper. Trixie filed this piece of information away in her ”to be investigated” cabinet. It was clear that Suri did not want to tell her anything right now.

The two mares went over Filthy’s garden in oppressing silence. It was interrupted only when a cloud gray ball of feathers and fur fell out of the sky. Ditzy looked up, more disoriented than usual, and took Trixie’s outstretched hoof. ”Thanks, what’s going on?” Ditzy asked with an innocent smile as she got up and started trotting along with her friends, unfazed by the crash-landing.

”Trixie does not know, and somepony is not telling her,” Trixie answered with a pointy look towards Suri.

”Who?” Ditzy asked curiously.

”Never mind,” Trixie sighed. ”Where is Topsy, for that matter? I haven’t seen him in forever.”

”He… he didn’t want to leave the forest,” Ditzy explained. ”He is playing music now, to help calming down, so he is doing good.”

”Trixie is surprised the forest is still standing if he has been there for three whole months,” Trixie pointed out. ”I imagined it would burn down after three days. Most things does not hold up very well against him.”

”They do too!” Ditzy exclaimed in a hurt voice. ”Topsy does not destroy stuff, the winds make him do that! And he does not shock things anymore either, so don’t speak like that about him.”

Trixie did not point out that Ditzy had been struck by Topsy’s errant thunder herself a few times.

The three mares came up to the gazebo and Ditzy pushed the door. It refused to open. She pushed it again, a little harder. It still didn’t budge. ”It opens outward,” Trixie reminded. Ditzy hid her blushing face as she pulled the door. When she came in, she saw Flim fling over a few coins to Flam.

”Thank you, Ditzy,” Flam said with a, for him, merry tone. ”You just made me five bits richer.”

”Happy to help,” Ditzy replied with a mirthful voice. ”Ehm, how did I do that?” she added uncertainly.

”My brother betted you would open the door right the first time, and I betted against,” Flam explained. Ditzy was unsure what she was supposed to think about this.

”Morning, everypony,” Filthy Rich said calmly as he entered. He took his customary seat, closed his eyes and exhaled slowly. ”Sorry, I had trouble sleeping. Flim, remind me to buy a more comfortable couch. This one does strange things to my back.”

”Duly noted,” Flim replied.

Silence settled over the gazebo. Everypony looked at Filthy.

”Well,” Trixie urged. ”Go on. Trixie demands to know what you have done to put a kink in Trixie and her friends’ great and powerful plans. Trixie is bored.”

”I am kind of curious myself actually,” Flim chipped in. ”Tell us, please. And don’t leave any detail. What insult did you use? Must have been a good one, based on her expression when he came down the stares.”

”Insult?” Ditzy asked no pony in particular. ”Have you insulted somepony? Who?”

”His wife,” Flam answered before Filthy could stop him.

”This is my business and my business alone, thank you all very much,” Filthy replied with a cold glare at the expectant Flim and Trixie. ”My private life is not your entertainment, understood?”

”No, it isn’t,” Flim said plainly. ”Not entertainment, but not only your business either.” Filthy turned his displeased look solely to the unicorn.

”Look, Filthy,” Flam continued. ”We are The Circus; brothers and sisters in crime. If you somehow have missed it, we look out for one another.”

Filthy began to say something, but Flim interrupted. His tone was more serious now. ”You don’t have to tell us, just know that we will listen if you need us too.”

For a moment, just one moment, Suri contemplated telling what had happened to her. She quickly banished that idea. Spoiled’s insult was her problem, not theirs. It was not right for her to bring up her own problems in a time when Filthy and Spoiled was already on edge. Their marriage could be permanently damaged if she did. She would manage alone somehow. Everypony for themselves. She had lived by that phrase for as long as she could remember. She was not about to stop now.

So Suri remained silent.

”Look, uh…” Filthy began uncertainly. ”My wife and I have had some… differing ideas about my little diamond. Spoiled wants to send her to a private school in Canterlot, and when I disapproved she got… angry.”

”’Angry’ in this context means that she wanted to rip somepony to shreds and use the remains as mulch,” Flim clarified dryly.

”Why did you two discuss that?” Ditzy asked. Her face made it apparent that she was not following. ”What does Diamond want? That’s the most important thing, isn’t it?”

”I agree,” Filthy replied. ”But Spoiled does not like that Diamond spend so much time with… the lower class, as she would say. I think she want Diamond out of town to…’protect’ her.” Filthy paused for a moment. ”Can we please talk about our work instead? I need to sort out some thoughts on my own, alright?”

”Suri?” Flam said and shifted his look to the orchid mare.

”Hmm?” her ears perked up when she heard her name. ”What did you say?”

”I didn’t. How is that comic coming along?” Flam answered. ”I imagine there is not to much to do until we have it, save for some preparatory fieldwork. My brother and I can handle it, I imagine?” Flam looked to his brother, who nodded.

”Can I help, maybe?” Suri asked. Being away from Spoiled and Filthy for a while was probably a good idea. That, if anything, should prove that she was not after Filthy’s affections. ”Vanhoover is just my kind of city, m’kay.”

”Sure, as long as you can work with the comic in the meantime. I can stay at home and cover things up with Bon-Bon,” Flim proposed. ”Is that alright with you, brother of mine?”

”Of course,” Flam replied dismissively.

”Trixie would rather join you too,” Trixie shrugged. ”As she said, she is bored. Some spying is just what she needs.”

”Then I will book three first class tickets to Vanhoover,” Flim said. He leaned back. ”My fellow artists, I think our next coup is slowly gaining its momentum.”

*****

”Ditzy?”

Said pegasus stopped in the door and looked back towards Filthy Rich with one eye and the floor with the other. The tan earth pony had slumped down again behind the spacious table. The others had left, leaving the two of them alone. ”Would you sit down for a little while? I think I need some advice.”

”Advice? From me?” Ditzy pointed at her face. Why would Filthy want her advice of all the ponies in The Circus? Why not Flim or Flam if it was about anything in their coup? Or Suri for that matter? That mare seemed to be much more urbane than her.

”Yes, no pony else knows this,” Filthy explained, causing Ditzy to blush a little.

”Well… what is it then?”

”You have a daughter who you love very dearly,” Filthy stated plainly. ”So I think if there is anypony who know what I ought to do, then it’s you.” Filthy silenced and took a slow breath. ”I think Spoiled will try to transfer Diamond to that school in Canterlot. I can stop it, but should I?”

”I don’t know,” Ditzy answered quickly, nervously. ”She is not my wife, I don’t know her that well. I can’t make that choice for you.”

”What would you do?” Filthy asked plainly. ”Just answer.”

Ditzy thought for a moment. ”I would see what Dinky wanted first, and then decide.”

Filthy nodded. ”Then that’s what I will do.” He rose from the table and left the gazebo. Filthy knew Spoiled would not wait with trying to get Diamond transferred, so she would send those letters sooner rather than late. He would certainly have preferred to take care of them himself, or better yet have Ditzy just ”loose” the letters in the mail. But if this comic coup actually worked, then they would all be tied up by it. Filthy needed somepony who watched Spoiled every day, and intercepted the letters.

Fortunately, there was one such pony.

A minute later Filthy found who he was looking for, preparing the customary three course meal for him, Spoiled and Diamond. Randolph stood in front of the kitchen oven, while also chopping up vegetables and monitoring three pots. ”Sir,” he said formally without taking the eyes of his many chores. ”May I be of service?”

”Indeed, Randolph,” Filthy said with a casually commanding tone. ”It is fully possible that I need to leave on a… business trip, rather soon. I think my wife will then try to send letters to Canterlot. I don’t want those letters sent, understood?”

”Of course, sir,” Randolph replied and took a pot from the stove and poured up the vegetable soup in a silver taurine. ”Though I should point out that going behind her back like this is most distasteful.”

”Who is it you work for again?” Filthy asked with a voice of feigned wonder.

”You, sir,” Randolph answered.

”Make sure those letters do not get to Canterlot. I don’t care what hoops you have to jump through; this is important.” Filthy emphasized.

”Consider it done,” Randolph answered evenly. Not a syllable gave away what he thought about his new mission. His place was to serve, and serve he would.

Author's Note

There is my OC, Topsy.

First and foremost, no there is no shipping with him and Ditzy in this story, but if you have read the prequel, then you know that he still share a very deep bond with the bubbly mailmare.

Break-in Bewilderment

”Alright, brother, let’s begin. There is a small inconvenience behind us that must be dealt with first, but that should be easy.” Flam said lightly to his brother. Flim’s ears peaked up. He picked up a small make-up mirror and a comb. He levitated the mirror up to eye level and made a show of sliding the comb through his peppermint mane. Instead of taking in his appearance, he was keeping careful watch of the pony behind him.

She looked like the mare next door. Long raincoat, hat, scarf and her mane and tail carefully tied up. Some would say it was a fashion choice, but Flim knew that posture. After all, he had stalked her for the last week. Bon-Bon had followed them to Vanhoover. She had tied up her mane and tail to hide their iconic coloring. ”An inconvenience indeed, brother of mine. So, shall we try to escape now, or should we have something to eat first? I read somewhere that Vanhoover have some really nice restaurants.”

”Well, dear brother, I have been meaning to test a little something out,” Flam said. ”It struck me the other day… I really have no good way to escape or fight back when nopony else is around.”

”You are good at balancing on ropes,” Flim pointed out. ”Though on the ground you might get in trouble, that’s true.”

”And I think I have the remedy,” Flam declared proudly. ”Come on.” Flam began to walk a lot faster, and Flim followed. The mare behind them picked up the pace too, erasing all doubts as to who it was. Flam began to trot, and then run. Suddenly, the two brothers were running as fast as their hooves wold carry them from the mare behind them. Flam leaped to his left and into an alleyway. Flim raced in behind him and nearly collided with Flam, who had stopped as soon as he got out of Bon-bon sight.

”Look away now, brother,” Flam said excitedly. He levitated up a small make-up mirror similar to his brother’s. It was plated with gold and had his cutie mark engraved on the back. He quickly opened it to reveal the mirror. Below it, where a mare would have some rouge, Flam instead had some silvery, extremely fine powder behind a strainer.

With a jerky motion he swept the mirror in front of him, producing a thin silver cloud.

”Hold it, you two,” Bon-bon said as she came around the corner. Flam’s horn started to glow as he hid his face in the elbow.

”Smile up for the camera,” he smirked, and in the next moment, Bon-bon gazed into the sun. She gave a startled scream and staggered backwards with a hoof over her eyes. She stumbled and was left sitting on the street. She heard ponies starting to gather around. Bon-bon blinked a few times, but to no avail. Everything she saw was coated in a dazzling white sheen, making it impossible to see properly. She looked around, dazed and confused, but could only make out a mass of formless figures around her, everything white.

”Miss, are you alright? What happened?” Somepony asked her. She looked towards the source of the sound but saw only a contorted mess.

”Where are they? The stallions in the alleyway, stop them,” she commanded one of the formless figures around her.

”Uh, miss? There is no pony there. Did they do this to you?”

Bon-Bon cursed under her breath. It was bad enough that she had missed half The Circus moving out one week ago, but to also loose the brothers now was just incompetent and dumb. ”Just get me to a place to sit down,” She mumbled and felt a pair of hooves helping her up.

”What was that flash anyway?” she wondered.

”What was that flash?” Flim asked from inside a conveniently placed trashcan. Sometimes it was good to have been raised on the streets, you were never without hiding places. ”I guess that’s your idea for escaping trouble, isn’t it?”

”Magnesium powder,” Flam explained from a neighboring trashcan. ”With a small spell I can ignite it, and that creates the light. It’s the same stuff used for photo flashes. Now let’s get out of here before the garbage pony, or worse, the police comes.”

Flim peeked out and tipped his trashcan away from the street as soon as the coast was clear. ”Huh, that’s useful,” he said and brushed himself off, ”but I can’t say it’s the most subtile way to escape. If you use that after dark, then everypony will know exactly where you are, wont they?”

”That only means I can use it as a decoy too,” Flam replied nonchalantly.

”If you say so,” Flim said with a shrug. ”I guess you are clever enough to use it effectively.”

”Don’t you worry none brother,” Flam said confidently. ”Come. We need to take care of that mare before she goes out shopping or something like that.”

”True. Where did she live again? Printing Types, or whatever her name was?” Flim asked.

”Printing Types, yes. Just a few blocks over that way,” Flam answered. ”She has been going out grocery shopping in two days intervals, and today is one of those days if the pattern holds.”

”Then let’s hurry.”

A few minutes of brisk walking and putting on masks later, the two brothers found themselves in front of a multi-story brick building. There were comely flowers under every window, giving the house a cute feeling in the otherwise gray street. Flim decisively opened the door and looked around. There was a staircase right in front of him and a small door to what probably was a broom closet.

”Third floor,” Flam said silently ”corridor to the left and first door on the same side.”

”Got it,” Flim mumbled back. ”have you given any thought to how we are going to do this?”

”I have an idea,” Flam shrugged. ”But we must be more than extra careful about letting anypony see us now. We have no Illusionist on our side, so we can’t assume the police will just drop the case this time.”

”I am aware,” Flim said shortly. ”Just tell me what to do.”

Flam described his plan shortly and Flim nodded with a mischievous grin. He silently trotted into the corridor and stood behind their target’s door. He pulled out a thin rope from his sleeve and stood at the ready.

Flam donned his game face and went casually into the corridor. He knocked at the door listened. When he heard hoof steps he produced another cloud of magnesium and quickly skipped in behind the door.

”Hello?” the pony who had opened the door said. ”Is anypony the-” Flam closed his eyes and ignited the powder.

The mare who had opened the door yelped in surprise. Flam darted out behind the door, pressed her mouth together and yanked her out in the corridor. He barely had the time to get out of the way as his brother’s ropes snaked through the air and laid a noose around her mouth and legs, effectively silencing and immobilizing her.

The brothers levitated her up together and brought her into the open apartment. She whimpered slightly in her gag. Flim went in behind and closed the door. He pulled out another rope and twisted it quickly, spelling out a few letters.

W-H-E-R-E-T-O

He ended with an artistic question mark, albeit without the dot.

Flam put his head against his right hoof and pretended to sleep for a moment. Flim nodded.

”mmghff!?” The mare whimpered and wriggled about in Flam’s magic. The brothers ignored her and looked about in the apartment after the bedroom where they could tie her up conveniently. A quick search later they put her down on the bed. Flam held her down with his magic while Flim began to tie her down. ”MMMGHPH! HMMGHM!” She whimpered and fought as best she could against the magic. The brothers spotted tears from her unseeing eyes.

A few minutes later she was tied on top of her bed, her head the only thing that could move.

C-O-M-E, Flim spelled out and began to sneak away silently. Flam followed. They stopped and listened for a moment before they went outside the apartment to make sure there was no pony there. All was silent and they went out casually. Flam closed the door and placed a small envelope outside it.

”That went swimmingly,” Flim said proudly once they were out on the street again.

”That it did,” Flam said. ”Thanks to your amazing tricks.”

”Stop it,” Flim said dismissively. ”You blinded her. She never saw nor heard us. Your plans, if anything, are awesomely amazing. What was the letter?”

”From her boss, explaining that she has been pranked. And yes, my schemes are simply splendid,” Flam confirmed smugly. ”Come. Let’s wait for The Bearded Mare by Grand Hotel’s bar, shall we?”

”Yet another dazzling design,” Flim said with a grin. ”Think they have some cider?”

*****

Filthy Rich took the suitcase and stepped out from the first class train coupe. He immediately spotted his partner in crime. Suri sat by a small bar with a steaming cup of coffee in front of her. Aside from her trademark scarf she also wore a mane pin the shape of a moth orchid. He went up to her and tapped her on the shoulder.

After having finished her coffee, Suri and Filthy made their way to PC comics. Suri involuntarily thought about what Spoiled would say if she saw this; she and Filthy taking a walk together in Vanhoover. This week had helped her forget her problems, but unfortunately she was nowhere closer to a permanent solution now than she had been when she left. She moved those thought into the back of her mind and buried them. They had work to do. She could worry about her own problems later.

Filthy looked at a large building, an office complex by the looks of it. ”Was it up on this roof you said?”

Suri nodded. ”Go to floor five. Trixie will pick the locks to the roof and keep a lookout. Be ready in ten minutes at the latest, m’kay.”

”M’kay,” Filthy mimicked with a playful voice. He went into the house with The suitcase steadily on his back.

”M’kay, might as well get to it then…” She trotted into a nearby hotel, and looked around after the restrooms. She found them, trotted in and looked into the mirror. Beautiful as always. She looked around quickly and then reached into her saddlebag. She took out one of her masterfully crafted masks, a cloak and some dye. She put on her mask and then her cloak. She noted that it covered most of her body, except her puffy, luxurious tail, which she proceeded to dye carefully. She scrutinized at her new look with a critical eye. There were guards by the printworks; she had to look perfect.

Flim and Flam should have the original pony tied up, quite literally, so there shouldn’t be any problems as long as she was a good enough actor. She still had a little problem mimicking the voice of Printing Types, so she had to be careful with that, but otherwise she was confident. Suri looked into her new, jade green contact lenses. ”Curtains rise, I guess,” she told her mirror image and shook her head.

She trotted on towards the low glass building that was the place where the Power Ponies were printed. The place was off limits, with two watchponies by the door. Suri went up to them. The rightmost watchpony looked up and nodded. She nodded back.

”Hello, Printing Types, forgotten something?”

Suri nodded and motioned to her throat.

”Hmm? You lost your voice?” the watchpony asked with a somewhat suspicious voice. ”You seemed fine when you went home earlier…?”

”I know,” Suri said hoarsely. She was hoped that the guards would attribute the rasp in her disguised voice to the sore throat. ”But I don’t feel so well. Think I will work from home tomorrow, just need to get some things…”

”Ah, but you know we can’t let you in after work hours,” the watchpony said nervously. ”Wouldn’t look good…”

”I know, I know,” Suri said with a silent, sensual voice. She looked deep into the watchpony’s eyes. ”But it thought you might make an exception for me, won’t you?” She coughed violently, and looked back at the watchpony with somewhat watery eyes. ”I really don’t think I can be here tomorrow. Pretty please?” Suri batted her eyelashes and gave another small cough.

”I really don’t think-”

”Pretty please with cherries on top?” Suri was sure to sneak in a desperate edge in her voice.

”If it goes quickly, then who can complain?” The other watchpony said with somewhat flushed cheeks. The first one looked at his colleague with a roll of his eyes. ”Come on. What could happen?”

The first one shook his head, turned and unlocked the door behind him. It clicked open and three ponies entered. Together they went together past a loading bay and further into the building. Suri heard a soft clanking sound that became stronger and stronger as she went.

Suddenly, the two watchponies diverted from the main corridor and entered an elevator. Without missing a beat, she followed. She assumed Printing Types’s office must be located on a higher floor. The watchponies stood still, seemingly waiting for something. Suri understood and pressed one of the buttons at random. She had no idea where ”her” office was, not that it mattered.

”Why are we going to the marketing floor?” one of the watchponies asked suspiciously.

Suri kept her expression unchanged as she thought. She did hit an office floor, which was all that really mattered. She knew that all offices in this building had openable windows. Now she just had to get the idiots where she wanted them. She smiled slyly.

”I… may, in fact, not only be here to collect my things. Maybe I wanted to see a couple of handsome, strong watchponies too… and then corner them both in an office…?” The last words were barely more than a whisper. She whisked slightly with her tail and breathed a little heavier.

Strictly speaking it was not even a lie. She did want to corner them in an office.

”I-I-what?” The watchpony who had opened the door looked like he had bitten a chili pepper. His cheeks shone like traffic lights. The other pony seemed suspicious. The elevator gave a soft tone as it stopped. Suri winked once and went out of the elevator quickly, leaving the two watchponies behind.

”Wait up, Printing Types,” one of the guards said with an authoritative voice.

She ignored him and went into one of the closest offices. She inspected the window, but found it locked. She mumbled a curse before she smashed it to splinters with her forehooves. Not exactly subtile, but it would work. An annoyed sound came from one of the guards. They both came into the office.

”What do you think you are doing?” One of the guards asked with an angry gesture to the window. ”Come with me. You will be fined for that.”

”Come and get me,” Suri said, still in her disguised voice.

Both watch ponies looked like she had slapped them. ”Very well, Miss Types,” one of them said and came at her slowly. The other one followed.

Suri had just the time to get worried before a dart flew through the window and hit the first pony. He screamed out once in pain before the drugs took effect and his muscles relaxed. As soon as she heard the scream, Suri fished out her mane pin from her saddlebag. She placed the orchid in her hoof and slashed with the thin nail at the other pony, who was more or less stunned in surprise. He jerked backwards as he felt the nail drill into his muscle. Suri squeezed the small button against the other pony and her hoof, injecting the hypnotic. The pony looked into Suri’s contact lenses as he fainted.

Suri looked at the fainted watchpony and shook her head. ”Stallions… a mare so much as looks at them and their brains automatically assume she is in heat…” She kicked the watchpony once for good measure.

She went back to the pony Filthy had shot and collected both the dart and the keyring before she returned to the elevator. She pressed the button to the first floor and went back to the door she came from. The door was closed. She placed ear at to it and listened. When she heard hoof steps she opened and allowed Filthy Rich to enter.

Suri hoofed Filthy the dart, and he quickly placed it in his suitcase. ”So, you have bought some new equipment I see?” Filthy said with an approving look to Suri’s mane pin, which she now wore. ”I like it. Once you get that dye washed out of your mane I think it will look good on you.”

”I look good in everything,” Suri said with certainty. She was still happy that Filthy noticed all work she put down in her appearance though. She also realized that Spoiled Rich would have strangled her if she heard Filthy say that.

”And as everyone,” Filthy added. They rounded a corner and came to another set of doors. Suri took out the keyring she had snatched from the guard and proceeded to try the different keys. The doors opened at the third one. Suri kicked the door open and entered.

The room was huge. Filthy and Suri stood on an elevated walkway that went around the giant room. Below them were a series of printing presses, churning out all manner of printed stuff. ”I guess everything is automated then, just as Flam said,” Suri nodded. ”It works like an assembly line, blank papers are fed at one end and out comes completed and ready-to-be-sent papers.”

A pile of Manehattan Times laid by the closest press. Suri trotted down the staircase and up to the pile. She looked at the headline, took out one of the papers and browsed up the last pages. ”Filthy, do you know any word for ’warrior of the sea’ with nine letters?”

”Mr. Rich,” Filthy corrected. He mumbled to himself for a few moments. ”Is swordfish nine letters?” He called back as he came down from the walkway. ”Didn’t know you were into crosswords, Suri.”

”It’s the perfect way to relax when I don’t feel like sewing, m’kay,” Suri said as she folded the paper and placed it in her saddlebag. ”Now, do you know how to operate these things? I don’t.”

”We don’t have to,” Filthy called back. ”They are automated, so all we have to do is change the printer template. Come on now, help me find the right press.”

”How convenient,” Suri said with a relieved voice. She and her accomplice went around the many presses, looking at the papers.

”Found anything yet?!” Suri called after a few minutes. Filthy didn’t answer, he stood like hypnotized and looked at something by one of the presses. ”You found it, or what?” Suri asked and went up to him. She took one look at the cover of the paper, sighed and slapped Filthy hard, bringing him out of his stupor.

”Work, now, Playcolt, later! We are breaking in; this is not the time for… THAT!” she growled and pointed at the magazine. Filthy dropped the paper with a sheepish look and went away with strangely wide eyes. Suri looked down on the obscene cover. A pony, of course. Pegasus mare with fully erected wings. ”Do stallions ever think with their brains?”

She thought and continued her search, and also took the opportunity to ”burrow” a few papers for the train ride home, including the next number of The Crosswords Currier and a few traveling papers.

”Found it!” Suri called after ten something minutes. It was one of the smaller presses in the near the back of the room. Filthy came around the corner, now with a more controlled look. He looked at the pile of comics being spat out from the machine.

”Mane-iac and the Grand Slam Scam?” Filthy read the title. ”Huh, so the Mane-iac is still in commission? How nostalgic.” He slipped one of the comics into his suitcase.

”Didn’t know you were into this, Filthy,” Suri remarked, surprised. ”Isn’t this a little too… childish for you? Sounds like something Ditzy might like, but not you.”

”Rich! My name is Rich!” Filthy corrected in an annoyed and somewhat resigned voice. ”And I grew up with these. I might not know so much about those new fancy plot lines and villains, but I still remember my childhood heroes.” They went alongside the press to find the template. They didn’t have to look for long. A series of hoof-drawn pages laid at a small pedestal, and a small light flashed at even intervals, almost like a camera.

”So, I guess we simply remove the templates and replace them with my improved version then?” Suri asked.

”I guess,” Filthy shrugged.

Suri took of her saddlebag and produced the folder with her comics. ”What is it about anyway?” Filthy asked when he saw the surprisingly high quality of the paintings and writing. ”Wasn’t it supposed to just be somepony stealing the orb? Why do you have so many pages?”

”Ditzy wanted me to make it a real issue,” Suri shrugged. ”She came up with the storyline and wrote the whole thing, and I had a feeling it was easier to just do what she wanted rather than dissuade her. So now we have…” Suri riffled through the pages until she got to what Filthy assumed was the cover art. ”…Neighvar Kreuger’s Museum Momentum.”

”Huh,” Filthy shrugged. ”well, whatever. Let’s just plant it and be done.” He looked over the pages at the pedestal. ”Okay, so let’s switch the pages one at a time. There is no telling how this machine responds if one of the templates are missing when it tries to scan it.”

They proceeded to switch the thirty-something pages just after the flashes. ”You know,” Filthy remarked as they were working, ”I feel kind of bad about this. Some ponies are now going to get a comic with pieces of both stories in them.”

”So?”

”So they are unreadable and incomplete,” Filthy replied. ”I don’t feel good ruining these comics for some random readers like this.”

”But kidnapping, extortion, destruction of property, theft, and… whatever else you have done is alright?” Suri asked with a deadpan look.

”Hush with you,” Filthy mumbled as he placed the last few pages onto the pedestal.

”M’kay,” Suri said when they were done. ”So now we wait for one of them to be printed and then get out, I guess?”

”No,” Filthy said. ”It takes almost an hour for the ink to dry, and I don’t want to wait here for longer than necessary, especially since the cracked window might attract unwanted attention.”

”Then what?” Suri asked. She had assumed they would get the paper now and be done.

”Don’t worry. I just placed a subscription to the Power Ponies, so I will receive their latest issue direct home in my mailbox. We just have to wait.”

”Alright,” Suri shrugged. ”Then let’s get out of here.”

”Not yet,” Filthy said with a grin.

”What? Have you forgotten something?”

”You said it yourself, ’first work, then Playcolt’, Work is over, so I will go and fetch me some… reading matter, as it were.” Filthy tried to keep his voice professional, but failed miserably.

Suri shook her head, grabbed Filthy by the ear and dragged him away. ”Hey, OUSH! STOP THAT! I WAS ONLY KIDDING!”

”No, you weren’t.” Suri shook her head and dragged him away.

Filthy gave a resigned sigh. ”You are starting to sound like my wife.”

Suri froze for a moment. That statement felt far, far more uncomfortable than she imagined, and it also made her very much aware that she still had no solution for her problems with Spoiled.

*****

Flim, Flam, Trixie, Suri and Filthy Rich leaned back in the comfy sofas that were standard for all first-class trains in Equestria. They had ordered in some artichoke leaves and something to drink. In truth, none of them had any clue what it was they were drinking; Filthy had just gone with the most expensive thing they had. Some fruity, winelike brewage with a distinct taste of cherries and blueberry.

”Just a few days until we get the comic,” Flam said and plopped a succulent artichoke leaf in his mouth. He chewed slowly. ”And then we just need to contract the doctor.”

”I have yet to meet a pony who can say no to us,” Filthy remarked. ”He will comply, one way or another. And Equilibrist, I also need to take care of a little something regarding my wife and butler, just so you know.” Filthy was certain Randolph must have intercepted the letters at this point. Filthy had been gone for a few days, the perfect time for Spoiled to make her move.

”Can’t you guys think of something other than your jobs for five minutes?” Suri asked and looked up from her crosswords with an annoyed glare. ”We all know the next part of the plan, so just give it a rest already, m’kay?”

”Why are you so stingy all of a sudden?” Flim asked. ”You don’t like… whatever this is?” Flim swirled the red-purple liquid in his glass and took another sip. ”I must say I do.”

”I don’t like being disturbed by your eternal rambling,” Suri answered cooly and took up the pen in her mouth again.

Flim got an angry look for a moment, but he hid it quickly. ”Well, if my company is not desired, I will go to the dining car. There is always somepony who is up for a good game of Blackjack.” He rose stiffly.

”Count me in, brother,” Flam said. ”Been too long since I had me a good battle of wits.” The twins brohoofed and went out, leaving Filthy, Trixie and an absent Suri. Silence settled. Flim had been the most talkative of them, so when he left the conversation effectively died.

”Filthy, perhaps you could go and fetch Trixie some peanut butter crackers?”

”Why can’t you go yourself?” Filthy asked tiredly. ”And I’ve told you I prefer Rich.”

”The Great and Powerful Trixie thought you were a gentlestallion?” Trixie replied quickly with a heightened eyebrow. Filthy sighed and left. It was probably easier to just oblige and get Trixie her treats. And the spirit in the room was not very comfortable, for that matter.

The moment the door had closed, Trixie turned to Suri. ”Alright, we are going to have a small talk.” Suri ignored her.

The azure unicorn’s eyes narrowed. If there was one thing The Great and Powerful Trixie could not stand it was ponies ignoring her. She ignited her horn again and snatched Suri’s newspaper with her magic. ”Hello? Trixie is talking to you,” Trixie said sharply. ”As annoying as he can be, The Equilibrist did not deserve that. What’s with you anyway?”

”I recall I told you last week that it is none of your business.” Suri hissed.

Trixie glared at Suri while she thought.

Suri had snapped at her just before they left for Vanhoover, but while they were there she had been as cheerful as ever. Trixie and Suri had seen the sights in the city together, shopped together and eaten at the fancy restaurants together too.

Suri had not been like this for all the time she was away from Ponyville.

Not since she was about to discuss Filthy’s wife. ”Does this have anything to do with Spoiled Rich?” Trixie asked slowly.

”No!” Suri cut her off quickly. ”No! No! No! It has nothing to do with her, with you, or anything else either, so just leave me be!”

Trixie hid her smirk. Suri’s reaction told her she had found an end to begin working at. ”Trixie is not sure you are telling her the truth. But it doesn’t matter, Trixie will make you tell her.”

”I will not tell you anything, and you can’t force me,” Suri replied defiantly.

”Not me, but Trixie’s horn most certainly can,” Trixie remarked with a sinister smile. ”So either you tell her now, or she will make you tell her.”

Suri looked like she was ready to slap Trixie, but she did sit still. Trixie’s horn started to glow, and the same light appeared around Suri’s throat.

”Waitwaitwait!” Suri yelped. She held up her hooves in a protective gesture. ”I’ll tell you, m’kay!”

”I knew you would see things Trixie’s way eventually,” Trixie said with a victorious grin.

”M’kay,” Suri said slowly. She swallowed, then sighed. ”The evening after Filthy and Spoiled argued…”

Suri grudgingly recounted her scolding for Trixie. It felt good to vent the unfair treatment Spoiled had given her, better than she had imagined. She had always been on her own, so this was the first time she really opened up about her problems to another pony. Trixie did not seem to judge her either, nor did she give any snide remarks. In fact, she looked just as shocked as Suri had felt at the time. Suri was not sure why, but she felt grateful that Trixie actually listened.

”You and Filthy?” Trixie asked when Suri silenced. ”She thought that?”

”Apparently,” Suri sighed. ”don’t ask me how.”

”Oh, but you two would look cute together, now that Trixie thinks of it,” Trixie said with a sweet voice.

Suri was not sure what to make of it, so she decided that Trixie must be sarcastic. ”Not helping,” she mumbled.

”So you are worried that Spoiled will figure out Filthy and you spent time in Vanhoover together and draw some… conclusions then?” Trixie asked. ”She can understand your worry, but you might still want to apologize to The Equilibrist.”

Suri nodded. ”I know, m’kay. I will.” They were both silent for a moment. Only the train’s clanking sound could be heard. ”Hey, Trixie?”

”Hmm?” Trixie looked up.

”Do you know what Filthy sees in that mare? I have known her for just a few months, and I already hate her. I don’t get it how he can love her, much less have a foal with her.”

”Trixie shares your feelings, sister,” Trixie said consolatory. ”She does not like Spoiled very much either. And, for all her greatness and power, she does not know much about Filthy’s and Spoiled’s history. However, she can tell you this: Trixie has been in The Circus for a while, and these last few months are the only time she has seen Spoiled in Ponyville for any period longer than a few days.”

”She doesn’t normally live there?” Suri asked. That could explain Spoiled’s hasty conclusion. Since she did not see Filthy very often, maybe she worried that Filthy was unfaithful? A shiver went through her spine at the thought. Spoiled thought that Filthy and Suri had an affair.

Trixie shook her head. ”Trixie is sorry she can’t tell you more. However, if you want to learn about Filthy’s relation with Spoiled, she would suggest talking to Filthy, obviously, or Flam.”

”Flam? What would he know about this?”

Trixie chuckled. ”Trixie will have you know that before he contacts anypony to join us, he makes sure to know exactly who he is dealing with. Wouldn’t surprise her in the least if he knew Filthy’s relation with Spoiled even better than Filthy himself.”

Trixie’s right ear twitched. ”and speaking of The Cerberus, I think Mr. Rich is just coming back.”

Indeed, one moment later, Filthy Rich returned with a silver tray of crackers on his back.

”Oh, and one more thing,” Trixie said nonchalantly. ”Trixie really has no clue how to force a pony to speak. Just so you know.”

Comic Calamity

With a jerk and puff, the train stopped by Ponyville station. Suri looked up from her shallow slumber and took a moment to figure out where she was. When she saw Trixie sleeping in the seat across her, she remembered.

Somepony knocked on the door. ”Arrival at Ponyville now, Mr. Filthy,” the conductor called.

”Rich,” Filthy Rich replied through a yawn.

Suri looked out on the darkened railway station. The clock showed a few minutes past eleven, and it was completely dark aside from the cozy light of the lampposts that lined Ponyville Mane Street. Her heart nearly skipped a beat when she saw a certain pony with her typically impatient look keeping vigil under the closest lamppost.

”So, shall we?” Filthy asked. He looked relaxed as can be from only one and half hours sleep.

”Coming,” Suri said with a distinct feeling of dread. If there was anything that would make Spoiled even more hostile it was her seeing Suri and Filthy leaving the train from a city like Vanhoover. It was not exactly known for being the most… innocent of cities, one might say.

The three ponies left their first class cart, Suri coming last, and met up with Flim and Flam by the exit. Both of their saddlebags were considerably heavier now than when they had boarded the train. Based on that, and the glares they both received, it was easy to figure out how their Blackjack games had gone.

The brothers both hopped off the train first, and Filthy threw his suitcase to Flam who caught it. In Ponyville they were supposed to be Filthy’s accountants, so they had to look the part. Filthy went down after them, and up to his wife. ”Good evening,” he said, surprised by her presence. ”I did not expect you to come and meet me.”

”No, that was the point,” Spoiled said bitingly without looking away from the train. Filthy blinked at the chilly and unusual answer, but decided not to ask anything else.

Suri, meanwhile contemplated just waiting on the train until it left and take the next train back tomorrow, but that would only delay the inevitable, as well as raising uncomfortable questions from Filthy himself. Suri shook her head at that. If there was one pony Suri did not want to involve it was him. She swallowed and went out together with Trixie, and could practically feel the blazing anger from Spoiled’s baleful gaze. She bit her lip and looked up at Filthy’s wife. She only saw the tail as Spoiled dragged a highly confused Filthy with her, leaving two equally confused Flim and Flam behind, one of them still holding the suitcase.

”Okay?” Flim said flatly after a few seconds of perplexed silence.

”Indeed,” Flam agreed. ”Soo…I guess we should get some sleep…?”

”Sure,” Trixie said, looking at Suri with a consoling expression. ”Trixie will see you tomorrow.” The azure mare began making her way to the stagecoach she spent her nights in. The other three started towards Filthy’s mansion. Suri hung her head and her ears were flat. Any hope of making up with Spoiled, make her understand that she was not interested in Filthy, had now gone down in flames. Spoiled would never believe they just worked together now. Suri would definitely not have believed it if she were in Spoiled’s horseshoes.

”Wonder why she was so mad,” Flim said to no pony in particular. ”I know she is horribly bossy, but even she must have a reason before she gets angry… I think?” Flim looked rather uncertain about his own statement.

”I doubt it,” Flam answered dourly. ”But do not doubt that The Wizard will sleep on the couch tonight again. Did you order a new one for him, by the way?”

”I may or may not have forgotten about that,” Flim said sheepishly.

”Hey, Flim?” Suri said in a subdued, resigned voice.

”Hmm? You’ve got something to say? Something on your mind?” Flim’s voice turned stiff and cold, an uncomfortable difference to his usual charismatic, warm vocabulary. He had not forgotten.

”I’m sorry. Sorry for snapping at you earlier, Equilibrist,” Suri said tiredly, but no less truthful. ”I was stressed about and… yea, sorry.”

”What’s with you anyway?” Flim asked with his normal, peppy tone. ”I never thought I’d see you down like this. It doesn’t suit you in the slightest; you are one of those mares who ponies turn around and look after, who trots through life with a spring in her step and charms stallions left, right, up and down. Buck up already.”

Suri did not know weather to laugh or cry at that. She sighed instead. ”Can I ask you something, Flam?”

The mustached unicorn did not answer, but his ears peaked up and turned in Suri’s direction. She hesitated for a moment. She did not like going behind Filthy’s back like this. It felt wrong. She liked him a lot. He was one of the few friends she had ever had, and she did not want to meddle in his marriage without his blessing. But still, she had to know, right? How else could she convince Spoiled that she was not after Filthy’s affections? ”Do you know anything about Spoiled and Filthy’s relationship?”

”Most of it, I like to think.” Flam confirmed. ”But secrets are meant to remain secret.”

”Please. I need to know this,” Suri insisted. ”It’s important, m’kay.”

”Why?”

Suri cursed silently. That was the one question she did not want to answer. Like Flam had said, secrets should be secret, and this was something between her and Spoiled. Nopony else should have to be involved. ”I’d rather not say…”

”Me neither,” Flam replied shortly.

”I don’t want to use this for anything, I just…” Suri stopped, not sure what she was saying. ”Please?” she finished awkwardly. A bitterness flared in her heart. She hated begging like this. She was a better pony than that. Prouder, bigger, more dignified than that. A few months ago she would never had even thought about this humiliation.

”Give me one good reason as to why I should share my friend’s secrets with you?” Flam said cooly. He turned around and looked Suri in the eyes. ”Because I can’t help but notice that you are not asking Filthy himself about this. Instead you come to me. Why?”

”Can’t you just trust me on this? Trust that I don’t want to hurt Filthy in any way?” Suri asked. She kept her annoyance out of her voice.

”So you ask me behind his back?” Flam replied with a bemused expression. ”That is not something that instills a lot of trust.”

”You don’t seem to trust me very much either,” Suri replied bitingly, letting just a little of her annoyance sneak into her voice. ”Perhaps you could trust me when I say I care about Filthy, and then I will show you that you can trust me? Or is that to much to ask that you show some faith in me outside our work as well as in it?”

Flim whistled. ”I think you just got out dueled, brother. Nice one, Suri.”

Flam contemplated for a moment. ”If I find out you double-cross me, I will be most… displeased,” Flam said icily. ”What do you want to know?”

”How did those two even meet in the first place? I don’t see very much love in their relationship.”

”No, I can vouch for that,” Flam replied. ”I don’t the think there ever was any.”

”What? Then why the hay did they marry? And how did they become parents?”

”Because they both had something the other one wanted,” Flam answered simply. ”In case you have missed it, Filthy is a pony with a business mind, and Spoiled is a pony with… a lavish lifestyle. How they came to marry is a pretty long story.”

”I have the time, or do you have a meeting?” Suri asked rhetorically. She caught Flim’s approving look.

”The Tiara line, Spoiled’s family, is an old earth pony clan. Once wealthy too, but thanks to some not-very-clever investments, they fell on hard times. Spoiled’s inheritance would not be able to keep up with her way of living for very long. She tried to charm some other noble whose name I do not know, but that prospect went south after just a few months. Do you see where I am going with this?”

”So she married Filthy Rich.” Suri nodded. ”But why would Filthy agree to that?”

”Two reasons,” Flam answered. The three ponies went past Town Hall and started up the street that would take them up to Filthy’s mansion. ”Partly out of compassion, I imagine, but even more for Spoiled’s title.”

”Wait, what?” Suri nearly tripped when she heard. ”Would Filthy marry somepony just for… just to be able to call himself Earl Rich, or whatever? I don’t believe it; it doesn’t sound like him at all.”

Flam chuckled. ”I told you he had a business mind. The nobles of Equestria are the wealthiest, and most stuck up ponies in our land. Many of them would never socialize with us commoners, no matter how rich they were. However, by marrying a noblemare, Filthy could tap into a market most other ponies could only dream of; with a title he got their attention, and that was all he needed. The marriage with Spoiled is why he was one of the wealthiest ponies in Equestria even before he became The Wizard.”

Suri was silent. ”It… really doesn’t sound like him.” Though, on a more pragmatic, calculating level, it did seem like something a wealthy, ambitious pony like Filthy would do.

Flim answered. ”Keep in mind that this was decades ago. Ponies change.”

”And… Diamond Tiara?” Suri asked. ”How could they have a foal if they did not love each other?”

”That,” Flam said with an intrigued voice, ”is the one detail I don’t know. Based on her birth certificate and the date of their wedding, she was born soon after their marriage, earlier than for her to be sired after they got married. Maybe the two met at some earlier point that I don’t know, but that is a guess.”

Suri nodded. While it was a little strange that Flam had not managed to figure out such an important detail, it was nothing Suri really needed to know for her own sake.

”Well, now you know,” Flam said when it was apparent that Suri’s curiosity had been satisfied. The shaven brother pushed open the front door to Filth’s mansion and they scattered to their different bedrooms. Flim and Flam slept in the attic, while Suri’s room was on the ground floor.

”Good night,” she called to the brothers as they split up. Flim waved back. Suri made her way to her small room absently, mulling over all that she had heard.

At least now she knew why Suri was so hostile, and why she and Filthy were even together. It was not helping her very much though. If the relationship had been built on love, then maybe Spoiled could have been convinced that Suri did not feel like that towards Filthy, but now, when Spoiled considered her marriage more like a business deal, that would be impossible. They were both just another contract in the other one’s eyes, and like any contract it would be terminated if better opportunities arose. She opened her door and entered the darkened room. She needed sleep. She could think further tomorrow.

”No, I don’t think so, nasty little mare,” an acrid voice spat just as she entered. Suri started and fumbled for the light. She did not even have the time to find it before Spoiled was right in front of her and made her back out of her room. Spoiled followed. ”You will not stay in my house any longer. You will never look to my husband again, and I will never see you in Ponyville again.”

”I don-” Suri began.

Spoiled struck her on the side of her left cheek. Suri stared at the other mare with wide eyes.

Spoiled Rich had struck her?

Spoiled Rich had struck her.

”Don’t interrupt me, vermin,” Spoiled hissed. Suri found herself looking at the other mare in a new light. Spoiled had, in every sense of the word, physically hurt her. In one stroke Spoiled went from troublesome to downright dangerous. ”Now get out of here before I STRANGLE YOU!”

Suri bolted for the door, out of the house and did not stop until she was a few blocks away from the mansion. She thought she could see the silhouette of a lone pony standing in the golden rectangle of the entrance. She swallowed.

Suri was not a stranger to having enemies. With her shifty ways of dealing with opposition that was to be expected. This was, however, the first time anypony had deliberately hurt her, and that scared her. Spoiled had been furious in that room, and Suri had been all alone. Spoiled could have done much worse than this.

Suri’s logical side told her that she was being ridiculous; that the hit stemmed from powerlessness and fear more than a will to hurt her. The primal part of her mind, however, did not listen to reason. All that she knew was that Spoiled had hurt her and that, in her fury, she could have done much more.

Suri stopped in the middle of the street and bit her lip. She shoved the multitude of feelings into the back of her mind and considered her situation.

For now she needed someplace to sleep. Ponyville had an inn, but Suri had no money on her person. She whimpered and began trotting out of town with only her many depressing thoughts to keep her company. After ten minutes of looking over her shoulder she came up to the one place in Ponyville she might be tolerated besides Filthy’s mansion.

She knocked a few times and an Annoyed and Sleepy Trixie opened.

”Can I spend the night? Please?”

*****

”I’ve got it!” Ditzy screamed happily and barraged through Filthy Rich’s door, collided with Flim, tackled him to the floor and landed on top of him. They both looked quite confused at each other, before Ditzy realized what had happened. ”Sorrysorrysorry!” she said slightly panicked and blushing. She hopped off him and reached out a hoof to help Flim stand up. The unicorn stared dumbly for a few seconds before he took the hoof.

”Look, Ditzy,” he said in a calm, somewhat slow voice. ”Perhaps you could be a little bit more careful when you fly, alright?”

Ditzy nodded energetically and Flim got a feeling she had already forgotten what he had asked. ”I got it! I just got the comic book. We can start now! Let’s go, let’s go now!” Flim had a hard time to suppress a laugh. Ditzy was happier than a filly at nightmare night. She practically skipped about in joy.

”Excellent news, as usual,” Filthy Rich, dressed in his bathrobe, said from on top of the wide staircase. ”So, Equilibrist, tell me when.”

”Soon,” Flim answered. ”We just need to track down The Bearded Mare and The Escape Artist first. Any clue where they are?”

”Probably at Trixie’s stagecoach,” Filthy shrugged. ”By the way, don’t you too find it strange that Suri suddenly felt ill the day after we returned? And why would she want to stay with Trixie for that?”

”Very strange,” Flim answered. ”But we have enough to think about without trying to understand mares right now.” While he had a feeling it had something to do with Suri’s questions of the night, he was still not sure how it all fit together. Flim and his brother had decided to monitor the situation until they had more information about it. ”Ditzy, could you find The Tamer and get him back here? I will find the others.”

At twelve o’clock, all seven ponies of The Circus sat in Filthy’s gazebo. The air was heavy with expectations and everypony’s expression, even Trixie’s, was a mixture of excitement and nervousness of varying degree.

”Alright, here goes…” Ditzy squeed and opened the small package with the comic. She picked it up and opened the last page, where the incantation was written. She was silent for a few moments, closed the comic and opened it again.

More silence.

Without a word, Ditzy turned the comic face up. The seven members of The Circus were greeted by the words ”Mane-iac and the Grand Slam Scam”.

More silence.

The seven ponies looked uncomprehendingly at the comic. Flim leaned back in his chair and got a strained smile on his lips. ”Well, Ditzy.” His voice was strangely happy. ”Do you know anything about this, eh?”

”It’s not our comic, this is one of the originals,” Filthy said with a tired voice. ”Where has ours gone? I ordered it and it should have been mailed-” Filthy stopped talking and turned his look to Ditzy. ”Say… there weren’t any other comics in today’s mail, were there?”

Ditzy got a sheepish and somewhat scared look on her face. ”W-well… Spike had one too… ehm, maybe I mixed the two deliveries up…?”

”You mixed them up?” Flim said with the same strained smile. ”You gave Spike our comic? The one which allows the reader to enter Maretropolis? Spike has it?”

”Yes,” Ditzy peeped. She writhed under Flim’s strange face. Ditzy was more used to see that face on Topsy. Flim’s creepy smile seemed plastered on his face. He took a series of deep breaths, but his smile remained in place.

”Well then,” he said with a stifled laugh, ”brother?” The last word was almost to high pitched to hear.

”We will have to steal the comic back,” Flam said calmly. ”Preferably fast, before Spike reads it.”

”Riiiight!” Flim exclaimed. ”Yes. Of course. We steal it back. Haha, why didn’t I think of that. Okay. No problem. Come on everypony, let’s go.”

Flim rose up and pulled at the door. It didn’t open. Flim did not seem to understand this fundamental fact, but continued to pull the door harder and harder.

”It opens outward,” Ditzy reminded quietly, now legitimately worried about Flim’s mental health.

”Haha, of course,” Flim snickered. ”How stupid of me…” He let go of the door, turned around and violently kicked it open. ”Okay, it’s open now,” he said and went through the door. The rest of the ponies followed tentatively.
”Three months ago we stole Celestia’s regalia. Now we are stealing comics,” Trixie said. ”Trixie just thought she should point this out…”

*****

”Hmm…” Twilight’s eyes narrowed as she locked on the pile of colorful comics in Spike’s arms. The tiny dragon held more than fifty comics in one large, winding tower that completely blocked his line of sight. ”Spike, those are not what I think they are, are they?”

”What?” the dragon asked. ”You know I don’t order them from The House of Enchanted Comics anymore. These are just regular old comic books, okay?”

”I sure hope so,” Twilight replied suspiciously. ”I don’t want any more trouble with those things.” Twilight turned around and levitated up a set of cups and a steaming jug of tea.

”No trouble here,” Spike said assertively. ”Only high quality literature as far as they eyes can see.”

”Which is not very far in your case,” Twilight pointed out with warmth. ”Come on. The others are waiting.”

Twilight and the overencumbered Spike went through the one of the doors and entered Twilight’s bedroom where Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie waited.

”Heya, Twi!” Rainbow Dash looked up from her Daring Doo book and over to the Princess, who laid down on the soft mat. ”So what did you have planned for today? Just reading and chilling, or something else?”

”Well, since the others are at the spa for another hour, I thought we could just read something and have a cup of tea. Sounds good?” Twilight asked.

”And candy!” Pinkie Pie squeaked in her giddy way. ”Everything becomes better with candy, so we should get some. Oh, wait, no need.” Pinkie picked out a large bag of sweets from Bon-bon’s confectionery and took a hooffull. ”But Dashie, don’t you too want to be at the spa?”

”No!” Rainbow replied immediately. ”I’m way to awesome to sit still and let them do weird stuff with my mane!”

”But my pinkie-sense-” Pinkie began before Rainbow shoved a hoof in her mouth. Luckily Twilight was already completely absorbed in her book to hear. Rainbow decided not to ask why she read the complete equestrian dictionary as if it was a novel.

Spike put his comics down and took the one he just received today; ”Neighvar Kreuger and the Museum Momentum”. He smiled as he saw his favorite villain on the cover. This was going to be a good one.

”Hey, Spike, is that one of those Power Ponies?” Rainbow asked. ”I mean, I did kick some major tail last time, you know, with my tornadoes and all, but I’d rather not do it again. Poor Mane-iac would probably not take it so well.”

”Not to worry,” Spike replied with a certain tone. He took a sapphire from a nearby bowl and plopped it in his mouth. ”See, there is no incant- huh? What is this?” Spike opened the last page and stared at the small words written there. It looked a lot like the comic he had been sucked into.

”What?” Pinkie asked with her mouth full of candy. ”You mean this here? It says-”

”Pinkie, NO!” two ponies and a dragon screamed.

”Come past, present or then,
I open many doors.
You can get back here only when
the Electro Orb is yours,” Pinkie read out loud.

With a blinding flash, the comic book started to hover in midair. Spike and Pinkie, who had been the closest to it, immediately felt as if Rainbow Dash had thrown a tornado on their faces, so strong was the sucking feeling. Spike grabbed Pinkie’s tail and held on for dear life. The pink pony grabbed the carpet on the floor, but to no avail. She slid towards the comic. Her hooves scraped against the crystal floor without getting a grip. She lost contact with the ground and was flung towards the blinding flash. She leaped in a direction no pony could quite name, but still only managed to reach Twilight. The alicorn fell out of balance and was sucked towards the ravenous vortex of light, Pinkie holding her tail. Twilight tried to fly, but Pinkie had knocked her onto her back, making flying awkward.

”NO, YOU DON’T!” Rainbow Dash said and took Twilight’s hooves and began to fly as fast as she could against the flow. She was a strong flyer, not many was able to outfly her, but even she could not hold back the sucking flow when she had two other ponies and a dragon on her tail. The three ponies and baby dragon all fell straight into the light.

Spike felt the familiar weightlessness for a second before he fell face down onto something hard. ”Ouch!” he yelped and climbed up to his feet. The sight stunned him for a moment, even if he had seen the same sight every time he opened his comics. But seeing something and experiencing it was two very different things.

The sky had a twisted, purple color and the skyscrapers looked darker than their real-life counterparts in Manehattan. An airship glided lazily over the sky, just in front of a bleak crescent moon. Too well did he recognize this place.

Maretropolis.

”Pinkie, was that really necessary?” Twilight asked in an indignant voice. Spike turned around, and once again the Power Ponies stood before him. Or at least half of them did. Twilight as Masked Matter-Horn, Pinkie as Filli Second, and Rainbow Dash as Zap… and of course he was once again dressed in Hum-Drum’s flamboyant costume. Not even now could he get some useful character. He grumbled as his misfortune.

”Well duh,” Pinkie responded happily as she trotted in place. ”Spike wanted to know what it said on the cover, so I said it.”

”Was it really necessary?” Twilight repeated tiredly.

”Look,” Spike said. ”Now that we are here we should just try to get out. Bickering won’t help us.”

”Eh, lighten up already?” Rainbow Dash said with moxie. ”While it was not what I had planned, I’m sure I will enjoy it. Now where is the Mane-iac? I have a tornado with her name on it!”

”But we can’t stay here forever,” Twilight said practically. ”Spike, what is the problem this time? Mane-iac again?”

”No clue,” Spike shook his head. ”I hadn’t read this issue yet, only the name.”

”And that is…?” Twilight asked.

”Neighvar Kreuger and the Museum Momentum,” Spike answered. ”I guess we should get to the museum, where we first encountered the Mane-iac last time. And keep an eye out for Neighvar Kreuger, if he is the villain.”

”And how does he look,” Twilight asked. She scrunched up her face in concentration and a snowball flew from her horn. She sighed. It would take her some time to get used to this again.

”He is… kinda hard to describe,” Spike said pensively. ”You will know him when you see him.”

”Come on then,” Twilight said to her friends. ”To the museum!” Together the friends followed Spike down the street they had landed on, as he was the only one who knew the way around the city.

*****

”Hmm.” Trixie inspected the castle lock. It looked like a sturdy one, and probably magical in its construction. This would take all her greatness and lock-picking power to crack it. ”Trixie is certain she can do this. Just give her a few minutes, and she will have it all figured out. You are lucky to have her on your side for this, else you would never get in.”

”We know.” Flam cut her bragging sharply. ”Now get it open before the royal guard comes and lock us all up.”

”Ehm,” Ditzy peeped meekly. ”I don’t think-”

”If we are in such a hurry, then you should let Trixie work her magic in peace,” the azure unicorn said snootily.

”Hello?” Ditzy tried again.

”Just get it open,” Flam mumbled.

Ditzy went forward, up to Trixie and pushed the door open. ”Twilight never locks her door,” she explained. The gathered ponies were silent for a moment.

”Good thing we have Trixie here,” Flim said dryly. ”Else we would be stuck here until the end of days.”

Trixie shot Flim a glare and went into the crystalline castle while the others kept watch. There shouldn't be any more problems. She just had to find the comic and swipe it before Twilight found her. Trixie’s heart began to beat faster and her breathing became a little heavier. She licked her lips in anticipation and began to scale the staircase directly behind the doors. Time to battle wits with Twilight again.

The castle was silent as the grave. ”Maybe she is out?” Trixie thought. ”Hope not. That would make this way too easy.”

But, despite her wishes, Trixie did not encounter any alicorn or annoying dragon. She soon understood that nopony was home and trotted around in the castle without trying to be quiet. She found the kitchen and took some grapes from a bowl. No comic though.

She tried another door and found a room dominated by six thrones and a large crystal slab in the middle of them. She clearly recognized Twilight’s cutie mark on one of the thrones. ”This must be the friendship map… should have been Trixie…” The azure unicorn went up to the map and around it once. Much to her disappointment, she found it was integrated with the castle, so it could not be stolen. Trixie had entertained herself the last few weeks with imagining stealing the map. Alas, that seemed impossible.

Trixie shook her head. She could muse some other time. For now, all that mattered was the comic. She tried another door.

The room behind it was eerily quiet. A jug of hot tea stood on the floor beside an overturned bag of candy. And in the middle the room laid a comic. She trotted up to it and looked. She had not seen the comic she was looking for, but the title was the same. She reached out her hoof, but stopped herself.

”Hang on there, Trixie,” she thought. ”You are smarter than that. Why would Twilight just leave some newly brewed tea here? Where is she anyway?”

Trixie went around the room and looked around a little. An encyclopedia, a large pile of comics and the candy. There was even some wrapping paper. It was just like somepony had just sat here and then suddenly… vanished.

Trixie’s eyes got at least fifty percent larger when the realization struck. ”Everypony come!” she screamed and bolted for the door. She met her six colleagues in the staircase.

”You took longer than expected, so we decided to check on you,” Flam said before Trixie asked. ”What is it?”

Trixie opened her mouth and closed it a few times. ”We might have a complication or… seven…” she said glumly.

”What now?” Flim said with a voice on the verge of tears. ”I’m tired of this mess… this was supposed to be the easy part.”

”Deal with it,” Suri said cuttingly. ”Quit your whining.”

”But I though you wanted whin-” Flim began before Topsy forcefully shut his mouth.

”Thanks,” Trixie said with an approving nod to the multicolored pegasus.

”Anypony mind filling me in here?” Suri asked. The six ponies listened as Trixie told them what she had discovered and of her conclusion. They gathered around the comic.

”Soo… what do we do now?” Ditzy asked meekly. She felt like an idiot for botching up like this. She had one job, the easiest one by far, and yet she couldn’t even do that right. Why was she so clumsy? Anypony could have done this right, why not her? She had not been part of breaking into the print works, she had not had to tie up Printing Types without being seen or herd. All she had to do was to take a delivery to a house, and she had even failed that!

”Well, it will disappear once they get out of it, and we can’t have that happen,” Flam said flatly. ”I guess we should enter?”

”We don’t know how many are in there though, or if they are even in there at all,” Trixie interjected. ”Maybe we should just move it out of here first?”

”No time,” Flam replied. ”For all we know it can disappear any second. But it is true that we don’t know they are in there at all. Some of us will have to stay behind and guard it.”

”How many?” Flim asked. ”Everypony who remain is one less who can do anything inside the comic.”

”I know,” Flam nodded. ”But we don’t have an Illusionist. Whatever we do inside some comic book world is not illegal, while being caught here draws unwanted attention, at the least. Our first priority is therefore to make sure we stay well away from trouble.” Flim let his eyes sweep over the gathered ponies. "There are seven of us here; I think four of us should stay behind."

”That many?” Suri asked doubtfully.

”Worst case scenario is that we fail to get the orb, in which case we can always make a new comic, even though it is annoying.” Flam shrugged. ”If we get caught here we will be in a much worse position.”

”I guess that makes sense,” Suri agreed. The plan was very careful, but without the Illusionist they had no choice. ”So, who should stay behind? Or rather, who should get in?”

”Not me,” Flam said quickly. ”I can’t plan something I have no clue about, especially since we don’t know how much time there is, and there are other ponies more fitting fr this than me.”

”I w-will remain here too,” Topsy hissed. ”I’m the f-fastest one here, so I can escape quickly o-once you get out-t. S-secure the orb, yes?” Flam nodded.

”Well, Trixie shall definitely get in,” Trixie said. ”She will get her much needed exercise now, and she has as good chance in there as anypony else, at least.” Trixie did not mention that the prospect of again outwitting her rival already made her giddy with anticipation.

”I will stay here too,” Ditzy mumbled sadly. ”At least here I won’t get in the way… maybe I can even help keep watch…”

”Ditzy,” Flam said sternly. ”Don’t do that attitude again, okay?”

”But it’s thanks to me we are even here,” Ditzy said somberly. ”because I botched up… again.”

”So?” Flim said. My brother and I have had our fair share of mistakes too. Actually I seem to recall that we created The Circus just because we realized that everypony has strengths and weaknesses. Only together can we cover all weak points. ”

”But I-” Ditzy began.

”Can it,” Flam interrupted. ”If you want to be all sad, I won’t stop you, but do it later. Actually, scratch that, don’t be sad later either.”

Ditzy nodded, still dejected. Flim sighed. ”Suri, what do you want?”

”I’d rather stay. There are others more suitable for this than me,” she answered.

”You up for this, Filthy?” Flim asked.

”Sure,” Filthy replied. "What colt has never wished he was a superhero?"

”True,” Flim said with a sidelong glance to Ditzy. ”I guess you four should leave,” Flim proposed with a look to his brother. Flam nodded and led the others from the room, Ditzy still with a hanging head. ”So, take it away, Wizard, whenever you are ready.”

Filthy picked up the comic.

”Come past, present or then,
I open many doors.”

As if shot from a cannon Flim bolted to the door, yanked it open, rushed out, snatched Ditzy and pulled her in. ”Surely you too have wanted to be a superhero some time, Ditzy?” he grinned before he closed the door on the disoriented pegasus.

”You can get back here only when”
the Electro Orb is yours.” The comic glowed bright.

Maretropolis Mayhem

”Mglrp?” Ditzy asked the pavement.

Wait, pavement? Where did the pavement come from? Weren’t they just sitting in Twilight’s castle? She opened her eyes and looked around.

Skyscrapers, indigo sky, and a small herd of ponies had amassed across the street. Most of them looked worried, a few even dragged their foals away. Others looked at her and her friends suspiciously or angrily, but none dared to come any closer.

”Uuh… w-what was that?” Filthy’s voice came from behind her. She heard him stagger up to his hooves. ”And whoever was responsible for that landing did a poor job.”

”Don’t look at Trixie! She never liked this plan in the first place,” Trixie’s cutting reply followed in short order.

Ditzy looked over her shoulder, and immediately took a few steps back. Were they really Trixie and Filthy? She knew those outfits well, but to see them for real like this…

”Well, now that this is established, Trixie demands to know where her hat is,” Trixie glared at Filthy and Ditzy, as if they had stolen and hid it. ”That great and powerful hat is very important to me. Now hoof it back, wherever you put it!”

”But… why me?” Ditzy peeped, ignoring Trixie’s demand. Now that she had, to some degree, caught up with the situation her melancholy returned. Why had Flim or Flam, whichever of them it was, done that? Had he really switched places with her? How could he do that? The brothers were the best thieves in The Circus, and she was the worst. This must increase the risk of failure with… infinity percent, at least.

”I have not seen your hat,” Filthy bit off Trixie impatiently. ”It must have become part of your new outfit somehow.”

Trixie gave Filthy a suspicious glare, but stopped arguing. Instead, she looked over her new costume. ”Hmm, Trixie might consider this ensemble adequate enough. Now, Ditzy, the Great and Powerful Trixie wants an explanation.”

Ditzy looked up at her friends. They both looked back at her in turn. ”What?” she asked with a small voice.

”Well, certainly you know this world better than Trixie and I combined,” Filthy pointed out matter-of-factly. ”Last time I read these comics I was a teenager, and I don’t know all these new characters.”

”Well… I know who we are, I guess?” Ditzy admitted tentatively.

”Trixie also hopes you might know where we are going. Else she dare say we are lost,” Trixie chimed in, catching up on why Flim had sent Ditzy here. Now that she thought more carefully about it, she realized that Flim basically had avoided a catastrophe. Without Ditzy, they would not have a clue about where to go or what to do. Ditzy had written the comic, she knew it better than any other. Besides, she needed a confidence boost. This was the perfect opportunity for that.

”The Maretropolis Museum,” Ditzy answered, a little clearer. ”We are going to the museum.”

”Well then,” Trixie said confidently. ”Since you obviously know this place the best, Trixie thinks maybe you could be the one who leads the way to this… museum.”

”What!? NO!” Ditzy screamed, horrified. ”I’m not a leader, I don’t know the first thing to do, I will muck it up again, I know it!”

”I dare say, you still know more than Trixie and me,” Filthy said. ”And you don’t think we would leave everything to you, do you? We are still here to help.”

”But… but…” Ditzy looked pleadingly between Filthy and Trixie.

”Look, Ditzy,” Trixie said impatiently. ”You are the only one here who knows what we might be up against and why we are wearing these costumes. Kindly tell us that, at least.”

”It is natural that you take command this time,” Filthy said, considerably more compassionate than Trixie. ”This is important. Do you think Flim and Flam would have sent you here if they thought you were not the best pony for the job?”

”N-no.” Ditzy answered. She was sure of that; they both wanted this to succeed just as much as she did. But then that must also mean that they thought she was the pony for the job. A small smile broke out in Ditzy’s face. Maybe she actually could be a leader this time. Maybe she could do this, With a little help. ”Thanks everypony. Thank you all…”

”Anytime,” Filthy answered, evidently relieved that Ditzy’s doubts were gone for now. ”Now then, mind telling us who we are? Are we some characters in this world, or what?”

”Mmmhm,” Ditzy said with an energetic nod. ”We have become characters in the comic. The villains, actually.”

”Good, everypony knows the villains are always the most interesting,” Trixie said with a coy voice. ”So, who is Trixie? What can she do? Shoot lasers from her eyes, unravel time and space? Do a quadruple backflip?”

Ditzy looked at Trixie, and recognized her favorite villain’s iconic clothing. Her outfit was a red and black jester costume with extra flaps of fabric between the legs, similar to a wingsuit. Pockets and the signs of diamonds, hearts, clubs and spades adorned the suit, with each pocket covered by a red or black motley patch with a small bell at the tip. To complete her look, she wore a matching hat with bells at each tip and a red and black mask to hide her identity. The suit jingled happily when Trixie moved.

”You are Four-Leaf Clover. Criminal genius and gambler,” Ditzy explained happily. ”No superpowers, but you use a lot of gambling equipment as weapons. Playing cards, dices, ratatouille, that sort of thing.”

Trixie and Filthy looked at her with uncomprehending glances.

”Perhaps you mean Roulette?” Filthy suggested.

”Yes, that!” Ditzy confirmed, giddy as ever. ”A spinning table with a ball. Ratatouille!”

”Roulette,” Filthy corrected.

”Ratatouille,” Ditzy corrected him.

”Whatever,” Trixie grumbled indignantly. ”How come the Great and Powerful Trixie does not get any superpowers?”

”A godlike being would make this a boring comic,” Filthy answered quickly, to some degree appeasing Trixie.

”Oh, but you are much more powerful than she now,” Ditzy said happily, earning her one Trixie’s trademarked death-glares.

”Well, Trixie will believe that when she sees it,” Trixie said coldly and put her chin in the air with a huff.

”Okay… so what can we do then?” Filthy asked with a wary look at his unicorn companion. He did not think it was healthy to be more powerful than her. ”Based on my clothing doesn’t seem like much.” Filthy wore a dark blue cape. Aside from that, only his usual tie and a neutral, black mask.

Ditzy giggled happily. ”You are Neighvar Kreuger now, Captain of Cash, the Capital King and Monetary Monarch. You are so rich that everything involving money obeys your every command. And you have so much money it never run out, ever!”

”Captain of Cash, huh? I think I like that title,” Filthy said smugly, ignoring Trixie’s humph. ”Let’s try it out.” He closed his eyes, and a host of gleaming bits appeared from underneath his cape. The golden cloud swept in under his hooves, lifted him from the ground and up into the sky. He reached out a hoof in front of him and a stream of bits shot from it before his odd surfboard went in a loop and brought Filthy down on the street again. ”Huh, this reminds me of that odd dream… I like it.”

Ditzy looked into a window at the side of the street. Her mirror image was not very clear, but she knew her character well. She wore a skintight black bodysuit with two triangular ears on top. Her mane, tail and wings were completely hidden inside the bodysuit, leaving only a long slim tail in place. She got her last piece of evidence when she looked down at her hooves and spotted the retractable, razor-sharp claws. All in all, she looked like a large cat, aside from her veering eyes. ”I am the pony who prowls in the night. The one who crosses your street and heralds a future of dropped muffins. I. Am. Catmare, bringer of bad luck!”

At the end of her statement, a flowerpot fell down from a nearby building and hit a passerby in the head.

The three ponies were silent for a moment. ”Well, it is evident that Trixie still is the greatest one here,” Trixie remarked defiantly. ”Come on. Let’s get that orb and leave this one-horse town.” Trixie decisively began to march down the street.

”That’s not the right way!” Ditzy called after her.

Trixie spun around quickly. ”Trixie knows that!” she growled. ”She just wanted to see if you did too!”

”We know,” Filthy said soothingly. ”Ditzy, can you take us there? Trixie’s brilliant mind needs its rest.”

”Yay!” Ditzy practically beamed and took of. This time she was the leader. They followed her. For the first time in her life, her friends truly trusted her to lead the entire operation. They didn’t care that she had caused this mess. ”I won’t let you down. I promise, I won’t botch this up,” she thought as they raced through the streets, towards Maretropolis museum.

*****

”I’m bored,” Twilight stated flatly. ”This has got to be the most boring comic ever written.”

”NJAAAH!” Rainbow Dash screamed indigently and flew up a few ponylengths in the air. ”Where is the Neighvar guy?! I need to do something!”

”But we are doing something,” Pinkie reminded, happy as ever. ”We are waiting. Isn’t waiting fun? Then you have plenty of time to think about what you are waiting for. Like, maybe I’m waiting for a super-tasty cupcake. Which flavor did I order? Which color will the frosting be? Was it baked with vanilla sugar, or maybe-” Rainbow groaned, and Pinkie’s tirade somehow faded into the background.

”Spike, are you sure this is where they will strike?” Twilight asked.

”It’s called the Museum Momentum,” Spike said. ”I don’t know any more than you do.”

Twilight sighed and continued spy down on the street by the museum entrance, just like she had for the last thirty minutes.

”Twilight,” Spike mumbled, suddenly wary. He pointed to a corner of the museum. ”That corner, I think I saw somepony.”

”Who? Could you see?”

”No, but if the comic title mean anything then it was Neighvar Kreuger.” The tone suggested that whoever that was would be a problem, but unfortunately it meant absolutely nothing to Twilight.

”And who is Neighvar Kreuger?” Rainbow asked from overhead.

”A villain,” Spike answered. ”We should-”

”Come’ere you creeper!” Rainbow growled and went into a steep dive, straight down the building towards the corner with Pinkie right at her tail.

”Not again,” Twilight groaned. She picked up Spike with her wing and followed.

She found Rainbow looking at a pretty average stallion. Black mane and tan coat with a long cape around his neck and a black mask. In fact, Twilight felt like she had seen this pony before, even if she could not immediately place him.

”Is that him, Spike?” Rainbow asked. She already had her lightning bolt unholstered and ready.

”Yea, that’s Neighvar alright,” Spike nodded.

”That’s me, yes,” Neighvar replied with a courteous voice. ”Now kindly step out of my way. I have three business meetings to close, money to embezzle, two shoplifts and a museum to empty before lunch. After that, I have dreams to crush, corporations to ravage and investors to raid.”

”In your dreams!” Rainbow bit back and activated her lightning bolt. A rumble sounded from the sky, and less than a moment after, a lightning bolt fell down on Neighvar. Twilight averted her eyes from the bright light.

When she looked up again, she saw a large paper hovering over a completely unhurt Neighvar. ”I regret to inform you that I am fully insured against lightning strikes,” he said formally. ”And contracts are made to be followed.” He heightened his hoof. ”Alms perhaps?” He asked and a gush of gleaming gold shot from underneath his cape and hit Rainbow in the face.

The pegasus staggered backwards with a surprised squeak. ”Freeze ray!” Twilight shouted and fired. Another insurance contract appeared in front of the beam and froze solid.

The bits returned from Rainbow and lifted Neighvar up in the air.

”I’ll get him!” Rainbow shouted back to her friends and took off after him. She promptly got her face full of golden coins, spiraled out of course and nearly collided with the neighboring skyscraper.

”I believe you are to slow on the doge, miss Dash,” Neighvar pointed out. ”Give me a moment to lose your trail, and I will be back soon!”

”Pinkie, you help Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said thoughtfully. There was something fishy about this. How could Neighvar know Rainbow’s real name? Last time they were here The Mane-iac referred to them as ”Power Ponies,” so why didn’t Neighvar?

The only explanation seemed to be that Neighvar also came from outside. But then who was he? Either way, Twilight knew that Pinkie and Rainbow both were needed to bring him down, leaving her and Spike to guard the museum. They turned around to go back to the museum entrance.

Behind them stood a mare dressed in the most flamboyant costume possible. She stuck out her tongue at Twilight just before Spike jumped from at the new pony and, with a heroic battle cry kicked her in the chest. The tiny dragon phased right through the mare and landed with a yelp on the asphalt as the illusion dissipated.

”TWILIGHT SPARKLE!” A deafening call sounded from the roof of a nearby building. Twilight looked up and saw the silhouette of a pony staring down. ”THE GREA- I mean FouR-LEAF CLOVER HAS COME TO STEAL THE ELECRO ORB, AND SHE IS POSITIVE THAT YOU CANNOT STOP HER!”

”Trixie,” Twilight mumbled. Nothing betrayed the confusion and uneasiness she felt. Now she understood; Neighvar Kreuger was Filthy Rich. Two members of The Circus were here. It could not be a coincidence. She suddenly wished she had not sent both Pinkie and Rainbow after Filthy. She had to stop Trixie from stealing the orb, and that left the museum unguarded, save for Spike. ”I’ll take care of her, Spike. You get the Electro Orb, and hide it someplace safe.”

She caught Spike’s nod and flapped her wings hard to get up to her opponent. She looked around on the street in the off chance she could spot anypony else. She had seen eight ponies in the last Circus heist, but Blueblood was still under constant watch since the trial. That left as many as five more who could lie in waiting, watching her right now. This would have to be quick. She landed on a neighboring roof and glared at her opponent.

”So you dare to face The Great and Powerful Four-Leaf Clover, Twilight?” Trixie shouted smugly. ”Well, you can be certain she will enjoy this.” From one of her many pockets, Trixie took out and threw a disk of some kind. ”Roulette Discus!”

Twilight flapped her wings and leaped over it. ”Freeze ray!”

Trixie fiddled with one of her other pockets and got out a small mirror. The beam hit it and bounced away. ”Roulette Ricochet!” Trixie called and made a sharp move with her head. The swishing sound warned Twilight in the last possible second. She lit up her horn and teleported, narrowly dodging the roulette table coming back from behindher. Trixie caught it easily, and threw it back at her in the air. Twilight did not doge this time, but instead hovered and caught the disk.

”Freeze ray!” she called. Trixie ducked, yanked again with her head and threw one of her ”boxbombs,” as Ditzy had called them.

Twilight instinctively dropped the discus when she felt it tug against her grip. It returned to Trixie’s waiting grasp, but Twilight did not care. She looked instead at the cartoon-esque bomb that Trixie had thrown, but quickly deduced that it was wildly off target. ”Stun Ray!” Twilight called. Trixie yelped and hopped backwards, dodging narrowly. Twilight swiftly aimed and fired another freeze ray without giving Trixie any respite.

The ray hit Trixie’s hat, causing icicles to grow from the tips. Panicked, Trixie threw it off, and Twilight readied herself to get into close quarters when she felt a hard knock on her right wing, sending her spinning. A red boxing glove was extended on a mechanical arm from the bomb Trixie had thrown before.

Trixie saw her chance and threw the discus again, followed by another boxbomb. Twilight narrowly dodged the discus and instead flew after the bomb. She could see the fuse running low when she caught it. With an artistic turn she flew over Trixie and dropped the bomb on her face.

Trixie squeaked, mostly in surprise, when the bomb opened and whacked her on the horn. ”Stun Ray!” Twilight called.

Trixie fought down the throbbing that always followed a hit on the horn. Luckily she had not been using magic. She leaped blindly to the side to avoid the incoming attack and threw the discus away. She heard the beam hit the roof and concluded she was safe. Trixie scanned her situation for a few moments and twitched again with her head, causing her discus to loop around towards Twilight’s back, but Twilight was ready this time.

She caught the disk between her hooves, careful not to touch the many small needles on the rim. And this time she did not let go when Trixie tried to get it back.

”Fine, you can have Trixie’s disk, it’s not like she needs it to defeat you anyway!” Trixie shouted defiantly. She galloped towards the building edge. Twilight ignored her, and instead took the opportunity to inspect the disk more closely.

It was shaped and painted like a roulette table, but in between the many needles there was a nook that split the disk in two; the disk was not really disk, it was two disks glued together. When Twilight saw the whisky thread she understood how Trixie had made it return. It was not a discus, it was a large yo-yo. Twilight grabbed the string in her mouth and held on to it; might be it would come in handy.

She dove after Trixie, who was gliding about the skyscrapers with her wingsuit-like clothing. Twilight had an involuntary flashback of when she chased Trixie through Ponyville during the Canterlot Caper. She had gotten away back then, but not this time. Now she would take the initiative. ”Freeze Ray!” Twilight screamed loudly, but she did not shoot.

As expected, Trixie rolled, and once she had stabilized, Twilight shot for real at the same time she threw the disk.

Trixie must have heard the disk, for she tucked her legs close to her body and fell a distance. Both the disk and the beam passed over her. Twilight pulled the string, and the disk obediently returned. Trixie flipped over on her back. Twilight balked for a moment; she had never seen a pony fly a wingsuit like that. Something about Trixie’s position made Twilight think of an otter, laying on its back and gliding through the water.

”Now, time for the cardsharp’s sharp cards!” Trixie called with glee and picked out a deck of playing cards. ”Royal Pain Straight Flush!” she called and flung five cards in Twilight’s direction.

Twilight gasped and made a little dignified flip in the air to avoid the first few of them. If those cards were indeed sharp, then that was a deadly move Trixie had just pulled. Did Trixie truly seek to kill her? Had she fallen so low? Had The Circus? She was so lost in her shock that she did not see Trixie fling another card, right at her face.

It hit her face with a ”splat”, but nothing more. The cards were not sharpened. However, in her hurry to dodge them and the shock that followed, Twilight had stopped flying forward, and Trixie had gained quite some distance. Twilight berated herself for a moment before setting off again. Thankfully she could fly faster than Trixie, who could only glide.

Twilight flew as fast as she could forwards and upwards. So far all weapons Trixie had used were thrown, something that was already hard to do with a wing suit. Throwing anything upwards would be impossible, even if Trixie was gliding on her back, keeping her eyes on Twilight.

Twilight smirked as an idea crossed her mind. If Trixie kept her eyes on her, then that meant she did not look someplace else. She sped up and caught Trixie glaring at her, still on her back. ”Freeze ray!” Twilight shouted and aimed well away from Trixie.

”Oops, lousy aim?” Trixie called back. Twilight did her best to hide her smirk and fired again, still without trying to hit. As long as she held Trixie’s attention, she would be fine. Twilight risked a quick look forward, at the skyscraper wall they were heading straight at.

Trixie saw Twilight looking away and followed her eyes. She found herself just a few ponylengths from the glass panes of the skyscraper. Her yelp ended in a loud ”clonk” as she flew face first into the wall and started falling straight down. Twilight dove after her.

Trixie tumbled down and tried desperately to make sense of the spinning world. Through the splitting pain in her head she heard her heart beating loudly, and in front of her eyes flashed colorful lights. Instinctively she spread both front and back legs as far as possible. The powerful thrust when she stabilized did not help her dizziness, but at least it stopped her fall. ”Freeze ray!” She heard Twilight call from somewhere, and immediately after she felt a biting cold at her side.

”I’ve got to get down on the ground,” Trixie thought. She was disoriented, and she could not stop to collect herself, not when gliding. She brought her legs closer to her body again and shut her eyes.

She wanted to throw up at the blind flying, but she needed to at least figure out which way was down. Once gravity grabbed her, she opened her eyes again to land. The ground rushed at her much faster than she expected, so she stumbled down hard with jolts of pain blazing up both her front legs.

Trixie stood still for a moment, panting and berating herself. Stupid Trixie, stupid Trixie! How could she walk into a trap like that; flying into a wall? That must be some new low. The world still spun slightly. She really just wanted to lay down and close her eyes for a while.

”Freeze Ray!” Twilight called slightly behind her, and before she had a chance to react, her hind hooves were frozen to the ground. ”Okay, Trixie, now I want to know. Why you are here? How did you get here? Who came with you and where are they now?”

”Trixie surrenders,” Trixie mumbled, trying to bite back her urge to throw up at those words. She forced the immediate anger away; she still had an ace up her sleeve. Carefully Trixie reached into one of her many pockets and pulled a loose thread.

Again, Ditzy had not explained very closely what this attack was, only that this was her last resort, and that she should try not to use it when standing still. But she was out of options now. One instant later, both she and Twilight was wrapped in a thick, pink cloud, much like the smoke bombs Trixie used in Equestria. Both she and Twilight gasped; none of them had expected this.

The pain in Trixie’s head dulled instantly, but the colorful flashes in her vision became even more vivid. A dazzling feeling of euphoria washed over her, and she suddenly felt wonderfully relaxed, like she just left the spa after a forty eight hours long deluxe treatment. She looked back and saw her hooves encased in ice and giggled softly. The ice flashed in lovely colors, like one of her own magic shows. The ice did not matter to her, she was The Great and Powerful Trixie; that ice she could break in just a moment. She collected her power and then jumped. Trixie flew off the ground, off Equestria and past the moon, the wind playing in her hair. She landed on a star and heard Twilight giggle nearby. The alicorn jumped between stars until she found a cloud to rest on. Twilight flopped onto her back and indolently moved her hooves around in complex patterns.

”Luna being nighty again,” Twilight mumbled. Trixie could only agree. Luna was nighty. Speaking of which, she should get a knight in shining armor some time. Shining Armor was knighty too. That was pretty funny, that both Luna and Shining Armor were knighty, Luna did not look like a knight. More like a night.

”Trske powerful?” Trixie asked Twilight as a blazing light engulfed her vision. It was pretty.

*****

”Ooh, this is fun!” Pinkie squeed happily as she hopped and skipped after Neighvar while dodging flying bits and oncoming traffic. Neighvar had flown off and apparently did not know his way around Maretropolis. Pinkie and Rainbow had followed him down onto a highway. Rainbow Dash was flying almost fifty ponylengths behind them both, slightly above the carriages. She got peppered with gold the moment she got any closer. Only Pinkie was fast enough to dodge both the carriages and flying bits. Neighvar was flying backwards, dishing out his attacks whenever he saw Pinkie peek out between the carriages.

”Just… stand still…” Neighvar hissed and let loose another flurry of bits. Pinkie seemed to disappear as they neared. She reappeared just beside him, bouncing from carriage roof to carriage roof.

”But where is the fun in standing still?” Pinkie asked earnestly. ”I would much rather bounce. Bouncing is just so super-duper fun, and I love having fun! Don’t you? Of course you do, everypony does.” Neighvar sent another stream of bits in Pinkie’s direction without any real hope of hitting. As expected, Pinkie dodged and instead Rainbow got another mouthful of gold in the face.

The pegasus was getting annoyed. She knew she could bring him down, but she had no chance of getting close enough. She had the speed, of course, but the moment she got any closer dodging became awkward. And when in the middle of the highway she did not want to unleash a tornado, not with so many innocent nearby. She was supposed to be the hero of the story, after all.

She needed Pinkie’s help with this. ”Pinkie, wait up!”

”Oki-doki-loki!” Pinkie called back and stopped as if glued to the street. Rainbow had just enough time to get a puzzled look on her face before she flew straight into her. Thankfully the cotton candy tail dampened the impact, but it still sent them both tumbling forward. Neighvar left them both behind and flew away on his odd surf board. Rainbow had yet to catch up to the situation when she felt Pinkie’s tail twitch strangely under her.

”Pinkie Sense!” Pinkie gasped and scooped up Rainbow. They jumped out of the way and landed on the sidewalk just before a carriage barreled over where they had just been standing.

”What was that?” Rainbow said when she had managed to disentangle herself from Pinkie. ”I didn’t say ’let him get away,’ I asked you wait for me!”

”And I waited,” Pinkie said happily. ”Come on, I can catch up to him again in a moment.” She tilted her head in the direction Neighvar had flown off to.

”Alright, then do that, and bring me with you this time.” Rainbow said.

”Hop on,” Pinkie said with a grin. Rainbow grimaced and fixed a grip around Pinkie’s barrel. Pinkie set off.

Rainbow was unprepared for just how fast Pinkie was as Filli Second. It felt just like when she was about to break into Rainboom speed. A sudden twist made Rainbow feel like she was about throw up. Pinkie had somehow preformed a ninety degree turn without slowing down noticeably, and not even Rainbow could turn very well at near-rainboom speed.

”Hang on tight now,” Pinkie said chirpily. Before Rainbow had any chance of responding, she found herself running up the glass face of a building. For one confused moment she even forgot the nasty feeling of having her body flipped about at breakneck speed; she was literally running up a wall. ”There he is!” Pinkie said and pointed, again without slowing down. Neighvar was indeed flying in front of them, up along the wall. ”Now what?”

”Now stop pestering me! Don't you know who I am!?” Neighvar screamed, went into a loop and fell down against them with his hoof lifted up to fire.

”Of course I know, silly,” Pinkie said with a smile and moved half a ponylength to the left. The stream of bits missed at the expense of yet another pang of queasiness for Rainbow. Neighvar flew past them and left only a streak of gold in his wake. Rainbow Dash whimpered meekly as Pinkie turned around completely and began to run down the face of the building.

”P-Pinkie, throw me at him,” Rainbow mumbled. She had a hard time keeping her last meal down through Pinkie’s many turns, and she was quite unsure how long she could keep it under control. Besides, Pinkie Pie did not seem to be in any hurry to bring Neighvar down.

”You sure?” Pinkie asked. ”We are going pretty fast now, you know.”

”Just throw me already,” Rainbow pleaded with a croaking cough.

”Absotutely!” Pinkie said, reached back and took Rainbow’s front hooves in hers. She flipped herself about, spun Rainbow around once and then all but launched her downwards.

With the sound of a thunderclap and a million breaking windows, the air exploded in colors. Rainbow felt a rush of freedom when she gained control of her own flight again. She closed in on Neighvar over the course of a few moments. The flying earth pony tried to turn at the loud explosion, but only got halfway before Rainbow Dash hit him square in the side at supersonic speed. Apparently he had not signed the insurance for that.

Rainbow smirked for less than a second before she realized her situation. She had not performed her Sonic Rainboom flying upwards, or at a high altitude. She had just enough time to realize that before the street rose up and hit both her and the earth pony in front of her.

The world darkened.

Rainbow groaned and looked up, dazed and confused. The earth pony laid still below her with a hoofprint stamped into his chest. She looked around for a moment. She sat in a hole. To her left a broken pipe sprayed cold water over her and a carriage had fallen down and bashed itself to splinters. She seemed to have struck up a crater a few ponylegnths deep in the middle of the road. A unicorn mare looked out of the crashed carriage with uncomprehending and scared eyes. Rainbow saw Pinkie standing at the edge of the crater, along with a host of other ponies, no doubt from the surrounding carriages and houses whose windows Rainbow just had broken.

”Wh… is he…?” Pinkie asked with a silent voice and looked at Neighvar.

Time seemed to slow down when Rainbow realized what had just happened. She had slammed somepony down into the ground at rainboom-speed. There was no way in Equestria any pony could survive something like that.

”I… I have…?” Rainbow mumbled.

”Ouch,” The earth pony moaned twitched a little. Rainbow’s, and everypony else’s, jaw fell on the ground. Neighvar sat up and put a hoof to his temple. ”I’m not gonna lie, that hurt. That hurt a lot.”

Everypony was quiet for one more second before Tartarus broke loose.

”Neighvar! RUN FOR IT, HE IS HERE!”

In just a few seconds, Pinkie, Rainbow and Neighvar were alone.

”Tell you what,” Neighvar said with a matter-of-factly voice. ”I give in. I’m not in the mood for anymore punches like that.”

Rainbow stood dumbfounded. Pinkie broke out in a smile. ”Aw, but it was so fun chasing you, Filthy. I don’t even think I could have brought you down without Dashie.”

”Mr. Rich,” Neighvar corrected instinctively. His eyes widened when he realized what he had said.

”Wait, you are Filthy Rich?” Rainbow asked with a look of resignation. She had been blindsided time and again this past minute, so she decided to give up on understanding.

”Yep,” Filthy admitted. He had already said as much, so there was no point in hiding it.

”But… but how did you get here?” Rainbow asked lamely.

”Aw, he probably just wanted to have fun with us too, riiiiiiight?” Pinkie asked Filthy with a large grin.

”Yea, let’s go with that,” Filthy said quickly. ”Ehm… you have obviously caught me, so… you should walk me to the police station.”

”Okay!” Pinkie said before Rainbow could open her mouth. ”Do you think I could be the villain next time?”

”Sure, whatever,” Filthy mumbled as they started to walk.

”Hey, wait!” Rainbow yelled. ”Can anypony explain! How can any of us even walk!? Shouldn’t we be dead from that impact?” Rainbow looked around with pleading eyes. Maybe one of the background characters could explain.

”Isn’t it obvious,” Pinkie said with a, for her, haughty voice. ”This is The Power Ponies. Of course nopony dies, I mean, duh! That would be a bad comic.”

Rainbow shook her head and followed Pinkie and Filthy Rich lamely. A sharp light made her look up.

Author's Note

I will admit, I don't read superhero comics, so I'm probably not the best person to write this part, but I tried. Just thought I should tell you my inspiration for Neighvar Kreuger's name and abilities.

No, he has nothing whatsoever to do with Freddy Kreuger (who I learned existed after I had written this). I basically played with the name of Ivar Kreuger, Swedish businessman. Between the two world wars his companies controlled a substantial part of the world's match production. In Sweden we know him as "the match king", while in other parts of the world he is known as "the world's greatest swindler". I felt like some money-based power was a given for Filthy Rich, so I went with Ivar mostly for the play on names.

The Ditzy Disillusion

Ditzy bit her lip and peeked around a corner when she heard Trixie shout her challenge. She sat hidden a little while more just to be certain her colleagues lured any would-be guardians away from the museum. Once the street was silent save for the occasional carriage, Ditzy went up to the museum entrance. She banged on the door, but the massive oaken door did not open.

Ditzy bit her lip again and looked up at the door. She may or may not have forgotten that it could be locked; doors in Ponyville were never locked. Besides, how was she supposed to get the Electro Orb if the door was closed? She was not Trixie; she could not pick locks. This was no fair!

”Dumb door!” Ditzy shouted and hit the door in a fit of righteous anger. Alas, it only made Ditzy’s hoof hurt while the door remained closed.

”Catmare?” a surprised, and somewhat nervous voice came from behind her. Ditzy looked over her shoulder and spotted the small form of Hum-Drum down on the staircase. The color rose in Ditzy’s cheeks. Catmare and Hum-Drum were, according to official PowerPony lore, quite smitten by one another. Ditzy, on the other hoof, had never cared much for that part of the comics, and mostly glanced over them before getting to the interesting scenes.

But now what could she do? She was Catmare now, and this was the real Hum-Drum in front of her. Did he expect her to kiss him or something? Interestingly enough, Hum-Drum seemed less than thrilled about that notion too. He scratched his head and looked everywhere but at her. She poked the ground with her hoof. He coughed.

”So… why are you here?” she asked, hopefully in a carefree way.

”Uh… would you believe me if I said Twil- The Masked Matterhorn told me to get the Electro Orb?” Hum-Drum asked.

”Since when do you steal?” Ditzy asked, quite pointedly. She did not like Hum-Drum out of character like this, even if he only was a background character. ”You are supposed to be one of the good guys!”

”Yea,” Spike mumbled awkwardly. ”We really just want the orb to prevent Neighvar and Four-Leaf Clover from getting it. So are you gonna help?”

Ditzy thought for a moment. She did not like tricking Hum-Drum, but the fact remained; she had no clue how to get into the museum. She needed help. ”Sure, if you can get the front door open.”

Hum-Drum looked at her quizzically. ”Why can’t you just climb up there and enter through the front windows? They are always open.” Hum-Drum pointed at the half a dozen windows just above the museum mane gate.

”Like they were in issue 14687 when Four-Leaf Clover tried to get the Roamanian Laurel Wreath?” Ditzy asked. It was fun to discuss the PowerPonies with somepony who obviously knew everything perfectly well.

”How do you know what issue that was in?” Hum-Drum asked. His eyes narrowed. ”Are you from the outside too?”

Ditzy balked. She had said too much. ”Y-yes,” she mumbled. Her eyes darted left and right. Then, fast as possible, she extended the claws from her suit and climbed the facade as quick as a cat climbs a tree. She could get in via the roof, and from there she should be able to get the orb even if she now had Hum-Drum after her. But if she could not get in through the door, the he could not either.

”Hey, get back down here!” Hum-Drum called after her. She ignored him and instead slipped through the open windows. Once inside she tapped down in the vestibule and tried to orient herself. There were four ways to go; two exhibits to her left and right, and the same on top floor. Ditzy, when she made the comic, had placed the orb on the top floor. She ran up the staircase when something caught her eye.

The front door swung open before a green tinted flame. The lock melted to a molten pile of metal at the floor. Hum-Drum rushed in as fast as his legs would carry him. Ditzy swallowed and continued into the natural historical exhibition.

In the midst of the many preserved animals stood the largest skeleton Ditzy had ever seen. So large in fact, now that she saw it for real, that she stopped to admire it for just a moment.

Two legs, a long tail, oversized skull filled with even more oversized, pointy teeth and the tinniest forelegs imaginable, barely more than two appendages on the chest. Her awe was brought to a swift end when Hum-Drum rushed through the doorway behind her, panting.

”Rexy! Stop her!”

Memories from issue 9640 sprang to her mind, about the same millisecond as the skeleton leaped from the pedestal and, with what once would have been a mighty roar, charged the petrified pony. Ditzy squeaked, stunned by the attack.

Hum-Drum, Ditzy and Rexy were all shocked to see how the skeleton stepped on a dropped muffin, slipped and fell. With a dry smash, bones scattered and slid all over the room. After just a moment, a dark green sheen encased them and the bones began to re-affix themselves. Ditzy, however, did not stay to watch for longer than to grieve the muffin for a moment; she dashed in between the two half-reanimated legs.

One of the bones sailed over her head and landed in front of her, evidently sent by Hum-Drum. The shimmer engulfed it and made it slide back to the reassembling dinosaur. Ditzy ran straight into it, tangled up her legs and fell. Hum-Drum ran past her into the Neighyptian exhibition.

”Dragon!” she screamed from the ground and pointed at Hum-Drum. ”A dragon is trying to steal your treasure!”

A low, dry moaning sounded from one of the sarcophagi that stood leaned against the wall. A mummified hoof reached out and pushed the lid off. Gold bands and jewels hung from the ancient Pharaoh, and over his head he wore a mask of purest gold and glass. With surprising speed, the mummy lunged at Hum-Drum and wrestled him to the ground.

”Cursed be those who disturb the rest of a Pharaoh,” the mummy mumbled in a cracked, dry voice that seemed to come from the chest rather than behind the elaborate death mask. ”Grave robber, heathen, lost to all redemption!”

Ditzy, in the meantime, made a dash for the next room, after which she should find the tantalizing orb, but a nasty heat and nastier smell made her skid to a halt just in front of the mummy. It burnt like a bonfire in a radiant green flame. In a moment the mummy was gone, and only the jewels were left on the floor. Both Hum-Drum and Ditzy caught up to the situation at the same time and continued their race for the orb.

*****

Celestia sat on her throne in Canterlot eating another one of the especially ordered cakes. She was almost able to feel bad for the taxpayers whose money had gone into it, but the wonderful taste of chocolate overpowered any such discomfort.

A small spark of green magic caught her eye. She reached out her hoof to take the letter.

Instead a mummy appeared out of thin air and moaned in her face. While she was still stunned by the fact that she suddenly had a dead pony in her lap, said mummy took the opportunity to snatch her cake and devour it whole. Celestia blinked a few times, lit up her horn and returned the undead to Twilight.

With a hollow look she scrutinized the platter where the cake had been, hoping that maybe just a little crumb might be left. She slumped down on the throne and sniffled a little once she was certain that the cake was indeed quite gone.

*****

”Just… stop!” Ditzy called to Hum-Drum. ”They trust me, I can’t fail again!”

”I don’t know who you are, but Twilight told me to get the orb, and I will!” Hum-Drum called back and snatched a spear with a few feathers tied to the handle. He threw it as far as he could, not at Ditzy, but through the door to the other room. With a loud ”BAMF!” Hum-Drum disappeared and reappeared where the spear had landed. He readied another throw.

Ditzy stopped and looked around. She could not outrun The Windblown Spear from issue 7,154; she needed something of her own and a quick scan of the room showed her what. She quickly climbed up to the paw of Ramareses III’s guardian sphinx and the gleaming necklace it held in its extended paw.

”A riddle from the sphinx might the mystery thicken. Something that cannot fly even when fear-stricken. Instead but two legs an escape must quicken. That which I look for is clearly a…”

”Scootaloo!” Ditzy screamed to the Sphinx and grabbed the necklace as soon as the sphinx began to loosen its grip. Good thing she knew the riddle from issue 5365. She threw the necklace around her neck and focused on the wall.

A fireball later the wall was largely gone. The Necklace of the Pure had evaporated it, and behind it sat the Electro Orb on its podium. Hum-Drum appeared inside the room with The Windblown Spear in his hand. They looked at each other, both of them rather surprised to see the other one there so fast. Ditzy galloped towards the podium and Spike threw his spear.

”No fair!” Ditzy exclaimed lamely. Nopony could match that speed; how was it fair to use the Windblown Spear?

The spear landed, and Spike reached for the Elector Orb. Ditzy had lost.

Spike suddenly clutched his stomach, as if he had a very bad ache. With a queasy sound and a burp, a long dead Pharaoh flew forward from his jaw, hit the orb and knocked it away.

With a few light thuds, it bounced over the floor and stopped just in front of Ditzy. She looked at it, without quite understanding what had happened. Evidently, neither Hum-Drum nor the mummy understood this either.

Without a word, Spike threw himself after the orb, and got his claws around it the very same moment Ditzy put her hooves on it.

A bright light shone over the two of them.

*****

Flim hopped up on his hooves with a start. The comic book began to shine again and slowly rise upwards. Topsy spread his wings and stood at the ready.

”Here it comes…” Flim thought. Flam and Suri both came into the room. ”We have company,” Suri reported. ”The orange country pony, the timid pegasus and… sigh, Rarity is coming back.” Her expression betrayed her worry.

”Now?” Flim moaned. ”Now of all times?” Flam seemed to agree with his brother’s annoyance when he saw the comic. However, when he spoke his voice was calm.

”Then let’s hope they do not come in here. Everypony, stand ready.”

With a strong gust of wind that sent every book off the bookshelves and a swooshing sound, six ponies and a dragon fell out from the comic, all in a varying degree of daze.

Rarity opened the door to Twilight’s bedroom.

Flim and Flam both stared quite surprised at the pile of ponies on the mat. Suri glared directly at her, even if she could see the fuchsia mare’s eyes darting left and right. Topsy seemed unfazed by the confusion around him; he kept his eyes on the pile of ponies.

Rarity was not sure what to think. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie both held Filthy Rich, even if they both looked quite surprised with their situation. Twilight and Trixie seemed to have frozen in the middle of a pretty heated moment. Trixie held her hoof gently against Twilight’s belly. Now they both looked pretty disgusted. In the bottom of the pile, Ditzy frantically wrestled Spike for what seemed to be The Electro Orb.

…

”DON’T LET THEM GET AWAY!” Twilight screamed as she tried to get on her hooves. Trixie found her composure and pushed her rival before she could find her balance.

Rarity leaped at Topsy, who was the first pony she reached, only to have her tail grabbed by Suri. Flam and Applejack both tried to get into the fray at the same time, and had thereby gone in fierce close combat with one another. Applejack’s superior strength gave her a clear advantage and she already had almost caught the perplexed Flam who did his best to back away.

”Topsy!” Ditzy yelled from the bottom of the pile. She held the Electro Orb tight against her chest as Spike tried to take it from her. ”Help!”

”No, you don- ouch!” Rainbow called and leaped into the air, or, she would have leaped into the air if not for the hoofcuffs that suddenly linked her with Twilight. The alicorn had just gotten on her hooves, and was now felled again as her right front leg shoot up in the air together with Rainbow Dash.

Topsy, however, did not have any such problems. He kicked Spike away without a moment’s hesitation, reached Ditzy and snatched the orb. With a combined twist and dodge of an errant grope from Rarity, he faced the window again and took off as if launched from a cannon.

”Cloudcover!” Flam shouted after him. He ended his cryptical shout with a whimper as Applejack struck him right over the eye.

”Come on Twi!” Rainbow shouted and took of again, only to be held back by Twilight, who in turn, was held back by her own bed. Another pair of hoofcuffs had appeared between Twilight’s left hind leg and her bed leg. Rainbow fell back on her stomach and saw Topsy disappear into the sky.

”Oopsie, my bad,” Trixie said with a mischievous grin. She conjured up a new set of hoofcuffs from inside her cape. Quick as can be, she somersaulted straight through the pile of still fighting ponies, fastened one of the cuffs around Rainbow’s right front hoof, kicked Twilight on her horn as she spotted the glimmer around it, and leaped away, pulling the pegasus with her. She appeared in a blue and lilac blur in front of Pinkie and locked her left hoof with the other cuff.

”Tangle Trap…” Flim, who had backed out of the brawl, said lightly. He dashed over the floor just beside Applejack and conjured up a rope from inside his jacket. He turned and kicked Applejack in her right back kneel joint, causing her to fall with a surprised grunt. ”…Backwards!” Still turned, he sent his ropes over his back and got them around one of Applejack’s forelegs. He pulled and sent her sprawling on the ground, long enough for his badly beaten brother to get well out of reach.

”Now hold your breath!” Trixie called, reached into her cape and threw a small glass sphere into the ground. It scattered and a thick, billowing cloud filled the room. She used her magic to lightly tug at the tails of her friends and pull them towards where she stood, nearby the exit.

”Bat id dis?” somepony asked with a very thick voice. ”Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!” Whoever it was soon joined by a few other ponies sneezing their lungs out. ”Wad dat thneezin bowder?”

Trixie managed to get her friend out of the cloud and together they stumbled out of the room. Filthy quickly pushed a nearby pedestal to the door handle, locking Twilight and her friends in. Ditzy laid in a wheezing, sneezing pile on the floor.

”I told you to hold your breath,” Trixie said with a slightly scolding voice.

”Bud I-achoo -wahs- achoo!- surbrized- achoo,” Ditzy responded through a cascade of sneezes.

”Let’s just get out of here,” Flam mumbled with a groan. He held one of his hooves over the eye where Applejack had hit him. ”But slowly if we can. We don’t want anypony to see us leave here all at the same time. Trixie, how long will that sneezing powder affect them?”

”Ten or so minutes,” Trixie responded. She looked at the sneezing Ditzy with pity in her face. ”And Trixie is pretty confident they won’t be able to do much during that time.”

”Good,” Flam nodded. Flim and Suri, in the meantime, helped Ditzy up and placed her on Filthy’s back. She could hardly even walk for her sneezes and watery eyes.

”What a beauty,” Suri remarked when Flam removed the hoof from his eye to walk. The bruise was well on the way to hold every color of Rainbow Dash’s mane, missing only orange. Flam opened the castle front door and peeked out.

He could hardly see the hoof in front of him. The entire world was covered in a thick white mist, almost like snow. They could clearly hear the confused voiced of townsponies around them, but they saw nopony.

”C-cloudcover,” Topsy’s slithering whisper came from their left. ”Follow-w me…” Flam felt Topsy’s tail hit him in the face. Even the glaring red color was hard to make out. Flam closed his eyes and bit the hair in Topsy’s tail. He felt somepony bite lightly in his.

The Circus proceeded to make their way back to Filthy’s mansion, guided by Topsy’s impeccable sense of hearing. It took them almost ten minutes of violent sneezes and general nerve wrecking anxiety. The all sighed with relief when they closed Filthy’s massive doors behind them. Without a word, the seven ponies went up to the second floor and out on the balcony overlooking Ponyville.

Most of the town was still covered in the thick mist of what once had been a cloud, but it was starting to drift away thanks to the work of the weatherponies. Ponyville would probably be back to normality in about fifteen minutes. ”Masterful cloudcover there, as always, Topsy,” Flim said. Topsy nodded with a jerky motion. ”How are you, Ditzy?”

The cloud gray pegasus still sniffled a little but her trademark aura of happiness and joy had returned. ”I’m fine,” she answered. Suddenly, she got a smile as bright as the sun on her face. ”We did it! We got the Electro Orb!”

”You did,” Filthy corrected. ”We just helped a little.”

”Quite a bit, actually,” Trixie mumbled quietly. Ditzy was unfazed by the comment. She blushed deeper than ever before. She even had a clear look of pride on her face, something the clumsy mailmare rarely indulged.

”Topsy, may I have the orb?” Flam asked. ”The Clown and I are going to visit the Mr. Whooves and convince him to build a time machine. Since he has no connection with us, it would be the best if he takes care of the orb until it is needed. We can’t afford to have it here, after all.”

”Trixie agrees,” Trixie said. ”She thinks it will be hard to explain why we have the Electro Orb when Twilight Sparkle brings the guard here. Also, The Confident and Spirited Trixie has something else she want to look into…” Trixie levitated out a thick book from her cape. "Bygone Griffons of Greatness" stood with squiggly letters. ”Trixie thought she needed this more than Twilight, so the Princess of Friendship surely won’t object to her borrowing this.”

Flam nodded. ”So you read up on that for a while. Come Ditzy, let’s not waste any time.” Topsy went inside the house and Flam followed, along with Ditzy. ”Topsy, perhaps you should get out of here too, in case Twilight get some bright ideas?”

The pegasus nodded, handed Flam the orb, which he had temporarily stored behind a sofa, and went down the staircase and out the back door. ”Stay close,” Ditzy called hastily. ”I will come and get you once we are safe again.”

”I s-shall listen c-closely,” Topsy stammered and departed. Ditzy and Flam went out into the lingering cloud. They could still not see very well, but they were able to make out contours of the houses at the side of the streets. They went towards the doctor’s small, one story house at the outskirts of the town via the less-used paths. They could not afford to run into anypony right now, not when they were carrying the orb.

Flam waited in a deserted alleyway as Ditzy went up to the doctor’s door and raised her hoof to knock. The door once again opened before she touched it. The doctor had a serious look in his sapphire eyes.

”I have been expecting you,” he said. Ditzy blinked at the sudden change in character. The doctor usually was not at all like this. The stallion broke out in a smile. ”You fell for it.”

Ditzy giggled.

”Well, I really have been expecting you,” The doctor said lightly. ”I have fine tuned my newsflash goggles to see further into the future, so I knew you would come. With company, yes?”

”With company indeed,” Flam said cooly. ”Maybe then you already know why I am here… and who I am?”

”I don’t know why you are here,” Doctor Whooves said, somewhat uncertain by Flam’s chilly greeting, ”but you are Flam, yes? You made cider with that splendid machine?”

”I am Flam,” Flam said with a considerably kinder voice. Most ponies could not keep him and his brother apart, but they were not identical. This doctor, however had really put in an effort to learn their names. A small plus in Flam’s book. ”I have made cider, among many other things. However, I have need of another kind of machine this time around.”

”Ooh?” Doctor Whooves replied curiously.

”Perhaps we could go inside? I will catch a cold if I stay in this fog much longer,” Flam said. ”And the guard will likely catch me,” he added stilly in his thought.

”Ah, yes. Do come in,” Doctor Whooves said and made an inviting gesture. ”Sorry about the mess.”

Flam nodded and went in. The room was larger on the inside than it seemed on the outside and filled with so much machinery Flam hardly knew where to look first. It was complex stuff too. He was a pretty decent engineer himself, having built The Super-Speedy-Cider-Squeezy-6000 from scratch, but he could not even begin to guess what most of the things he saw were supposed to be. ”Seems I have come to the right place,” he remarked.

”Doc can build anything,” Ditzy said happily. ”Like this here.” She fluttered up to something that looked like a miniature spaceship, put a colander with some chopsticks through random holes on her head and pretended to fly.

”Aaah-ha,” Flam said, clearly not too impressed with that particular machine.

”Well, Mr. Flam, what do you need,” Doctor Whooves said as he lowered Ditzy’s little spaceship down.

”We need to go back in time,” Ditzy said without hesitating. ”You can do that, yes?”

”Ah, please miss Doo, I have already clarified that such a thing is impossible,” Doctor Whooves said with a snicker.

”Wrong,” Flam said matter-of-factly. ”You said you needed a power source greater than what you had. Well, we just so happen to stumble across something that might serve adequately.” He flung the Electro Orb towards Doctor Whooves, who caught it easily. ”What do you think?”

The doctor looked at the crackling orb with an interested look. ”Now, I have never seen anything like this. Hang on, I should have a voltmeter somewhere around here…” He placed the orb on a cluttered desk and then began to sift through a large pile of everything and nothing. Among the things Flam saw two flawless sapphires, a mammoth tusk, and a chunk of gold ore.

”Ah, here it is,” Doctor Whooves said and pulled out a measuring devise and some cables. He connected the cables to the voltmeter, and motioned to Flam. The unicorn took the hint and magicked the other ends of the cables up and put them to the orb’s surface.

A thunderclap later, three dazed ponies looked at a smoldering pile of metal and plastic. It had not lasted a millisecond. ”That voltmeter was the strongest one I had” Doctor Whooves said with a shocked voice. He continued to stare at the voltmeter, as if he did not quite believe what had just happened.

”What does that mean?” Ditzy asked. She looked at the fried voltmeter again. ”Is that good?”

”It means that there is a chance to make time come forward to you,” Doctor Whooves said with a voice that gradually became more and more excited. ”Mr. Flam, I beg of you, let me do this for you. I never though I should be able to get enough power to even try something like this. It is like a dream come true. Please, you must let me do this, I have wanted this my whole life, I-”

”I could let you do this…” Flam interrupted smugly as he studied his hoof. ”But then you will work by my rules, understood?”

”Just name them,” Doctor Whooves said with a breathless voice. ”I’d do anything to work with this.”

”Just what I wanted to hear, my good doctor,” Flam said contently. ”Here are the rules: first of all, you will not ask what me and my friends are doing with your time-travel device, nor will you care. Second, If anypony comes asking, you are not going to tell them what you are building. Absolute secrecy.” Flam emphasized the two words. ”Third, I was never here, and neither you or me have ever had, or even heard of that power source. Understood?”

”Done,” Doctor Whooves said without a moment’s hesitation. ”How many ponies do you need time to come forward for?”

”Seven, or eight if you must come as well, and a parrot,” Flam answered.

”This is going to be great!” Ditzy and the doctor said in perfect unison, both with a very giddy voice.

”Then I shall take my leave,” Flam said lightly. ”I will return in a few days to check on you. I will expect a rough draft for how long time you will need.”

”You will have it,” Doctor Whooves said obligingly. Flam trotted up through the door.

”Good luck with your wibbly wobbly timey wimey… stuff,” Ditzy said, slightly confused at her own sentence. She shook her head, smiled, and followed Flam out the door.

Doctor Whooves stared after them. Then back to the single most precious item in Equestria. Whatever the orb was, it could be the answer to all his dreams. He had spent longer than he remembered on his time travel theories. Research, experimentation, sleepless night, tears and sweat had all gone down in that project, only for him to have it thrown back in his face. There was a spell for it? With a wave of their horns some ponies could do what he had tried for so long? Some ponies could bypass the extreme energy barrier that kept him from time travel? And he was not one such pony, he would never enjoy the fruits of his lifelong quest?

Doctor Whooves had always envied the unicorn race; their magic was such a wondrous thing, so powerful, yet so enigmatic. It was a sweet fruit his scientific mind had always yearned to taste and always been locked out from. When he discovered that they could travel through time too, his envy had morphed into pure jealousy. Not only were they free to study their wonderful magic, but they had stolen this dream as well? It just was not fair.

But now in his hooves he held the key to his lifelong dream. In his hooves he held the key to a time machine. Doctor Whooves put his forehead to the orb and let a few tears of joy fall from his eyes. His life’s quest was possible. ”For you Mr. Flam and Ditzy, and for me, I shall build you a time machine,” he mumbled.

He sat down by his desk, grabbed a pencil in his mouth and began to sketch his heart out.

”TAR…DIS… or maybe De…Lorean…?”

*****

Twilight laid on the cold floor and panted, breathless from her sneezes. Most of her friends did not seem to be in a much better state. While Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy had captured Trixie’s warning and held their breaths, the cloud was so thick it was impossible to see the locked windows or door. In time, they had all succumbed to the reflex of breathing, and since then pretty much been stuck. Only when Applejack accidentally had found a window and broken it did the sneezing powder begin to lighten. Twilight was now trying to unlock the hoofcuffs that bound her together with the bed leg.

”What was that?” Rainbow Dash asked in a tired voice. ”Why where Filthy Rich, Trixie and Ditzy in our comic? Where did the others come from? Suri, Flim and… eh?” Rainbow felt like she had a thousand more questions, but she could not find the words for them. She had hit her quota of random when she first saw Filthy. The other stuff had to be filed away and dealt with later, right now her brains felt like scrambled eggs.

”They were after the Electro Orb,” Twilight answered, resigned. She and Rarity had agreed to keep The Canterlot Caper a secret, as neither of them wanted their friends roped into something so dangerous. But now it seemed like The Circus might actually be serious about coming after Twilight. She had to tell her friends what was going on. They deserved to know.

”Ya don’t say, Sugarcube,” Applejack asked with a relived voice as Pinkie freed her from the constricting ropes. ”Ah knew Flim an’ Flam would be trouble, but why where Ditzy an’ Filthy with them? An’ where did Trixie come from? A’n Suri?”

”And that strange pegasus,” Fluttershy added with a timid voice.

”Look, everypony… Rarity and I have to tell you something,” Twilight began hesitantly. She glanced at her unicorn friend, who nodded. ”About that night some time ago… when Celestia lost her regalia and the airship crashed in Sweet Apple Acres.”

The two ponies recounted their story of The Canterlot Caper for their friends, from the day Coco Pommel knocked on Rarity’s door to the catastrophic trial. Their friends sat silent and their jaws fell lower and lower as the story went on. Twilight and Rarity took turns to tell from their different perspectives, and interjected when the other forgot something.

When they silenced, Rainbow was the first to speak. ” So… hey, wait a minute, you mean that it was Topsy? Like… Topsy the Skytamer?” Her voice began as confused, but gradually turned more and more excited.

”Why are you so happy about that, darling?” Rarity asked curiously. ”I assure you, he is just as nasty as his reputation suggests.”

”Just as awesome, you mean?” Rainbow corrected. Pinkie Pie, Rarity Applejack and Twilight all stared at her with puzzled looks.

”Ehm, you see,” Fluttershy explained, ”among pegasus ponies Topsy is not really thought of as a criminal…”

”WHAT!?” four ponies yelled.

”Well, he is, but he is more often thought of as the greatest weather master the Wonderbolts have had in generations,” Rainbow Dash clarified. ”Hey, come on, don’t you remember that heartswarming play? Pegasi have always been a very proud pony race,” Rainbow Dash continued as she looked at the shocked eyes of her friends. ”Pegasus mentality has been like that since the days of Commander Hurricane. Topsy was a Wonderbolt, the awesomest of all awesome jobs a pegasus can hope for. A Wonderbolt will pretty much always be a hero to most Pegasi.”

”But… but what…?” Twilight tried to say something. ”But he… ponies could have died, he went berserk with a tornado during a stunt show. How can anypony consider that… good?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. ”Not good, but… well, no pony died, and to actually make a tornado from scratch like that… it was kinda awesome. Many pegasi prefer to remember what he did as a Wonderbolt rather than when he snapped. And he is believed dead anyway, so… yea, doesn’t really matter what one think.”

”An’ what do you think, Rainbow?” Applejack asked bluntly.

”Well…” Rainbow Dash hesitated for a moment. ”I don’t like what he is doing, and no pony can be allowed to hurt ponies like he does… but he is still kinda awesome.”

”Hmm,” Twilight contemplated. ”I know how you feel, Rainbow,” she admitted. ”On a strictly academic standpoint, I can respect Sombra and Tirek too. They were both insane and evil, but their magic was…”

”Just magic,” Rainbow filled in. ”And that is not good or bad.”

”I never knew you was such a philosopher, miss Dash,” Rarity said with a smirk.

”I’m not a philosopher!” Rainbow exclaimed with a horrified expression. ”I’m a Wonderbolt, I’m awesome and cool! Philosophers are as lame and uncool as they come!”

”Well, whatever,” Applejack said. ”Ah’d like ta know what happens now. Ah mean, apparently our neighbors are wanted criminals…”

”We catch them of course,” Rainbow said with certainty. ”After all, they just broke in here. No biggie.”

”And threw sneezing powder at us,” Rarity reminded, dejected. ”Do forgive me, but I hardly think that will be enough to lock them up. I somehow doubt that Maretropolis is within Equestrain jurisdiction, so stealing the Electro Orb is probably not even a crime…”

”Then let’s go visit them with some cake,” Pinkie suggested. ”I’m sure we can find some proof in their house, right?”

”I don’t know,” Twilight said. ”But I have nothing better… Fluttershy?”

”Oh, ehm,” the timid pegasus looked about. ”Well, I guess we should do something. We can't let them get away with hurting anypony more than they already have.”

It took only a few minutes for the six friends to run to Filthy’s mansion through the residue cloud. Twilight went up and knocked decisively on the door. ”I’m not home right now,” Filthy’s voice came from inside. ”Come back tomorrow.”

”You are home,” Twilight responded indignantly. She was too frustrated to play along The Circus’s mindgames. She pulled open the door. Filthy stood on in the staircase right in front of them, dressed in a crimson bathrobe with a heavily stylized F and R embodied with gold. Beside him, with a newspaper and a tray with coffee on his back, stood Filthy’s butler Randolph.

”Those must be among the worst manners I have ever seen,” Filthy pointed out coldly. ”Don’t make me come down there and throw you out.”

”Stop it, ’Wizard’,” Twilight said venomously. ”As Princess, I demand to search through your property.”

”On what bases?” A very annoying voice came from the walkway around the second floor of the foyer. Applejack looked up and saw Flim watch them with a superior smile. ”Not even the Princess can just waltz into somepony’s home and demand to search it. Or did you somehow conjure up a search warrant in ten minutes?”

”I demand to search through this property on suspicion that you are hiding the wanted ex-Wonderbolt Topsy Twitchy here!” Twilight growled back.

”And why, pray tell, would you suspect that?” Filthy Rich said from the staircase.

”Don’t even try!” Rainbow Dash said and flew up to Filthy Rich so that her face just was a hooflength from his. ”Twilight told us everything about you, criminal.”

”Did she now?” Flim said with an interested voice. ”Well, then we should get properly acquainted, shouldn’t we?”

A silent fluttering sound came from behind the six friends. As they turned to see what it was, a black bird flew over their heads and landed on the wooden railing beside Flim. ”This, for starters, is Prankster.”

”Ohh, a Glossy Black Cockatoo,” Fluttershy said with a dreamy voice. ”How beautiful!”

”Isn’t he?” Flim said with apparent pride.

”Come here little birdie,” Fluttershy said softly and flew up to the parrot. ”Let me look at you.”

”Now, be careful,” Flim said uncertainly. ”Prankster doesn't like ponies he doesn’t knooookay…?” Flim was forced to say when Fluttershy gently extended a hoof and brushed it over Prankster’s wing. The parrot croaked approvingly and then affectionately bit lightly in Fluttershy’s ear. The pegasus giggled softly. ”I say, miss,” Flim said. ”I have never seen anypony but me and my brother get that close to Prankster without being clawed before.”

”Ooh, it’s not hard,” Fluttershy mumbled. ”You just have to know how to treat him, is all.”

”Care to give me some advice?” Flim mumbled. ”He is eating away a lot of our profits… what seeds do you recommend?”

Applejack gave an annoyed scoff and went forward.

”This is a clear violation of privacy,” Filthy said coldly. ”Unless you want to spend the night under arrest, back off.”

”Ah Ain’t one ta back down ta the likes of you,” she answered without slowing down.

”Allow me, sir,” Randolph said professionally and descended the staircase. He stopped on the lowest step and blocked Applejack. When she tried to walk around he stepped with her, still balancing the coffee tray on his back.

Prankster lifted from the railing, flew in an indolent circle once before he plummeted towards Applejack with talons wide open. Before anypony could react, he had ripped Applejack’s hat off her head and flown out through the door.

”Ooh my,” Fluttershy mumbled uncertainly. ”What got into him?”

”Oh, Prankster has always had a sixth sense about ponies,” Flim shrugged. ”Of course he would pick up on Applejack’s nasty character.”

”Hey, that’s mean!” Pinkie said with a high pitched voice and appeared beside Flim and glared him down. ”Applejack isn’t mean. I mean, she can get a little grumpy sometimes, but she is not mean, you know what I mean?” Pinkie sat down with a thoughtful expression. Randolph looked at her and tried to figure out how she had gotten past him.

”What is the meaning of all this commotion!? Can’t a mare have her beauty sleep around here?” An angry and somewhat drawling voice came from one of the many doors to the foyer. Rarity immediately got a guarded look in her eyes. Suri Polomare opened the door and looked with a surprised and annoyed glare at the guests. ”And what might you want?” she asked, keeping her eyes on Rarity.

”We have come to search this property since you are hiding a dangerous criminal,” Rarity replied coldly.

”Ah,” Suri said with a sarcastic voice. ”So you are hear to steal my work then. Well dream on, little filly.”

”Why, I’d never!” Rarity screamed indigently. ”I would never stoop that low, unlike somepony else I could name!”

”A lady shouldn’t scream like that, m’kay,” Suri said with a forgiving smirk. ”But please share. Who would have such a… let’s say strange, m’kay, taste as to steal your designs?”

Rarity took a few sharp breaths and glared at Suri with a gaze that should have killed the fuchsia mare. Rarity’s cheeks were red and her eyes practically screamed bloody murder. ”You did, miss Polomare.”

Suri chuckled, earning her an, if possible, even more murderous glare. ”I didn’t, m’kay. I used your fabric, which you so naïve-kindly gave to me, and then improved your designs a little with my own genius.”

”You mean you forced Coco to!” Twilight said sharply. ”She sewed everything for you!”

Suri scoffed. ”I was the brains, she was my right… left hoof. All she did was to follow my lead, m’kay, and the only thing she did satisfactory was bringing me coffee.”

Rarity was shaking in anger. It took all her willpower not to charge at Suri and slap her with all her might. How could anypony say such things about sweet and innocent Coco Pommel? Was this mare not the least bit ashamed of what she had done to Coco, even after nearly sending her into ruin?

”Filthy,” Flim said without taking notice about Rarity, ”would you go and find Miss Lulamoon?”

”Randolph, and then leave us alone please,” Filthy commanded casually.

”But of course,” Randolph said with a stiff, formal voice. The butler immediately went past Applejack and disappeared through the same door Suri still stood in without taking any notice of the guests.

”Oh, you are mistaken, Equilibrist,” a soft and confident voice came from behind Twilight and her friends as soon as Randolph had left. Twilight started and spun around, coming face to face with Trixie. Twilight and her friend kept looking at the azure mare as she passed them slowly, as if to really soak up the attention she received.

”I know I shouldn’t be surprised,” Flim said with an approving grin. Pinkie’s laudatory clopped her hooves. ”But I am.”

”Again! Again!” Pinkie shouted.

”Now listen well,” Flim said with a somewhat more serious voice. ”We here, along with my brother, Topsy Twitchy, and Ditzy Doo, are indeed the inner circle of what you call The Circus. And everything miss Sparkle told you is probably true.”

”And since we lost our illusionist, we need a new secretkeeper,” Filthy Rich elaborated in a factual voice, as if he was talking about the weather. ”That is, somepony with enough authority to get in everywhere and bribe the right officials, make evidence go away, lose investigations in the bureaucracy, that sort of ting.”

”Being you, Twilight Sparkle,” Trixie said softly. ”And with our most recent success, Trixie and her friends are off to a fine way to get you on our side…”

”I have told you already,” Twilight said harshly. ”You won’t.”

”And we have told you already, you don’t have to believe us,” Flim said with an earnest voice.

Twilight took a deep breath to calm herself. She had to be rational and reasonable. This was not the time to be tardy. Time to do what she came for and get out. ”Stand aside Filthy Rich,” Twilight said with emphasis. ”The Princess of Friendship demands to search your property. I issue a search warrant hear and now, as Princess.”

”Seems I have no choice,” Filthy Rich said cooly. ”Go ahead, Sparkle. Turn my mansion upside down if you want to. You will find nothing. And be assured the mayor will hear about this misuse of your title.”

”Celestia will be very proud indeed,” Flim remarked venomously. ”She keeps our land together, and you harass innocent citizens.”

”Come with me, little filly,” Suri said with a foalish voice to Rarity, who’s cheeks became redder again. ”I’ll keep you company, m’kay, so you don’t try anything funny in my room.”

Trickery Through Time

Flam sighed as he looked out from a window at the second floor from Filthy’s mansion. It was evening, and in the golden streetlight he could see Applejack keeping vigil in front of Filthy’s gate. Since they had acquired the Electro Orb ten something days ago, Twilight and her friends had kept Filthy’s mansion under close watch, with at least one for them around every waking hour. For the most part it did not cause any problems, since they were just waiting for Doctor Whooves to complete his device. However, the doctor had told Ditzy earlier today that the machine was ready, so now they had to visit him -without anypony knowing it.

Flam turned from the window and wrote a hasty note on some paper. He then unlocked Prankster’s cage and tied the small roll to one of his legs. ”Deliver this to Trixie’s wagon, won’t you?” he asked the parrot.

Prankster looked at him with a contemplating expression. ”RRRRAK!” he rasped and took wing. He flew about the room in a circle and then out a window. Flam returned to his position by the window and kept monitoring Applejack; the mare who's family had dared to foil not one, but two of his plans. A glint of cold fury passed over his face as he thought about it, before disappearing a moment later.

Flam kept watch undisturbed for another fifteen minutes before he spotted Mayor Mare casually coming up the road to the mansion. Applejack turned to greet her and the two talked for a little while. Flam could not see what happened from his vantage point, but Applejack slumped to the ground and Mayor Mare brought her up to the mansion. Flam left his post to alert the others.

They met up by Filthy’s gazebo, just as Mayor Mare and threw the unconscious earth pony on the table. She went out and locked the door. ”You know, it would be easier if you would just lived here as usual, right?” Flam remarked. ”I don’t want to send Prankster every time I need you and Trixie.”

”I live where I want, thank you very much, Equilibrist,” Mayor Mare answered in Suri’s voice. ”M’kay?”

”Just thought you should know,” Flam shrugged. ”Masterful disguise as usual, by the way. Ditzy and I will go visit the good doctor. Perhaps think you can have the others assembled here when we return?”

”Sure,” Suri answered.

Flam went to Ditzy’s combined post office and home and was greeted by The mailmare's daughter, Dinky. ”Good day, little miss,” he said politely. ”I was looking for your mother. Is she here by any chance?”

”Are you Flim or Flam?” Dinky asked. ”She said she was waiting for Flim or Flam.”

”Yes, I’m Flam,” Flam replied with a relaxed tone and tipped his boater hat.

”I think my mother is working to much,” the foal said with a stern voice. ”She never worked this much before she met you and the others. She is almost never home anymore, always working and always tired when she comes home.” Flam, for once, was speechless. He had not expected Dinky, of all ponies, to berate him like that. ”I never see her anymore.” Dinky mumbled and poked the floor with her hoof. ”She comes home after I goes to bed and rises earlier than me.”

Flam kept silent, his preferred method for dealing with uncomfortable subjects. He would have liked to offer the foal an excuse, but he had none. He could not lie to a foal; adults had to look out for them. One should always look out for foals.

”I will go and find her,” Dinky said when he did not make any attempt of explaining himself. She turned her back on him.

”I shall take that into account,” Flam said stilly to himself. He saw on Dinky’s ears that she heard him. For now, that was all he could do for Dinky.

Soon he and Ditzy casually went to Doctor Whooves house. Ditzy’s typical happiness told Flam that she did not know what had just transpired in her hallway. Flam eyed Ditzy as they went. ”I shall indeed take your words into account, little Dinky,” he thought. The doctor opened the door before Flam could knock as usual.

”Mr. Flam,” Doctor Whooves said curtly once the three pines were inside the doctor’s kitchen. ”I hope nothing have come up?”

Flam banished his rumination about Dinky. Right now, he was working and his brother was counting on him. Nothing else mattered. ”Of course not,” Flam replied, equally curt. ”In fact, things are going so well, we want to use… that thing we commissioned.”

”We’re going tomorrow, Doc,” Ditzy said, happier than a filly at Heartswarming. ”We are actually going back in time tomorrow, and it was my idea!” Ditzy’s smile was brighter than the sun. ”I-it was my idea!” she said again, as if she could not quite believe it herself.

”I see,” Doctor Whooves said with a sheepish grin, no knowing exactly how to react to the bundle of skips, giggles and blushes named Ditzy Doo. ”And… you want to know how to use… the time machine?”

”Exactly,” Flam said.

”Now, mister Flam, first and foremost; that machine makes time come forward, but does not alter your spacial placement,” Doctor Whooves said with a serious voice. Flam and Ditzy listened carefully. ”In other words, you need to transport my machine to approximately the place you want to be at once time comes forward to you.”

”That’s the griffon empire in our case,” Flam said. ”Pack your bags, good doctor. I assume you will come with us to actually run your device.”

”Indeed,” The doctor confirmed. ”But I won’t join you in your time traveling. I shall stay behind to observe and record the results.”

”Can we alter history now?” Ditzy asked, suddenly with a look of realization and uneasiness on in her veering eyes. ”What if we prevent the discovery of muffins? I’m not sure I like this idea anymore…”

Doctor Whooves chuckled softly. ”You don’t have to worry. Whatever you do have already happened.”

”It has?” Ditzy asked with her head slightly tilted.

”Of course,” Doctor Whooves explained with a kind smile. ”You have already been back in time, according to the history books.”

”I’m confused,” Ditzy said, but that did not seem to bother the pegasus for very long. ”But if the muffins are safe, then I like this idea again.”

”Very well then, that should be all for now, don’t you agree?” Flam asked.

”Indeed,” the Doctor said again. ”So, the train station tomorrow?”

”In Manehattan,” Flam proceeded. ”My friends and I have a few preparations to make… and problems to feint away, so we will meet up there, on the train station. Be seeing you.”

Ditzy and Flam started back to the mansion slowly, in order to enjoy the crisp evening air. As soon as they came back, they could see the rest of their friends, Topsy included, standing outside the gazebo. Prankster was flying above them impatiently.

”All taken care of,” Flam said silently when he came up to the collected ponies. ”Step two in Princess Persuasion can begin as planned.”

”So then we shall leave tonight?” Trixie asked with a hopeful voice. ”Trixie is not sure she can wait much longer.”

”Trixie won’t have to,” Flam said with a smirk. ”Pack your bags everypony, we are leaving via the three A.M train, first class, as usual.”

”In just two hours?” Suri asked, ”how is anypony supposed to pack in that time?”

”Two whole hours?” Filthy Rich asked, ”what Am I to do all that time?”

There was a moment of silence, before the two earth ponies turned to one another and stared as if the other one was completely daft.

”Two hours indeed,” Flam said with a professional voice. ”Topsy…”

”I am aware,” Topsy said with his slithering voice. ”I f-follow you from above and sneak abroad later.”

”Ooh, Applejack!” Flim called loudly to the closed gazebo door. ”I know you are eavesdropping, but I’m so confident that you won’t hold an apple to our wits that I will save you the trouble! Listen good now: We are headed for the Griffon Kingdom on the next train, where out next coup will take place. I hope to see you there, so that I can outwit you personally!” Flim smiled as he heard a tirade of muffled words stream from the behind the door. They were probably not safe for foals to hear.

”What was that?” Flam asked in the uncommunicative tone that meant he was displeased.

”It will impress Sparkle even more if she tries to stop us, but can’t,” Flim said with certainty. ”Besides, picture her waiting at Griffonstone for days without even catching the sight of us. Somehow I don’t think she will be there during the right days.”

Flam cracked a smile at that.

*****

Spoiled Rich wanted to gallop down to the gazebo and bash Suri’s head in with any arbitrary blunt object. She glared down at the assembled ponies from her mansion with hatred in her eyes. To think that Filthy Rich dared to cross her. HER! That he dared to pick that lowly parasite of a mare over herself!

There was no longer a doubt. Spoiled had gone to Canterlot the other day to give the headmaster of Diamond’s future school a piece of her mind with their late replies. That was when she found out; no letter had come, and now the class was already full.

So the five letters Spoiled had sent had all been lost somehow. Of course, it could be that inept mailmare who had lost them, but Spoiled doubted even she could be incompetent enough to lose five letters by accident. If so, then it must have been done deliberately, and the only pony who knew about her plans for Diamond was Filthy.

So her husband had gone behind her back with Diamond Tiara, and now he was leaving town in the middle of the night with that mare. It was not hard to figure out the rest.

Spoiled once again fought down the urge to strangle the wretched mare. Just seeing her gave Spoiled a bitter taste in her mouth. She had made up her mind; Suri would have to disappear. Problem was that it had to be Suri’s own decision as Spoiled did not want Filthy to figure out it was her behind it. Their relationship was already tense; she could not afford to anger Filthy further for a while. Spoiled went from the window and penned a letter and put it in an envelope.

This would solve all her problems.

*****

”It’s muffin time!” Ditzy said happily and opened the duffel bag she had brought. It was filled to the brim with muffins. Muffins in all sizes and tastes. She passed some of them around to her friends. When they all had one each, she heightened hers in a cheer and began to eat. Mere moments later, the muffin was gone and Ditzy had picked up another one. The others ate at a slower pace. They were sitting in a large cave in the Hyperborean Mountains with four tents around them and the doctor’s time machine.

”So, tomorrow?” Doctor Whooves asked, looking at Flam.

”First thing in the morning, yes,” Flam answered. ”No point in waiting around any longer.”

”I must say I like your design on the… time machine, m’kay,” Suri said with an approving nod towards the tall, blue and black colored police box. ”It’s quite… original.”

”Isn’t it though?” Doctor Whooves said with a proud voice. ”I was originally thinking about another design, with wheels, but your fellow friend convinced me to go with something else.” The doctor nodded towards Trixie. The other ponies looked at her with puzzled looks.

”The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn’t trust wheels,” the azure unicorn said with a haughty voice. ”Besides, what would we need wheels for?”

”I don’t know what most stuff in that machine is used for, but that doesn’t mean I ask him to remove it,” Filthy Rich said patiently. ”We commissioned the good doctor to build the machine for us, so we should just let him do that.”

”A lit-tle late for that n-now, don’t you think?” Topsy asked shortly.

”As long as it works,” Flam said with a composed voice.

”It works,” Doctor Whooves said simply. ”Provided you assemble it correctly.”

”I did! I’m sure of it!” Ditzy said happily and swallowed her fifth muffin whole. ”I put the dingus in the doohickey and then with the thingy with the stuff!” Ditzy beamed proudly. The rest of the gathered ponies got something uncertain over their looks all of a sudden.

”Perhaps you could double check the machine a few times before tomorrow, right? Just in case?” Flim whispered to the doctor when Ditzy’s head was deep in the duffel bag, searching for a particular muffin. The brown earth pony nodded.

”Well then,” Flam said. ”Just so that we all know, what are you all bringing with you?”

”Ropes and Prankster,” Flim responded immediately. The parrot looked up from his muffin when he heard his name.

”RRRRAK!” he said in his raspy voice and picked out the seeds Ditzy had baked into his muffin, a sunflower-pumpkin-hemp-oat-seed muffin, made especially for the parrot.

”The Great and Powerful Trixie is bringing her invaluable intellect, superior looks, great and powerful magic, masterful showmareship, spellbinding radiance, wonderful mind for trickery and overall pony perfection.”

”Nothing else?” Suri asked sarcastically.

”Trixie will also bring her lock picks, not that they can do anything Trixie can’t already do,” the blue unicorn said with a huff.

”Muffin!” Ditzy said and devoured another one of said treat. ”I have more muffin.”

” A boomerang,” Filthy Rich said shortly. ”I don’t want to carry around a heap of bolts and an arbalest wherever I go, and there will be no use for bits, I presume?”

”I b-bring only me,” Topsy said. Doctor Whooves had been more than a little surprised when he first saw Topsy, but Flam’s demands had ensured his silence. He would gladly keep silent about Topsy for this opportunity. Still, the pegasus was mighty unsettling.

”M’kay, and I will bring with me my superior looks, great beauty, generally nice personality and wonderful mind for fashion. Oh, and my mane pin, and some sewing supplies,” Suri said and let her hoof slide through her silken mane. When she removed it, her orchid pin sat by her right ear.

”And I bring some magnesium,” Flam said shortly. ”So that is all. Think we should go to sleep? We can’t be tired tomorrow.”

”Doesn’t matter if we sleep now,” Flim quipped. ”No matter when we sleep, we will still have been awake for centuries tomorrow, a few hours won’t really matter.”

The ponies laughed at that.

”Trixie has something she wants to say, if you are done, Equilibrist,” Trixie said. ”She has been skimming through Bygone Griffons of Greatness, and she though she ought to give you a summary of her summary.”

”That might be useful, yes,” Flam said with approval. ”Tell us.”

”Well then,” Trixie said with a radiant smile. ”Come one, come all, and bask in the ingenuity of the Great and Powerful Trixie. Listen, and be humbled by her every word.”

Trixie reared up on her hind hooves and channeled her stage persona. With a lightning fast flick of her cape, a blue cloud concealed her. When she spoke, her voice was dampened and conspiratorial. The listeners edged closer.

”In ancient times, before the rise of ponykind, before Equestria as we know it, there was still a power in our word. A majestic species, powerful and proud, glorious and valorous, masters of the sky and winds. In ancient times, there were only the griffons.” The cloud parted and the illusion of a griffon dove out behind it, talons wide open. Ditzy squeaked and ducked under the illusionary talons. A light, like a sunset, rose up behind the griffon, and the silhouette of a grand city could be seen.

”Their capital was named Griffonstone, or The Mountain Crown. Before Canterlot, this was the capital of the world. It has been said that every house was built of gold and marble, and that the northern wind itself had shaped the mountain with the griffons need in mind. Within the sacred Ironfeather Citadel, resided the Griffon King, Commander of the Areal Legions, Subduer of the Four Winds and Monarch of the Sky and Clouds.”

Ditzy sat with wide open, veering eyes and looked as Trixie conjured up building after building, each more beautiful than the last. A library, a statue, a monument, a bazaar, and lastly a palace.

”But still,” Trixie said with a grave voice. ”There was one thing and one thing only, that the griffons held in higher regard than all marble, all gold, and all gems in the world. The treasure that bound their kind together in pride and ambition. An artifact known as…”

The cloud closed over the magnificent buildings, and seemed to wrap itself around something. The blue mass pulsed once and the broke up like a rosebud spreading to reveal the pristine flower.

”The Idol of Boreas.” A collective gasp went through the gathered ponies. A golden idol, in the shape of a griffon claw and wing, hovered in midair. Set in it was a blood red orb that seemed to pulse with a light of its own.

”This great and powerful artifact is said to have been formed by the dust of golden sunsets, blown across the mountains by the North winds. The idol was never crafted. It was found, residing deep within a volcano. According to griffon legend, the gold it is made from represents earth, the wing represents air, and the orb represents fire, the three elements in griffon mythology. The idol was the very world bowing down to the greatness of the griffon race.”

With a flick of her cape, Trixie scattered the cloud and hid the idol. ”This, my friends, is what we are after. This is what will buy Twilight Sparkle.”

Trixie silenced. Ditzy clopped her hooves and fluttered excitedly with her wings. Her smile was that of a filly who just had heard the happy ending of an adventure story. ”Yay! Griffons are great! I like them already! Go Griffonstone! WOOO!”

”Wait a moment, m’kay!” Suri said with a look of realization. ”Where did you get that idol?”

Trixie smiled and picked out her Idol of Boreas from the cape. ”A certain Wizard had it made, and Trixie picked it up at a jeweler in Manehattan yesterday.”

”We will switch them,” Flam explained. ”Get into the city, switch the two, and get out. When the griffons notice our ruse, we will already be centuries away.”

”Perfect, now can I go to sleep?” Flim said with a yawn. ”After all, we will need all the sleep we can get if we are going to be awake for centuries.”

”But you just said-” Ditzy began. She silenced when Flim held out a muffin to Ditzy. The gray pegasus smiled and began to munch at her fifteenth muffin for the night.

*****

The next morning, eight ponies and a parrot, all in various degrees of excitement, entered the blue police box. They were all surprised when they came inside; it seemed much than it looked from the outside. In fact, they could all stand in it without any problem, even if it was somewhat cramped. ”Now,” Doctor Whooves said as he scuffed past Suri and Filthy to get to the control panel. Just above it sat the Electro Orb like a blue eye staring down on them. ”When do you want to travel to?”

”The Great and Powerful Trixie has calculated that King Guto was crowned around thousand-six-hundred and seventy-five years ago,” Trixie said proudly. ”We will strike then, as that is the last time the idol is mentioned in Trixie’s book.”

Doctor Whooves nodded and turned a multitude of levers and knobs. Two slim metal rods whirred on either side of the electro orb and locked it in a vice grip. A small light on the control flashed from red to green. Doctor Whooves nodded at the light and pushed a lever upwards.

”All set, my friends,” he said proudly. ”Everything is set just as it shall. Make sure no pony touches anything in this room for the reminder of the travel. When you arrive, switch this,” he pointed at a gauge beside a couple of knobs, ”to today’s date. That will make time backtrack, so that you end up a few minutes from now. Just don’t touch anything else, or I don’t know when you will end up.”

The ponies in the police box all scuffed closer to each other. The scene could probably qualify as somewhat immoral, but not even Suri cared. She looked at the walls as if they might burn her, and scuffed even closer to Filthy. Prankster was the only one who seemed unfazed. He flew lazily in the air and landed on a lever, enacting a panicked gasp from most ponies in the room.

”Hey, look, old pal,” Flim said with his most persuasive voice, ”would you come here, eh?”

The parrot looked back, unimpressed. He bent down and bit the lever handle.

”Seeds!” Flim yelled in panic and threw some up in the air. Prankster took wing and landed on the floor, munching up his booty.

”I… guess that’s it,” Doctor Whooves said with a deadpan look. ”I will see you in a few minutes. Or centuries, in your case.” The earth pony trotted out of the door.

”Bye, Doc!” Ditzy said, happy as ever. She fluttered out of the crowd and waved at the doctor.

”Allonz-y!” Doctor Whooves said with a wave and closed the door. He went a few ponylengths back to watch. He knew it would work, of course, but still, to see it. To see his dream come true. His heart began to beat a little faster.

Inside the time machine, the ponies had loosened up a bit, but they were still careful not to get close to the walls, or Prankster.

”Well, seeing how this was your idea Ditzy,” Flam said with an exhilarated voice. ”Perhaps you should begin it?”

”Pull the lever, Kronk!” Suri shouted. Six pairs of pony eyes and one pair of parrot eyes stared at her. ”Sorry, I don’t now why I said that, m’kay,” she said earnestly, looking a little surprised herself.

Ditzy giggled and pulled the lever down hard.

VAPP!

The Quarry Quandary

The ponies looked at one another. Somepony coughed. Ditzy fluffed up her wings a little and looked around, expectantly. Her expression dropped as she realized there would be no flashing lights and dazzling effects this time.

”Well that was… unceremonious,” Trixie was the first to speak after the loud sound. Nothing else had happened; just a loud ”vapp!”, and then nothing more. ”The Great and Powerful Trixie seriously wonders if she has been duped.”

”Only one way to find out,” Flam said in a somewhat cautious voice. He looked just as puzzled as Trixie sounded. ”You open that door now, Great and Powerful Trixie. I’m sure you could take on any monster that might be out there in the Hyperborean Mountains.”

Trixie swallowed and looked at the door. ”Nono, The Great and Powerful Trixie is far too great and powerful to do that. She might frighten the griffons with her awe-inspiring presence. Filthy should open it.”

”I keep you covered,” Filthy said evenly. ”You open.”

Trixie suddenly realized that everypony (and parrot) had backed away a little, leaving her closest to the door. If she didn’t want to look like a coward, there was only one thing to do. She put on her game face and trotted up to the door with a lot more moxie than she felt. She swallowed once, yanked it open and then dodged backwards.

Trixie looked out through the same cave as she had entered last evening, only that the tents and doctor were gone. She felt the worries melt away. She hopped outside with a spring in her step and casually strolled to the cave exit. She heard the rest of her friends follow her out.

She stepped outside and basked in the clear sunlight. She looked up and was greeted by the light blue sky and crisp mountain air. A few large black, vulture-like birds soared through the sky. Trixie took a deep breath and let a wide smile spread over her lips.

”Well I’ll be…” an awestruck Filthy Rich said beside Trixie.

”Trixie is sorry if she has blinded you with her beauty, she can’t help it,” Trixie said softly. ”She apologizes and-”

When Trixie turned to look at her friends, she found they all turned away from her, facing the sunrise. Trixie felt her ears twitch as she recognized the sound of jaws hitting the ground. That sound often accompanied her shows. She followed her friends’ looks, and her own jaw joined theirs at the ground. On a mountaintop a while away, sat Griffonstone.

Trixie now understood why the city was also named ”The Mountain Crown”. It was much larger than she had imagined, and built atop and into the sides of a lonesome mountain. Even from this distance, she could see the gleaming rooftops and snow-white buildings. The most commanding sight however, was the giant tree-like formation that rose on one side of the city. It seemed to hold up the most striking buildings, lifting them out of the city like a gargantuan talon and present them to the sky above.

”Beautiful,” Topsy said in a soft, revering voice that Trixie had never heard before.

”I can only agree,” Flam said. ”Wonder… what happened to it?”

”This cannot be because some lost chunk of gold, can it?” Suri asked. ”Like, the place we saw in our time looked like Rarity had planned it. Must be something more to it, m’kay. I’d never guess they were even the same place.”

”And wasn’t the mountain cracked back home?” Ditzy asked tentatively.

Trixie started at Ditzy’s comment and looked again. The mountain was whole. She recalled the Griffonstone she had seen when they went up the mountain yesterday, or rather, when she had gone up the mountain hundreds of years minus one day in the future ago.

She could still see the tree shaped whatever-it-was, but in her time there had not been any city worth mentioning below it and, as Ditzy said, the whole mountain had been cracked in two back in her time. Here it was whole.

”Come on,” Trixie said. ”Trixie wants to see this city up close. Maybe even put on a show here.”

”Do recall that we are working,” Flam reminded lightly.

Trixie humphed. ”Shows are Trixie’s work; she would be working much harder than any of you.”

Suri shook her head and started up the path. The others followed. Strangely, the road up to the city was in worse condition now than it was in the time they came from. In fact, to call it a road was far to generous. It was more of a natural, narrow path. The griffons evidently had not made much use of it. In fact, its only travelers seemed to be the mountain goats that prowled the mountainsides.

It was also a stressful road to walk, narrow and steep with a steep fall on one side. Topsy and Ditzy could fly, but the others had to walk in a line.

”SCREEEECH!” The deafening cry of an eagle came from above the seven ponies. Before anypony had the chance to react, a large feathered mass had fallen from the sky and nailed Ditzy down on the ground.

”What in-” Flim began, but silenced as another griffon swept from the sky and viciously tackled him straight into the mountain wall. The hard rock knocked the wind from him and he fell down on the ground, still processing what had happened. A large talon drew him up and pinned him to the wall. He looked into the regal, golden eye of a rust red and white griffon. It had an elaborate armor and held a spear in the other talon. He looked to his right and saw that another ambusher had pinned Topsy down as well, even if the griffon had to struggle to keep him down.

”BROTHER!” Flam screamed in utter panic. Before he had taken one step, two more griffons had appeared and hovered with spears pointed at the four remaining ponies.

”Give in, lesser creatures,” one of the griffons said with a foreboding tone. The four free ponies looked around with varying degrees of fear and surprise, from Trixie and Suri’s quivering to Ditzy’s sobbing and squirming. Flam hyperventilated and stood completely still with a dumb look on his face.

They were standing on a narrow cliff edge, and they had four griffons against them. Even factoring out that the griffons had hostages, Suri could do anything against enemies that could fly, and all Flam could do was energy beams, which were probably blocked by the griffons armor anyway. ”L-look,” he said slowly, several octaves above his normal pitch. ”W-we… we are just on our way up to Griffonstone. We haven’t done anything.”

The griffon ringleader laughed. ”Haven't done anything? Your very existence is a crime. Your kind is a blight upon our beautiful land of Griffrik. Had menial labor not been below the grandeur of us griffons, I would have you all fed to the vultures immediately.”

”W-what?” Ditzy peeped from under one of the griffon talons that held her. ”But we haven’t done anything!” The cloud gray pegasus wriggled under the talon, trying desperately to get loose. The griffon did not budge an inch.

The griffon leader laughed again. ”This is a slow one. And stupid looking too,” the rest of the griffons laughed. It was not lost on Flim that the few of his friends he could see had some of their fear replaced by anger.

”You know what I hate more than ponies?” The griffon leader said as he stalked up to Ditzy. The pegasus seemed more and more terrified for each step the imposing creature took. ”Stupid ponies, ponies who can’t even serve the glorious griffon race.” He pointed his spear at Ditzy’s veering eyes. ”I should kill you right now. Do Griffrik a favor…”

”YOU WON’T-T-TUOUCH HER!” Topsy screamed with a voice so sharp Flim was surprised his mane wasn’t cut by it. He looked away from the spear pointed at the shaking and praying Ditzy and over to the other pegasus. He immediately wished he hadn’t. Topsy never looked perfectly stable, but now he looked far worse than Flim had ever seen him. Everything about him seemed hellbent on hurting the griffon; hurting him badly. His eyes looked like they would plop out of their sockets, and his mouth was contorted in a twisted, frothing and downright unequestrian grimace. The griffin who held him visibly struggled.

”And what happens if I do?” the griffon said. Flim was stunned by his stupidity. He was pretty sure there were rodents clever enough to figure out that you should not anger Topsy, but apparently this griffon was not that clever. ”What are you going to do about it, huh, lesser creature?”

”R-rip your w-wings off and m-m-make you e-eat them. He-he,” Topsy responded, and his face settled into a look of eerie calm, even if he had a twisted type of smile on his lips. ”C-Crush the b-bone in your b-beak and m-m-make you s-suck out the m-mar-row.”

Flam felt sick. He knew Topsy was extremely protective of Ditzy, and if he was turned loose right now, he probably would do exactly what he said. Based on the expressions of his friends, Flim was not alone in this insight.

”Vermin,” one of the griffons said, a female, by the voice. ”Let’s kill them and get back to Griffonstone.”

”No, I’d rather cash in the payment,” the ringleader said with an amused voice. ”Some of these look strong for being lesser. Might fetch a nice price.”

The female looked at them with malice, but shrugged. ”Don’t try anything stupid, or I won’t be so nice,” she said as she stalked up to a terrified Suri. The fuchsia mare backpedaled, but with a graceful leap the female griffon captured her and flew up. The other griffons picked up (or, in the case of Topsy, wrestled) the other ponies into the air and carried them towards Griffonstone.

They all held very still, and clung to the griffons for dear life. It was very rare for unicorns and earth ponies to experience something like this, so acrophobia was not uncommon for those two races. The griffon leader snorted, and Flam had a feeling his dislike towards ponies just got a little worse.

*****

Suri hissed in pain as the griffon roughly threw her on the ground. She rose slowly and was met with disdainful glares from every direction; she had an involuntary flashback to when she was walking out on the runway to fashion week, only now her audience hated her.

Despite the situation, she could not help but to be stunned by the grandeur of the city. Each and every house, down to the humblest hovel, was built of blinding white marble with ornaments of gold. They were even marched past a large pool, half the size of Ponyville. A few fledging griffons were bathing in the crystal clear water. ”The Griffons have literarily built the world’s largest birdbath,” Suri thought absently.

”Move, supplicants,” The griffon leader rumbled. Suri kept her head low and ears flat as she went through the hateful city. She cast a look at her companions. Flam, Ditzy, Trixie looked downright terrified, Only Flim and Filthy looked somewhat calm. Topsy did not look very scared either, albeit for a whole other reason than the others. He looked like he wanted to snap the griffon’s neck. Suddenly they came up to the mountain edge.

”Griffon greatness,” another griffon with a spear said without taking notice of the ponies.

”Griffon glory,” The griffon leader answered. ”I bring Taskmaster Gamon more quarry slaves. Interested?”

”You are lucky,” The guard said with a loud voice. ”A cave-in just killed twenty of them, so I imagine Gamon will want every filthy little slave he can get.” The griffon guard took off. Suri’s heart hammered painfully hard in her chest. When did it all go so wrong? What did she do to deserve this?

”How much do you think we will even get for these?” The griffon female sneered. ”They look too weak to last an hour.”

”Of course they look weak, they are,” the leader replied superiorly. ”But at least now they can serve Griffonstone.” He turned to the ponies. ”You hear that, vermin? Now I’m kind, am I not? You get to die serving the great griffon race.”

”I-I-I don’t want to die!” Ditzy whimpered. ”I-I have a-a foal…”

The griffon leader chuckled darkly. ”Then you shouldn’t have been born a lowly pony.”

A loud thud made the earth shake a little. Another griffon, larger than the guards, had just landed and were striding slowly up to the captive ponies. Suri looked at him, quite surprised. While the new griffon was large, he really did not seem strong at all. He was just large because he was fat. His feathers were dirt-white and (of all colors) glaring pink. He also had an ugly scar over his right eye and the base of his beak. In the leather belt around his barrel, the griffon has stuck a short chisel like object. Suri moaned lowly when she noted that the tip of the chisel had the unmistakable color of dried blood. The guards all stood at attention. ”Griffon Greatness, Taskmaster Gamon, sir. We bring you fresh quarry slaves.”

”Gwiffin Glowy. Thlaveth you thay?” The large griffon said with sloppy, and surprisingly squeaky voice. His small, peering eyes looked to the ponies from under innumerable calluses. He got a foul(er) look in his face. ”Well, let’th thee then.” The taskmaster unslung his chisel and went up to Suri who stood closest to him. He examined her body quickly, but thankfully did not touch her. She nearly threw up when he came closer and his putrid smell intensified. It reminded of rotten leek and mold. ”Beh, weak,” the taskmaster said demeaningly and struck her roughly with the shaft of the chisel. Suri squeaked, mostly because the filth she knew she got on herself with that hit. Gamon sneered a vile sort of smile at her misery. ”Thwow them in!”

*****

Flim looked glumly around the quarry he had been dumped into. Three sides were glaring white marble, and scores of ponies were hacking out large chunks of stone. Griffon guards patrolled the upper parts of the quarry, lazily keeping track of the slaves. The final side of the quarry lacked wall altogether; there was a plummeting precipice instead. Around the walls were wooden, crane-like structures for lifting out the blocks of stone. Flim made a mental note about the cranes. Maybe he could get some rope from them, seeing how all their equipment had been taken.

”You four newcomers, get to work!” An earth pony with stark orange coat and softer orange mane said sharply. She had, of all things, a jar of some sort for a cutie mark. ”You don’t fill your quotas, you won’t eat, understood?”

”Really, now?” Flim responded with sarcastic merriment. ”Well, we can’t have that now, can we? Come on, you guys!” The unicorn smiled wistfully and trotted of to the edge of the quarry, heightened the small pickaxe in his magic and began hacking away. His still jumpy friends followed tentatively.

”What are you doing?” Filthy whispered, angry and uneasy. ”We can’t stay here and hack stone, we must find Suri, Ditzy and Trixie.”

”Yea, right, because they will definitely let us stroll around as we please,” Flim hissed back. ”Wait until tonight, then we will see what we can do.”

”I wo-won’t leave D-Ditzy in their c-clawsss,” Topsy said with a voice that foretold murder most grisly.

”You will if I say so,” Flim said with a sharp voice. Topsy snapped towards Flim with a not-at-all controlled expression on his face. Flim remained unfazed. ”I am not going to let your impatience get us in trouble, or worse, killed,” Flim said and swung the pickaxe down in the stone again, sending splinters flying. ”Do you understand what I’m saying, Tamer? You do as I say, or we will all pay for it.”

Topsy got a look of realization on his face, but the anger did not go away. ”Get me a p-pickaxe,” he mumbled. Before anypony had said anything, be had picked up an axe and bashed it so hard in the wall the blade disappeared into the stone. Flim had a feeling Topsy envisioned bashing it into something else.

”Any ideas, Flam?” Filthy asked the mustached unicorn, who was standing by the wall with a sullen, confused look.

Flam gave a sigh. ”No. No, I haven’t got a plan. Not a clue.”

”What do you mean, ’no clue’? You always have a plan, get planning.” Filthy hissed impatiently.

”Well I don’t have any plan, that’s what I mean,” Flam said impatiently before he turned away from Filthy and began to hack at the wall with angry, cleaving sweeps.

”Leave my brother be for a while,” Flim mumbled. ”He is not good at adapting to unexpected situations very quick. Let him work things out in his own pace and he will have a plan cooked up soon. And I have a feeling the griffons are going to get the blunt end of it.”

”Stop with your rambling, newcomers!” the harsh voice from the orange mare came again. "You only speak when spoken to, understood?" She held a whip in her mouth. Flim looked over it quickly. It was long and slim, but without the metal tip that would make it a real weapon. It was just meant to dish out pain, not create severe injuries. Flim hatched a plan over the course of the next two seconds.

”No!” Flim said and turned on the taskmaster. ”Get picking yourself!”

The orang pony stood paralyzed for a moment. ”How dare you! I WILL WHIP YOU BLOODY!” she screamed and made a circular motion with her head. The whip snapped once and darted toward’s Flim’s smug face. The other ponies in the quarry turned to watch, alerted by the taskmaster’s scream. They saw her whip fly at the cocky newcomer, and expected him to fall to his hooves screaming and bleeding.

”Aaaand it’s The Equilibrist!” Flim called in a flamboyant voice as he brought up his hoof and caught the whiplash with it. He was sure to suppress the whimper of pain. It felt like she had hammered a red hot nail through his fetlock. Flim forced some magic into his horn and wrapped it around the part of the whip that had struck him. With practiced ease, he pulled the leash and tied it around his hoof. The mare got a startled look in her eyes.

”Perhaps you are more used to prisoners than fighters?” Flim said and yanked hard with his hoof. The mare bit down on the shaft of the whip, but it was made of lacquered wood and slid out between her teeth. Without missing a beat, Flim threw the slim leash at the mare. ”Tangletrap,” he said with a grin as both her front legs were tangled together.

”GUARDS!!!!” The mare screamed as she fell. ”SLAVE IS ESCAPING!”

A thunderous sound made Flim aware that at least one griffon had landed. ”Okay, so improvisation didn’t work. Crap,” he thought before an eagle claw hit him across the face and muzzle.

*****

Ditzy quivered in fear and she felt her eyes tear up as she looked back on the light behind the cave bend. She whimpered miserably and trotted up to Suri. The fuchsia earth pony let her press close. ”How long you think they want us down here?” she asked anxiously. ”I don’t like being underground.”

Suri was about to give an annoyed reply, but stopped herself when she saw Ditzy’s frightened look. ”I don’t know, m’kay, but the others are still in the quarry just outside. We are all in this together, and Flam certainly has got a plan.”

The three ponies shuffled hesitantly through the narrow crack in the quarry wall. It was just barely wide enough for them to squeeze through, and the air was hot and damp. The only light came from some very spares lanterns that seemed to glow not by fireflies but fire. With one last squeeze, Suri pressed herself out of the narrow tunnel and got out into a larger cavern. Ten-something ponies all stood by the walls and hacked at them. In the middle of the cavern was a pile of rocks. Every now and again one of the slaves threw a chunk of stone on it.

”Alright, you three, front and center!” a cream white foal with light green mane said with a commanding look. He had a short crop and a pickaxe in his in a belt around his body. Suri and Trixie stopped more in because it was a colt than because of what he had said, but Ditzy stiffened immediately, looking at the crop. ”Name’s Gneiss Pick, overseer of this mineshaft. So you guys answer to me and do exactly as you are told, and no one gets in trouble. You want to hack out the gold ore, so keep your eyes peeled for that.”

”So you are the boss?” Ditzy asked. She ruffled her wings and looked around the cramped space of the mine. ”When can we get out? I don’t like this.”

”And how come you are the overseer anyway?” Suri asked with a bumptious voice. Trixie and Ditzy looked at her, quite confident that she just had said the least clever thing she could.

”Trixie requests that you do not upset the little despot within the first two minutes of arrival,” Trixie whispered to Suri.

The colt eyed Suri with a contemplating look for a moment, and then turned to Ditzy. ”You get out in the quarry again at sundown, and if you have filled your quota, that’s when you will be fed.” Gneiss Pick paused expectantly. ”And you are not going to fill anything unless you get picking. Grab a pickaxe and get to it.” The colt motioned towards a rack of tools. Nopony moved. Gneiss frowned impatiently. ”Get to it already, or you'll taste the crop. I’m not going to let you nincompoops get me in trouble.”

That was all persuasion Ditzy needed. She grabbed one of the pickaxes in her mouth and proceeded to swing it at the wall where she could see a faint glimmer of metal. The reverberating vibration through the pick made her think her teeth would splinter, but she did not stop. Suri and Trixie came up beside her and started working. Gneiss looked at them and took the crop in his mouth.

After a few minutes, Gneiss Pick seemed convinced that they had understood and turned around to a small hole in the wall. Suri glanced as the colt got down on his belly and nimbly slid into the hole.

”That explains why he is the overseer, Trixie guesses,” Trixie said as she swung the pickaxe with her magic. ”They need a foal to reach some parts of the mine.”

”That’s got to be why they picked us for this,” Suri said as she loosened a large chunk of rock. ”We three are the smallest ones, m’kay. The stallions would likely hit their heads in the ceiling.”

Ditzy hacked as if her life depended on it, swinging the pickaxe again and again, oblivious and uncaring to the splinters that flew through the air and stung her upper body. Her eyes were wide open and her mouth were locked in a meek grimace. Trixie set down her pickaxe and gently patted Ditzy on the back. ”It’s alright,” she mumbled to the terrified pegasus. ”It’s just for a few hours. Trixie is certain the others already have found away out.”

”I don’t like underground,” Ditzy said unhappily again. ”I can’t fly here. Defenseless, captured, trapped, r-ripe for the picking…”

”Shut it,” Suri said glumly. ”Not helping, m’kay.”

Ditzy did not seemed much calmer at that comment. She took up the pickaxe again, but Trixie stopped it with her magic.

”At least listen to Trixie for a moment,” Trixie said with a soft voice Ditzy had never heard before. It was kind. Not Trixie’s normal haughty, superior type of kind, but genuinely, honest-to-Celestia kind. ”Close your eyes when you swing the pick, else you will get splinters in your eyes.” Trixie reached out a hoof and turned Ditzy’s face to her. ”Alright? And try to hit a little higher up on the wall. It’s better for your neck.”

”Hw tho you mow?” Ditzy asked through the shaft of the pickaxe. Trixie crooked an eyebrow. Ditzy spit out the pickaxe. ”How do you know all that?”

Trixie chuckled despite everything. ”Would you believe The Great and Powerful Trixie if she said she was once a rock farmer?”

In image of Trixie rolling a rock in front of her over a stony field, all the while explaining her greatness to the rocks, flashed over Ditzy’s mind. She couldn’t help but to giggle a little. She got perplexed looks from some of the other slaves around the small cave, but most of them seemed to absorbed in by their work to pay much attention.

”Quiet you two,” Suri hissed quickly. ”The little tyrant is coming back.”

Trixie hugged Ditzy very quick and gave a reassuring smile before she got back to work. Ditzy took up the pickaxe again and closed her eyes before she struck the rock.

*****

Ditzy took a breath as deep as she could manage when she was let out of the sweltering gloom of the mine. The sun was setting and colored the sky in golden indigo. Even such dim light was enough to make her squint, but the air was like freshly baked muffins in her mouth. The other ponies from the cave scuffed around her with annoyed mumbles. Suri and Trixie came up, both considerably more miserable than Ditzy.

It was clear that Trixie was not used to levitating anything for too long. She had been sweating after just a few minutes, and had to pick like an earth pony after just an hour. After that, she had used her magic to rest her neck, and vice versa, tiering more and more.Now she was stumbling out panting. The light made her close her cover her eyes with one hoof, and she would have fallen if Ditzy had not caught her with her wing.

”T..Trixie is… thankful for that.” Trixie said as she caught her breath.

”Come on, let’s find the others,” Suri said sharply. ”We need something to eat, like now.”

Trixie nodded and looked out over the quarry. Hunger had indeed been a scourge to their moods and spirits, and Suri had been stingy for hours now.

”Why?” A soft and sinister voice that reminded of Flam’s came from behind a few stone chunks. ”We don’t need no why; might makes right, in’t that right, eh?”

”Right,” Filthy’s voice joined Flam’s.

”Does it now?” A gruff voice that Ditzy did not recognize asked. ”Well, in that case, you newcomers have better move out, or you won’t move at all after I’m done.”

The sounds of hooves hitting hooves and cries of pain that followed made Ditzy run the last part and peek carefully behind the rocks. Three of her friends stood in a half circle around Topsy and a burly looking earth pony. Topsy stood still with his back against Ditzy, and the earth pony laid in a lump in front of him, evidently sent there by Topsy. Flim or Flam went up to the earth pony.

”See, might does indeed make us right. Now you go and find someplace else to rest. This is our place now.”

”You bastards! Do you think you can just come in here and-” Topsy shot from standstill and smacked the earth pony with dashing speed behind him. The blow lifted his enemy from the ground and sent him flying backwards into the stone wall. He fell down limp.

”Yep, we think,” Flim or Flam said merrily.

”NO! TOPSY!” Ditzy screamed and bolted up to the stallion and stopped to look for a moment, then she turned to Topsy, ”Oh, how could you? He was here first. We can’t just gang up on somepony like this, it’s mean and wrong and-”

”Ditzy?”

”We are better ponies than that! This… this is just bullying.” Ditzy’s face radiated disappointment and sadness, but no anger. ”You must keep yourself in check, Topsy, you must! Not for me, or our friends, but for everypony!”

”Ditzy?”

”Now you are going to help me get him up again and then we will apologize with muffins and apologies, you hear me? And then-”

Trixie gasped and took a terrified hoof step back. Suri looked like she had seen a ghost.

”That bad huh?” Flim said with wry smile that immediately turned to a grimace. ”I haven’t been able to check yet.”

Ditzy took her veering eyes off Topsy and looked at the twins. She let out a squeak and stared, the earth pony all but forgotten.

It looked like some giant bird had slashed one of the twins right over his face. The blood had coagulated into a mask over his still mirthful smile. Combined with his peppermint mane and smiling, grass green, eyes, it all had a horrifying comedic tone, like a dark parody of a clown.

”I told you to clean that off,” Filthy said with a shake of his head.

”So that it can bleed again? No thanks,” Flim responded dourly. ”And clean with what for that matter?”

”What happened to you?” Suri asked in a puzzled voice. She tentatively reached out a hoof and touched Flim’s mauled face as if to confirm that it was indeed for real. Flim winced at the touch.

”I may or may not have pissed somepony off,” he said sheepishly.

”That didn’t take long,” Trixie said, doing her best to speak in a collected voice. ”Trixie guesses she should not be surprised, but still…”

”He tangled up the taskmaster with her own whip, after which some griffon guard did… that,” Filthy clarified.

”It could have worked…” Flim defended. ”Okay, no it couldn’t. No more split-second plans, I promise.”

”That must be washed,” Ditzy said with a lot of worry and even more authority. ”Lay down.”

”N-no w-water,” Topsy pointed out. He had subtly moved to stand by the unconscious earth pony with one hoof firmly on the neck.

”Then get some,” Ditzy said.

”And bring some food too,” Suri added under her breath.

”Or picture this,” Flim said. ”We wait until we have gotten food and hopefully water. Somepony said that we were supposed to be fed at sundown. I don’t want anypony to walk around alone here.”

”We will have to use that water for drinking, m’kay.” Suri pointed out. ”else we will faint from thirst tomorrow.”

”One does not exclude the other,” Flam interjected with a shrug. Suri and Filthy both looked ready to throw up at that statement.

”You mean that we will have to… drink that water? The same used to clean his wounds?” Suri said with a part worried part you-are-kidding-me voice. ”No! I won’t! We are ponies of Equestria, not…” Suri hesitated as she tried to come up with a fitting word, ”vile animals!”

”We are in fact, we are pretty much animals. We are slaves,” Flam replied callously. ”Equestria as we know it doesn’t even exist yet.”

”You can’t be serious!” Suri screamed, now more angry than anything else. ”You… We…NO!” She stomped.

”Yesss,” Topsy hissed with an annoyed glare that caused Suri to instinctively take a step back. ”I won’t-t let your p-pride and cowardice hurt-t any of us-s.”

”I am a mare of principles,” Suri said sharply. ”I can’t, m’kay? I will throw up if I try.”

”To Tartarus with your principles,” Flam said icily. ”I’m not goning to let your cowardice hurt my brother; either you do as I say right now, or immediately.”

Suri was about to give an angry reply, but Filthy stopped her with a motion of his hoof. ”Suri,” he said softly. ”I know how you feel. I… I am not sure I can do that either, in all honesty.” He bent his head in shame. ”I have eaten off gold plates all my life. Everything I pointed at has always been given to me on a silver platter, with two extra copies to spare. I’m… not sure I can… can drink unclean water without throwing it up afterwards.”

He looked Suri in the eyes. ”But that won’t stop me from trying, okay? We must do the best in this bad situation, we must help one another. If I do it, won’t you too? ’joy shared, joy doubled…’?”

”Sorrow shared, sorrow halved.” Suri finished with a grumble. She looked around at her friends. ”We will see,” she said.

Filthy nodded. ”Excellent news.”

Flam gritted his teeth. ”I’m sorry, Suri. I… should not have snapped at you.” Suri believed Flam was truly sorry, even if he was awkward when he said it. He was probably not used to being wrong very often.

”Awww, how adorable.”

The seven ponies turned around and saw the orange mare who Flim had tied up grinning at them. At her side stood Quarry Master Gamon. The foul, onion like stench that surrounded the fat griffon was discernible even a few ponylengths away. ”I think I’m getting all misty eyed here.”

”Me too,” Flim said casually. ”It’s sad really, that a taskmaster can’t even keep her enslaved and unarmed supplicants in check. It kinda defeats the purpose of you, doesn't it?”

Flam shot an angry glare at his brother.

The orange mare turned slightly red. She took a deep breath and gave a strained smile. ”Didn’t you learn what happened to you last time you crossed me?”

”As I recall, my brother tied you up,” Flam reminded bitingly.

”He surprised me,” The mare responded. ”Won’t happen again, I assure you.”

”No, I thertainly hope tho,” Gamon slurred.

”Yea… sure,” Flim said to the orange mare with a roll of his eyes.

”Did you actually want something?” Flam asked quickly, throwing another angry look at his sibling.

”No, nothing,” the fat griffon said. The orange mare looked at him with a shocked expression. ”Jutht wanted to know who downed Marmalade with such eathe.”

”H-he did not down me!” the mare, evidently named Marmalade, exclaimed and gave Flim a withering glare.

”Thut up,” Gamon said with a disdainful look to Marmalade. ”Go away, filthy pony.”

”But… but you…” Marmalade opened and closed her mouth a few times. She pointed to Flim and Flam. ”They opposed me! They disturb the work. They must be punished.”

Gamon didn’t answer, but snorted dismissively. ”I will punith you for incompetenthe,” he said shortly and tapped his chisel. The anger in Marmalade’s eyes was replaced with fear. She gave a weak whimper and backed away. Gamon came forward and studied Flim and Flam with his peering eyes. He looked back to where the earth pony stallion was still knocked out.

”You two theem to have a talent for violenthe,” Gamon said approvingly. ”I like that…” The massive griffon turned away and flew off with visible effort. Marmalade scampered after him with a hateful and teary glare at Flim and Flam.

”Have you learnt nothing, brother of mine? Don’t anger them!” Flam said sharply to his brother, who flinched at the brother’s anger. ”This is not the time to work on your snappy comebacks or to run heedlessly into whatever half formed plan you can cook up; THINK FOR ONCE!”

”Come!” Ditzy interrupted urgently and pushed on Topsy and Filthy. ”We must go after them. He is going to do something horrible to her, I just know it. Flim, please tell me you have a plan?”

”I’m not the planner here,” Flim said with a neutral look towards where Gamon had flown off too. ”But… ” Flim glanced to his brother. ”…whatever plan we cook up, leave me out of it.”

”Better,” Flam said shortly. ”Now… weren’t we supposed to have food about now? I’m starving.”

The others looked with uncertain glances towards the two unicorn brothers. ”Soo…” Filthy began tentatively, ”you are not gonna help her?”

Flim did not answer but once again glanced to his brother.

”Oh, I’m not a vengeful type of stallion,” Flam said with shrug. ”But those who dare to even crook a hair on my brother I might just make exceptions for. Let’s just say I won’t lose sleep if Marmalade suffers a little for touching him.”

”But… you can’t do that!” Ditzy exclaimed, more confused than anything else. ”She will be hurt! We must help her, we simply must.”

”Why would I?” Flam asked with a businesslike tone.

”Because it’s the right thing to do!” Ditzy responded instantly. ”You are better ponies than to just leave somepony like that. I know you, I know you are kind at heart.”

”I can be kind when I want to,” Flam said. ”But if you hurt my brother then I often don’t feel too inclined to be.”

”I agree,” Suri interjected. ”We have enough problems on our own, without having to worry about complete strangers who would try to beat us up.”

”MEANIES!” Ditzy screamed defiantly. ”HOW CAN YOU BE SO… SO BAD!? THAT MARE WILL BE HURT AND YOU WILL JUST STAND BY?” Ditzy glared, her golden eyes filled with hurt and disappointment.

”Ditzy, look-” Flam began with a calming tone, but was interrupted.

”No, you look! Look up from your plans and see what is happening around you, Flim!” Ditzy continued. She looked back at the six other ponies. Only Flam and Topsy met her gaze, the others looked down on the ground. ”I thought you were better than that,” she mumbled sadly and turned away.

”Where are you going?” Trixie asked hesitantly.

”I’m going to get Marmalade out of there,” Ditzy said.

Ditzy heard a light tap and a flutter just behind her, and immediately afterwards felt something hit her hard, yet gently in between her wings. Before she had realized what had happened, the world spun around and for a moment, up was down. When she stabilized, Topsy was beneath her; somehow he had tackled her, gone into a somersault and landed on the ground with Ditzy on top of him. She had not suffered the slightest scratch, but was now caught in Topsy’s iron hard grip.

”Let me go!” Ditzy shouted as she tried to pull herself free. Topsy’s grip did not budge an inch.

”I cannot,” Topsy said repentantly. ”I’m not going to let you hurt yourself for that mare, nor anypony else.”

”I decide what I will do!” Ditzy screamed down as she redoubled her effort. ”You can’t just stop me like this! I’m my own pony!”

”I won’t let you do this,” Topsy said evenly.

”LET ME GO!” Ditzy screamed at the top of her lungs. ”LET ME GO! LET ME GO!”

Topsy shook his head. ”You s-stay here with us. I’m n-not going to let you out of sight. I will keep you… s-safe, always. Even from yourself.”

Ditzy choked on a sob, lifted a shaking hoof and struck Topsy over his muzzle. The other pegasus didn’t react. ”A-Always,” he said. Ditzy struck him again, the chest this time. He didn’t move. Tears began to pool in her eyes. She tried again and again, on his wings, his legs and his belly, but she felt like she was hitting a rock. He didn’t move a muscle, and every hit made another tear run down her face. After an undefined timespan she had stopped fighting back. She just stood and cried bitter tears. She felt Topsy’s iron grip loosen up.

”Always,” he mumbled and guided the sobbing and sniffling Ditzy back to the others.

Flam took a deep breath. ”Alright, now that that’s decided, let’s try to find something to eat.” He let an evaluating look sweep over the his friends. ”Filthy, Suri and Trixie, come with me.” They seemed to be the least tired ones aside from Topsy and Flim, but his brother shouldn’t move too much with those wounds, and Topsy would never leave Ditzy now.

The Marmalade Matter

Flim hissed as the cold water stung his wounds. He felt the metallic taste of blood on his tongue, along with some small grains of sand. It was probably a good idea to wash out the wounds, seeing how the quarry was not the most sanitary place, but it still stung badly. Beneath his chin he held a small, earthenware bowl to catch the crimson water. ”Are you done soon?”

Ditzy shrugged, but did not answer. She continued to rub the wounds softly with Flim’s shirt, as that was the cleanest piece of cloth they had. Even her featherlight touch sent small spikes of pain through his face.

After ten minutes, Ditzy sullenly went away and laid down by the quarry wall, her eyes right into the white stone. She draped her wing over her back with a scuffling movement, then laid still, save for the even movement of her chest rising and falling. They were all silent for a few minutes while Ditzy seemed to fall asleep, no doubt dreaming herself away from the quarry to someplace better.

”My soul hurt,” Flim commented dryly. ”’Ditzy’ and ’sad’ in the same sentence should be grammatically incorrect.”

”A-Agreed,” Topsy said with a without looking away from Ditzy’s small form. His expression bordered on despair. ”But I won’t let her do anything d-dangerous. She is-s too v-valuable.”

”It’s not exactly right to stop her like that, you know that?” Filthy said hesitantly, evidently glad for any distraction he might have from his small bowl of crimson water. He looked just as miserable as Ditzy when he saw it. ”I too realize that letting her wander off is madness, but to physically stop her…”

Topsy gave a hapless smirk. ”I am Topsy Twitchy, i-insane wonderb-bolt and convicted-d c-criminal. I l-long since stopped d-doing what was r-right.”

”Cut him some slack, m’kay,” Suri said bitingly to Filthy. ”Ditzy shouldn’t care for whatever happens to Marmalade. She was the one who had to clean Flim’s face after the tyrant’s abuse for Celestia’s sake.”

”Doesn’t make much sense to me either,” Flam said evenly. ”But Ditzy has always been the best one of us.”

”I don’t get it,” Suri mumbled and shook her head. ”How can somepony be that…” the fuchsia mare paused for a second, ”I’m not even sure if I should say foolish or compassionate…”

”Trixie doesn’t think we should talk about Ditzy like she isn’t here,” Trixie interjected, somewhat accusing. ”Has anypony given any thought to how we are going to get out of this one?”

”The way I see it, we have the following problems to overcome,” Flam said stilly. ”The griffons have their eyes and ears at the quarry every hour of the day, they know the surroundings better than us, and they can fly. Furthermore we don’t have our equipment.”

”That, and we still have to break into the castle,” Flim pointed out. The other ponies, Ditzy excluded, looked at him dubiously.

”Wait, are you suggesting we are going after that idol?” Trixie asked. ”But we will have enough problems just making a beeline out. Trixie is not sure if it’s a good idea to go after the idol now of all times.”

”We are rather close to it now, and thing’s won’t be easier any other time,” Flim responded. ”Let’s just keep our eyes and ears peeled for opportunity in that community as well, alright?”

”We have quite a bit to figure out before we can even think about the idol,” Flam reminded. ”Concentrate on what I said; the guards, and how to escape them.”

”Well, good thing that Gamon the Gross doesn’t seem too fast at least,” Suri said. ”I’m surprised every time I see him get up in the air.”

”Hang on a moment there,” Flam said slowly. ”Gamon was the one who took our gear, didn’t he?”

”Yup,” Filthy confirmed glumly. ”And if he has scratched my boomerang, I will sue his grandchildren when we get home. Six hundred years of interest with a rate of one hundred percent a month. I’m gonna sue their pants off, see if I don’t.”

”Whatever,” Flam said, much to Filthy’s annoyance. ”Maybe he still has our stuff. We just need to get to his… office, I guess we can call it?”

”Yea, that will be a breeze,” Suri said with a sarcastic voice. ”Just waltz right in. Get me a coffee too while you’re at it.”

”Oh, but since did we have to get invited?” Flam asked with a shrug. ”We’ll just have to break in, get our things back and then we break out of here. Somehow. I haven’t quite figured that part out yet.”

”There are a lot of guards around…” Trixie reminded him tentatively. ”While they may not miss one pony, Trixie can’t see how we can get out of this hole in the first place.”

”I c-could fly you…” Topsy suggested. ”But… they would s-see me…”

”So we will need a distraction then,” Flam said with an elevated voice. ”Something to keep the griffon’s attention down on the quarry while one of us get our things… brother of mine, how do you feel about a circus performance?”

Flim flashed a grin. ”What do you have in mind, dearest brother of mine?”

”Well, one must give the ponies… griffons, what they want… and I think Gamon might be looking for a new taskmaster.” Flam began.

”…and I feel ready for a promotion, yes.” Flim filled in pensively ”I see what you mean…” He contemplated for a moment. Gamon did not seem to be the most forgiving griffon, and it was as good a certain that if a taskmaster was supplanted under his watch, then he or she would not have a pleasant time. Put shortly, supplanting Marmalade would probably kill her. ”Okay, I can do that,” Flim answered. ”Tomorrow.”

Flam nodded. ”Tomorrow it is. If you are going to do this, then what do you reckon you will need?”

Both Topsy and Suri looked surprised and more than a little freaked out by Flim’s callous answer. Good-natured Flim had just accepted what was, more or less, an assassination? Did he and his brother have an ulterior plan, or had they decided to let every boundary step back this time? ”Are… are you really…?” Suri asked silently. Her eyes shifted from one brother to the other, looking for an explanation.

”-Getting out? Yes, yes we are.” Flam interrupted. His tone was cold as ice. Suri did not say anything more.

”Prankster?” Flim asked, and like a specter the black parrot landed on a broken of marble chunk. ”Well… I really just wanted to know you were there,” Flim said to the parrot, who looked at the unicorn with a judgmental look. ”Might need you tomorrow.”

One could practically hear the bird saying how lucky Flim was that Prankster put up with all of their shenanigans.

”I don’t like this one bit,” Filthy said with a heavy look to Flam. ”Much I can accept, but not this. As nasty as Marmalade is, she does not deserve to die. Nopony does.”

”Some ponies do,” Flam corrected darkly. ”But not Marmalade, I agree. I’m very much open for alternatives actually. You have a few hours to come up with one, for I’m definitely not going to let my friends waste away here while we think. This is not the time for intricate planning; every day we remain will make us weaker and weaker.”

”Trixie don’t think she can do this,” Trixie mumbled with a look of shame, for the plan and because her inability in equal measure. ”She sees your argument, but…” Trixie hesitated.

”But it’s cynical. You don’t like it, but the logic in it is nonetheless true. You know what needs to be done, but you still hate it.” Flim filled in. Trixie looked at him and nodded slowly. ”Well, my brother is a cynical stallion.”

Both Filthy and Trixie was left speechless by Flim’s cold, blunt way to go about this. ”Soo… you feel like this too?” Trixie asked. ”You don’t want to?”

”I learned to see my brother’s point of view a long time ago,” Flim said with a shrug. ”I follow his lead, and that has yet to lead me wrong.” Suri noted that Flam flinched a little at the last words.

”But you can’t like this!” Trixie said loudly, stomping her hoof in the ground. ”You must have your own feelings about this! You are to smart too just accept his plan without… without anything else.”

”Oh, I have feelings,” Flim said lightly. ”I have a thing for pegasi. I like cider and ice-cream with mint taste. I look out for my friends, and especially my brother. I like lying and tricking ponies to see if they can expose me before it is too late. So I clearly have feelings.”

”Funny,” Trixie said darkly.

Flim sighed. ”Look, Trixie, and Suri and Filthy too. I have feelings, but I put my brother’s planning ability over my them when I deem it necessary. This is our lives on the line here. Not just mine, but yours and my brother’s too. I have already made a grave mistake here, and thankfully only I got hurt. I’m not going to take any risk that you get hurt. You are so much more important than Marmalade. ”

”Shut it,” Flam said with a harsh glare at Trixie, who was just about to answer. ”You have no clue what my brother and I have been through. You have no right to judge us, none! Speaking of which, you should get some rest, brother of mine,” Flam turned to Flim with a considerably kinder tone. ”Leave the backup to Prankster and me. Topsy, I need you to sneak over to those cranes and get some rope. Loosen it up at least, or get it here if you can. Make sure you stay out of trouble.”

Flim nodded shortly and trotted a little while to the side for what little privacy there was in their little corner of the quarry. Trixie stood still and glared at Flam. ”How about you enlighten Trixie then?” she asked with a challenging tone. ”Just what have you two been through?”

”That is a secret you will have to pry from my cold, dead hooves,” Flam said ominously. His tone and glare deterred Trixie from asking more about it.

For now.

*****

Flim awoke thanks to something soft and feathery gently brushing over his sore face. He recognized the feeling very well, seeing as he had spent quite some time in bed with pegasus mares. Only problem was that, last he checked, he was prisoner in ancient Griffonstone, and not sweet talking anypony into a good time.

So why would a wing brush against him?

”Oh no, get back to sleep! I’m not here!” Ditzy whispered in a stressed voice. Flim shook his head and sat up. Or rather, he tried to sit up, but found his forelegs tied together. His heartbeat quickened as his flee-or-fight instincts took hold. A dark green shimmer encased his horn.

”NO!” Ditzy squealed and awkwardly grabbed Flim’s horn in a last-ditch effort to prevent him from using magic. She had no idea how unicorn magic worked, but she knew their sparkly horns had something to do with it.

Flim let his magic fizzle out, more because Ditzy’s heartwrenching cry than her clumsy attempt to stifle it. He looked at the frightened, cloud gray mare that sill held her hooves around his horn as if it might explode if she let go.

”Good evening,” Flim began politely with a small nod from the ground. ”Mind explaining?” he said and nodded towards his bound forelegs. ”And can you please sit me up, at least? I’d like to see the pony I talk too.”

Ditzy’s look changed from scared to meek. She took Flim by his shoulders and heaved him up so that he sat with his back to the quarry wall. The other ponies seemed to sleep soundly, even if Flim thought he could see one of Topsy’s wispy ears follow them. Then again, if you lived in Everfree you must probably be a light sleeper.

”I assume Topsy got the rope then, so there is that,” Flim said and tried to tug at the ropes around his hooves. ”But tying up me was not in the plan, was it?”

”I won’t let you do this, Flam, I won’t” Ditzy said with a stern look at the bound unicorn. ”There must be some better way. I know there is a way to get into Gamon’s office and get our gear without… this. It’s bad enough that you let her be punished, I’m not gonna let you hurt her even more.”

”So you tied me up in my sleep?” Flim asked, calm as ever. ”I’m not sure the rest of our friends would just stand there and… you know, not help me come morning. And furthermore, you know I’m rather good at ropes, right? I have ways to slip out of them too.”

”Oh…” Ditzy said in a small tone and looked down on the ground. She scuffed a hoof nervously. ”I didn’t think of that.”

”Still, I didn’t think you had it in you to do such an underhoofed deed. Maybe my brother and I have begun to rub off on you,” Flim said with a commending smile. ”Anyway, let’s negotiate. What would it take for me to convince you to let me loose?”

”Don’t hurt Marmalade,” Ditzy said immediately. ”Don’t hurt anypony or anygriffon. You promise that, I promise I will let help you out. I will even give you a whole muffin.”

”I can accept that, as long as it doesn’t come at the expense of you or any of our friends being hurt instead.” Flim replied. ”And I want a cup of apple juice with the muffin.”

Ditzy shook her head. ”Nuh-uh. It’s better that I get hurt than anypony else.”

Flim groaned tiredly. ”How did a pony like you end up with us? You are way too kind for this kind of work.”

Ditzy giggled. ”One can never be too kind, silly,” she said happily, causing Flim to groan even louder.

”Care to tell me something, Ditzy?” Flim asked with a more serious voice. ”Why are you so convinced that it is better that you suffer than anypony else? You, who are so nice and kind, why should you suffer for somepony as nasty as Marmalade? She does, at least to some degree, deserve whatever is coming to her. You don’t.”

”Well… I don’t want to suffer,” Ditzy responded. ”But if I can stop anypony from hurting, then I must try, right? That’s what good ponies do, and I want to be a good pony.”

”Ditzy…” Flim didn’t quite seem what to say. ”I just can’t understand you. You who have seen so much bullying for nothing… how can you be so kind?”

”I like being kind. Then ponies become happy and I like seeing ponies happy. Happiness is the best thing a pony can have.” Ditzy said in her usual, simple way.

”Kindness is not such a simple thing though,” Flim pointed out. ”For example, I bet there are ponies here who would love me if Marmalade… had an accident. So, if I’m being unkind to her, then I’m kind to them.”

Ditzy opened her mouth to answer, but not a word left it. She looked at Flim’s even face and then down on her hooves. She mumbled a little to herself, evidently trying to sort out the mess of opposite arguments that Flim’s question had planted in her.

”See? Your goal is, admittedly, admirable, but you can’t make everypony happy. That’s just impossible.” Flim said with a small smirk. ”Or is your happiness worth more than the other ponies in this quarry?”

”I don’t know,” Ditzy admitted. ”I don’t… I’m not more valuable than anypony…” Ditzy bit her lip. ”But you don’t need to do this, do you?” She asked, pleading now. ”You don’t need to hurt Marmalade, you just need a diversion right? Can’t you come up with something else, something better? Please?”

”No, it has to be perfect,” Flam interjected from behind Ditzy. The pegasus spun around and looked at Flam laying on his back with his boater hat pulled down over his face. ”It has to be so perfect that the chance of Trixie and Topsy being discovered is… well, zero. And the one thing I have seen that kept the griffon’s attention was my brother’s scuffle with Marmalade. Sorry, Ditzy Doo, but this will do what we need it to, and that’s all that matters.”

”Is not!” Ditzy said loudly. ”We are not the only ponies here! Everypony matters! We can’t just… not do anything when ponies are hurt. We are better than that!”

”No, you are better,” Flam corrected, still without removing the hat from his face. ”I’m just a cynical con artist, trying to look out for what few friends I have. I don’t care if I’m good or bad if I get what I want.”

”But-” Ditzy began, but Flam interrupted her.

”But that doesn’t mean I want to see ponies suffer and die when I could have thought a little while longer and prevented it.” He was silent for a moment. ”I may or may not have a seed of a shadow of a littlest fragment of an idea as to how we could avoid making Marmalade marmalade tomorrow.”

”Marmalade marmalade?” Ditzy asked with a small crook of her neck that told Flim that she was confused.

Flam sighed. ”Might be she does not have to die a horrible screaming death tomorrow.” He elaborated. ”Maybe. That would depend on somepony other than me, and I’m not telling you who. I look into it myself, and he or she will make the decision on his or her own, as I want to hear the unbiased opinion weather it can be done without risk.” Flam rolled over on the side, turning his back to Ditzy.

The pegasus looked at the pretending-to-be-asleep unicorn. She trotted up to him and poked him on the side. No reaction.

Poke.

…

Poke.

…

Poke.

…

Po-

”LET ME SLEEP!” Flam growled. ”LEAVE IT TO ME, OKAY!?”

Ditzy uttered a big smile. ”I knew you were too good to be bad,” she said happily. She laid down on the ground and draped a wing over her. She began snoring softly within minutes.

Flim looked at Ditzy, then at his bound forehooves. She had not untied him. ”Hello? Anypony wants to help me?”

…

”Nopony? Really, nopony at all?”

…

”Prankster?” Flim said and looked up at the bird perched on a small outcropping. The parrot opened his eyes and looked down on Flim. He held up his fore hooves. ”Help,” he said.

The parrot answered by tucking his head under one of his wings again.

Flim had a look of betrayal on his face when he looked at the parrot. ”Et tu, Prankster?”

*****

”Alllllright,” Flam said. He swallowed and his eyes darted to the left. ”Okay then… showtime.” He had, in much more of a hurry than he would have liked, prepared his new, and revised plan. Topsy had agreed to play his part suspiciously fast. Flam suspected it was to make Ditzy happy.

Not that he could go back and change plan now. Now he could only hope.

”Curtains rise,” Flim said with a yawn. ”I’ll keep the griffons entertained. Don’t you worry none. Though… just in case of something going haywire, stay at the ready, okay?”

”M’kay,” Suri said with a harrowed look. She looked so stressed she might bolt, not that anypony could fault her for it. She was the newest pony in their group, and still not a criminal at heart. She had not been in many stressful situations in their company, and definitely none as dangerous as this one.

”You be careful now, Trixie and Topsy,” Ditzy said. If Flam and Suri were nervous, then Ditzy was soon going to climb the walls. Her veering eyes darted between Trixie, Topsy and Flim fast enough to be a golden and black blur. ”And be careful with Marmalade. If you can’t get our stuff, then run, okay? Promise me! And… and stay out of sight, Trixie. And-”

”Curtains rise,” Flim repeated with a predatory smile. ”For here comes the mane attraction.” The other ponies followed his eyes, and saw Marmalade coming down in the quarry. She was limping and had a part enraged part terrified look in her eyes. She already held the whip in her mouth. Ditzy turned away and put her hooves over her ears. She could not bear to watch or hear this.

Without missing a beat, Flim trotted out to meet her. ”Hey, guess what? I’m not gonna work today!” He said loud enough for the whole quarry to hear him. The griffons guards looked down, but didn’t care otherwise. A slave dropped his pickaxe and turned to watch. Somepony else followed suit. So far Flam was right; Marmalade’s authority was hurt from yesterday.

Marmalade fixed a hateful glare at Flim. ”I’m going to… to…” she opened and closed her mouth a few times as she tried to fabricate a word foul enough. She spat instead and snapped her whip in the air.

”You are going to stammer?” Flim asked cockily. ”Oh no! Please, not the stammer!” He held up his hooves in a defensive gesture. Some ponies around snickered. That was the last straw. Marmalade screamed in anger and snapped her whip at Flim.

”Woa!” Flim said in a mock surprised tone and dodged the whip. ”Hey, hey, hey! Put that down before you get hurt!”

”Just. Stand. Still.” Marmalade growled and snapped the whip again. Flim jumped over it with another exaggerated ’woa!’.

”Let’s make this a bit more interesting, shall we?” He asked. ”Filthy?”

”Mr. Rich,” Filthy answered and threw Flim the rope Topsy had salvaged last night. Flim caught it in his mouth with a practiced move and snapped it to block Marmalade’s lash. While his opponent was busy pulling her own whip back, Flim took the opportunity to tie his own to his hoof.

”Just so you know,” Flim said as he leaped forward, somersaulted under Marmalade’s snap. He stood up just in front of her and kicked her injured hoof. ”I don’t play fair.”

Marmalade screamed. Flim backed off in shock. He had not expected that; he had expected a small gasp and a window of opportunity. Instead, Marmalade screamed at the top of her lungs and slumped to the ground. She sobbed and cradled the hoof Flim had struck.

Flim stood over her, dumbfounded. This was not good at all; he was not supposed to beat Marmalade yet. Trixie would need time to do her part, and until then he had to continue fighting Marmalade without the griffons being bored. He had expected to taunt and dodge for the first few minutes, then go in and do some more attacking. After that he would basically torment her for as long as he could before praying that Topsy could get Trixie down in the quarry again.

But now Marmalade did not look like she could put up much of a fight anymore. Both of his first two steps went up in smoke. He swallowed. This wasn’t going to be pretty.

”Sorry Ditzy, but I told you. You are much more important to me than her.” Flim thought remorsefully and snapped his rope. Marmalade whimpered and looked up at Flim as he neared. ”Your whiplash yesterday… it hurt. Now open wide, it’s time for a dose of your own medicine.”

*****

For the first time in her life, Trixie wished her coat was a more drab color. She felt like she was shining brightly, that everypony looked at her. Normally she would have loved that, but right now she did not want to be seen. As fast as she could bring herself, she backed towards the edge of the quarry. She swallowed, closed her eyes and backed out in thin air.

For one panic filled second she was weightless. She opened her mouth to scream just when Topsy caught her as silently as possible. Trixie opened her eyes and closed them again. She had not thought about exactly how high up she was, or that Topsy was the only thing that kept her from becoming a wet smear on the ground.

The terrifying trip lasted less than a minute and when Trixie felt solid ground under her hooves again she wanted to kiss the ground. She took a moment to calm down a little. Her heart continued to hammer painfully hard in her chest.

”I w-will wait h-here,” Topsy whispered in a stressed voice. ”Hurry.”

Trixie did not need to be told twice. She swallowed and began making her way around the beautiful city. She peeked behind a corner, and saw the edge of the quarry behind a burly griffon guard. So far the plan seemed to be working. Nopony, or griffon, was noticeably missing her.

Trixie quickly darted behind the griffon guard and down a back alley. She looked around the corner again and saw the gigantic birdbath they had been marched past when they first were caught. There were still a few fledgling griffons here. From this angle she could also see a cave entrance behind a golden grating close to the birdbath. Trixie darted back, that was not what she was looking for.

She peeked around another corner, and spotted something much more yielding. A lone guard outside a rather large building. Trixie licked her lips. That had to be the house she was looking for, why else would there be a guard here, close to the quarry, but not guarding it specifically?

For that matter, Trixie did not have time to stumble around and search any longer. So, now there was only the matter of getting in unnoticed. She had to get rid of the guard.

Trixie looked around, and immediately everything fell into place in her brilliant mind. She simply needed to utilize the inherit inertia which would arise from a high-velocity motion in the x-axis of a hardened body of recrystallized carbonate materials. Given sufficient initiation energy, the motion should be able to, in accordance with Neighton’s third law, cause enough of an impact to the caput-region of the Gryphus to allow her safe entrance to the property in question.

Said and done. She levitated up a rock and threw it at the griffon’s head.

The guard fell with a thump. Trixie stepped forward with a proud grin. ”Trixie is afraid you are no match to her superior intellect,” she said haughtily as she lifted up the griffon’s keyring and went into the house.

The moment she opened the door she knew she had found the right house. Gamon’s stench was unmistakable, and unfortunately very easy to pick up in this house. The moment Trixie breathed she felt like somepony had shoved a stinking piece of cloth down her throat. The marble was more gray than white, most of it coated with what looked like liquified dust; some gray, gluey phlegm clung to the floor and lower walls. The less known about it the better. Feathers were haphazardly strewn about the room, some of them stuck in the unknown gunk. There were some plates on a shelf, made of gold, but Trixie would never consider stealing them. Just paying somebody to clean them would cost more than they were worth.

She shut her eyes, nose, mouth and flattened her ears. Somehow every sense felt repulsed by the level of uncleanliness. Through extreme willpower she opened her eyes and tried to look past the tears. She had to find their equipment and pray that Gamon had not touched it for an extended period of time.

In fact she had seen the massive marble chest at the same moment she came in, but it was on the other side of the room. She had no chance of lifting it with her magic, and she could not teleport. She would have to cross the room with her bare hooves exposed to the horrible phlegm.

The Desperate and Whimpering Trixie began to tiptoe through the mess, placing only the utmost tip of her hooves on the floor, and even then she was pretty sure she could feel the gunk under her hooves. To move those ten something ponylegnths were among the most horrifying experiences Trixie remembered, including the time she felt the Alicorn Amulet devour her soul.

The chest was unlocked, so she just took the whole sack inside it. Since it did not smell of month-old onion she assumed it had not been in Gamon’s possession for long, and it was heavy enough to contain their fake idol. She knew she ought to make sure that it was indeed what she came for, but she could not abide this room anymore. Some primal instinct, as natural as eating or breathing, told her to get out of here.

Also, Topsy could not wait for her to find anything else. She began the precarious journey back to the door. She really really should learn how to teleport some day. After way to long time in the foul room Trixie carefully peeked out of the door. The guard groaned and moved groggily, whereupon Trixie whacked him a few more times with the rock before she began making her way back to Topsy.

”Thtop it already!” Gamon’s slur sounded from the quarry. ”Dithpothe of the filthy pony!”

Trixie froze for a moment, before she realized just what Gamon had said. Flim’s time was up. Trixie swallowed and dashed through the streets back to Topsy. She found him, legs bent and wings spread to take off. Trixie galloped past him; did she still have time?

Breath caught in her throat. Flim was, as slow as possible, dragging an openly weeping Marmalade towards the edge of the quarry. There was not enough time.

”Fly,” Trixie squeaked, terrified. ”You will have to get me later.”

”B-but-”

”Now!” Trixie growled, without taking her eyes of Flim. Why was Marmalade not fighting back? Why had Flim defeated her so fast? This was not supposed to happen; Topsy should have ferried Trixie to safety first. She had no way of getting down in the quarry on her own, and if she was found here, then the curtains would close for the last time.

Topsy jumped out in the air and flew down the steeping precipice that made up all sides of the Griffonstone plateau. That way, when the guards were watching the quarry, Topsy could fly unseen. Flim closed in on the cliff. Topsy flew faster than Trixie had ever seen him. Closer and closer they both came.

Flim stood by the edge, hesitated for a moment, all while the griffons cheering rose louder and louder. Trixie quivered in equal parts disgust and anxiety. How could they cheer for something like this? Cheer for somepony’s death? Trixie nearly vomited at the thought.

”DO IT!” Gamon commanded. Flim turned around and preformed an elaborate, and very slow, bow. Then he tackled marmalade over the edge.

Topsy dove the last part and struck the falling pony’s side with what must have been a staggering force. Trixie watched as hypnotized as Topsy fought to keep the new burden up. He was visibly struggling, flapping his wings madly with the none of subtlety needed. In fact, one could probably hear him even from inside the quarry if you actually tried. Thankfully the griffons were still hooting and cheering for the show.

It felt like an eternity before Topsy got his flying under control, but he did. Maramlade was now dangling beneath him as Topsy ferried her up to their corner of the quarry. They had to figure out a better place to hide her later, possibly by cutting her mane and discolor her coat with marble dust. The griffons did not seem to keep track of their slaves very well.

Trixie slumped down, shaking with adrenaline that had coursed freely through her body for the last fifteen minutes. She turned around to find a place to hide until the night when Topsy could collect her.

The griffon guard stared back just a moment before he flew forward and pinned Trixie to the wall by her throat. He had a lot of bumps on his head.

”I should kill you right now, disgusting little wretch,” he hissed. ”But I think you and your friends deserve worse.”

Trixie let out a choked peep in abject terror.

An Ancient Ally

”Any latht words?” Gamon sneered evilly. The seven ponies of The Circus plus Marmalade were gradually being forced backward, towards a hole in the mountain.

After Trixie had been caught, it had taken approximately eight seconds before every griffon who had been watching Flim swept down in the quarry and arrested them all. When they discovered the sniffing and hyperventilating Marmalade, any explanation was useless. With little ceremony, the ponies had been marched away from the quarry and through the city, Topsy and Ditzy with their wings bound to their sides with leather straps. After a short walk, filled with spitting, jeering griffons, they arrived at a barred chasm in the ground, just by the large birdbath they had seen when they were first marched into Griffonstone. Two griffons were working with golden cranks to open it as they arrived.

Gamon had, though it was hard to understand with his pronounced lisp, explained that they were to die in some horrific way or the other and now they were slowly being forced backwards into the waiting maw. Ten thousand escape plans flashed through Flim’s mind every second, each more insane than the last. Not even he could come up with a witty reply now, not when he could hear his closest friends quiver behind him. His brother seemed to be in a daze and his own legs were shaking.

”Water behind-d us,” Topsy whispered. Flim’s ears peaked up. If there was water down in the abyss, then it might be a better idea to get down there instead of making a dash for it now. They had at least ten spear wielding griffons in front of them, all who did not seem too hesitant to just straight up impale them then and there.

Gamon clicked with his beak, and the guards began to advance, forcing the ponies backwards. The eight were forced closer together, somepony’s hooves scraped at the edge of the abyss. One of the griffons jabbed with his spear, causing Ditzy to flinch backwards.

That was all it took. With a terrified squeak Suri’s hooves scrambled at the edge before falling. Filthy threw himself to her and managed to grab her fore hooves, holding on to her for dear life. Another griffon jabbed from the side, forcing Trixie to jerk backwards. The force of the motion made her hat fall away and float down the chasm.

”My hat…?” Trixie mumbled. Her pupils were like pinpricks and one of her hooves were stretched as if to grab it.

Gamon clicked again with sadistic glee, and all the griffons took a step forward. Marmalade, who had been hiding behind the others, was forced back, stumbled over Filthy and fell with a scream, followed soon by Filthy and Suri. Just as Topsy had said, three splashes was heard after a few seconds.

”We are alright!” Filthy called back up. Flim and the others gave a relieved exhale.

”Well, if we are going to go, let’s do it with style. Right, brother of mine?” Flim asked with a wavering smile. Flam managed a terrified kind of laugh.

”Next town, brother?” Flim asked, several octaves above his normal pitch.

”Next town,” Flam nodded. Together they backed, took each others hooves and jumped. Flim tried to give Ditzy a reassuring smile, though based on the pegasus’ tear-filled eyes he did not quite succeed. Then he was falling.

One moment later he was submerged in ice cold water. Flim and Flam sputtered and kicked to get above the surface. None of them had any actual swim training, having grown up in a place with little water and no money or time to learn it. As such, they kept floating through a floppy, hardly dignified thrashing.

”Here!” Suri called from a little while away. Both the brothers looked, but the darkness beyond the open chasm made it impossible to see anything before their eyes had adjusted. Nonetheless, they followed her voice and soon felt slippery chips of stone under their hooves. Flam yelped when he felt something brush against his leg, and all but dashed out of the water; quite an accomplishment, since Flim continued to slide back on the stone chips.

Another set of splashes, followed by the groaning of the grated door, told them that the last of their friends finally had succumbed to the inevitable and fallen down as well. Flim reached a hoof forward, and Suri took it and pulled him out of the water.

”Are you alright?” Flim asked her. She nodded, but was visibly shaken. Flim nodded and turned around to the center of the small lake and saw Ditzy paddle easily towards them. Topsy and Trixie had it harder, especially the latter, who was holding her hat in her mouth at the same time, but they managed. Flim looked about the cave.

The room was surprisingly bright for being a cave. Most of the walls were composed of the same marble that most of Griffonstone rested on, interrupted by gleaming metal ore. The pool behind them was cool and clear. The bottom was made up by a lot of small stone chips, and in between them grew long strands of waterweed. A circle of light fell down from the grated gateway.

There was also a large cave entrance on the other side of the underground pond, but from his position he could not see very well into it.

All in all, this was a million times better than the volcanic crater he had expected them to be thrown into. In fact, this did not look to bad at all; with them together they could certainly figure out a way to escape.

A heavy, ponderous rumble from the back of the room made all the ponies freeze. Slowly did they turn to the darkest part of the cave, to the one part of the cave wall not clad in marble.

A single eye the size of Ditzy Doo stared back.

Something large as half the mountain wall rose up from its sleep and placed itself on two gargantuan forelegs, each one thicker than the largest tree trunks. A wide mouth could be seen on the horned head. The eye scanned the room for a moment before stopping on them. The creature moved, each step sending tremors through the ground.

”Masbi smash!” The whatever-it-was rumbled. It heightened one of its fists and brought it down towards Topsy. With a squeak, Marmalade threw herself at his side and tackled him out of the way. The massive fist fell down and cracked the stone where Topsy had been the moment before.

The thunderclap from the punch seemed to awaken all the ponies from the trance of terrified awe. ”Filthy!” a Covering and Panicked Trixie yelled and threw a boomerang to the earth pony.

”Thanks,” Filthy mumbled, caught the weapon and threw. The boomerang soared through the air and hit the monster’s side without as much as a reaction. It fell down without coming back; Filthy could just as well have town it at a wall.

Only now did the monster seem to understand that it had missed its target. With a confused rumble it turned around, searching for his enemies. He saw some of them still by the beach.

”Hey, ugly!” Trixie let her horn flare. A bright, dazzling star left her horn and exploded in a beautiful golden cascade mere hoof lengths from the monster’s single eye. The monster roared and staggered backwards, holding his hands before the eye. As a cave dweller, he was not very well off against the light.

Filthy darted up to the monster while it was still blinded, snatched his boomerang and galloped away. Once at a relatively safe distance he threw again with as little effect as before.

”No no, the eye!” Flam called from behind a few rocks. ”Aim for the eye!” A boulder sized fist lashed out in Flam’s direction, but thankfully missed. The unicorn however, still ducked in behind the rocks and remained frozen while fragments of the wall fell down on his back.

Masbi opened the eye again, even if the ponies could see a tear forming in it. He peered from one side of the room to another before it settled in Flim’s direction. With a roar the monster heaved himself at the unicorn.

Flim saw the living rock-slide coming at him and swallowed; it was like a part of the wall hurled itself at him. Just before he got mowed down he leaped as high as he could and landed on the muscular arm. Masbi must have felt it, because he stood up and flailed violently to shake the annoying pony off. Flim only managed to hold on for a moment before he was sent flying in a high arch, hit the roof and landed in the pond. With him out of the way, Masbi instead shifted his focus to the purple one.

Suri stood petrified and watched the terrifying creature rear up on the back legs with his fists lifted high in the air to crush her. She stared, paralyzed in fear.

It was amazing how many memories could race through her mind in such a short time.

The birthday when she got her trademark scarf; when her interest for sewing had ben born.

The time she helped a classmate mend a torn-off button for her jacket; when she earned her cutie mark.

The day she was accepted as seamstress for a small store in Manehattan; her first real job.

And her brightest moment, still etched onto her cornea. When she stood at the ramp during fashion week, cameras flashing, ponies cheering for her creations. She was at the top of the world then, happier than ever a pony had been.

Her vision disappeared. Instead she saw only the monster beneath ancient Griffonstone.

Looking back at it, she realized that it all must have happened very fast. But in the moment, everything seemed to be slowed down. It was like she was watching the individual paintings, the very frames that made up her sense of sight.

The cyclops towered over her.

New frame.

His herculean fist began to fall.

New frame.

Filthy Rich beside her.

New frame.

Boomerang cleaving the air.

New frame.

This frame was slanted. She and Filthy both were airborne and the boomerang was no longer in sight.

New frame.

Fist even closer, casting its shadow over half her body.

New frame.

Filthy smiled apologetically at her.

New frame.

Blackness and a dull pain in her legs from the bad landing.

New sound.

”NOO! WAIT!”

And then an ear scattering scream.

The world sped up again. Her heart hammered as if to break out of her ribcage. Her vision was a narrow tunnel. In her mouth she could taste something metallic. Every muscle in her body trembled like a leaf.

Suri flopped over on her back to see what had happened. The Cyclops’s held both his forelegs against his eye and his mouth was wide open in a scream. Suri, however, only heard a muffled, drawn out beep. Ditzy was flying just in front of the cyclops with both of her hooves cupped over her mouth. She spotted Flam dash up behind the monster and buck it in the knee joint. He leaped aside just as the monster toppled backwards and hit its head in the cave wall.

Through the omnipresent beep, Suri might have heard somepony calling out to Topsy. In the next moment, Topsy was indeed flying right above her, up above the Cyclops’s face, went into a loop combined with a flip and bucked the monster’s chin with all his speed and strength behind him.

The Cyclops gave a meek roar and, much to everypony’s surprise, curled up with both his giant hands over his eye. Suri stared, every moment expecting the monster to get back up and squash her. She sobbed choppily, only now understanding what had happened, how close it had been.

She could have died.

The only reason she was still here, thinking these thoughts, was through pure luck. She could just as easily have died. Died here in ancient Griffonstone, leaving nothing behind for anypony to remember her by. The only ponies who would even miss her were the six others of The Circus.

Just a few years, and she could have been forgotten. A nameless, faceless pony who nobody would ever mourn. Not even a tombstone to mark her passage.

Literarily just a split second away from oblivion.

Suri cried.

She did not know for how long, but eventually she realized that somepony was sitting just by her, gently stroking her back. She was also suddenly aware that she could hear again, albeit not very well. She heard pieces of a conversation and her ears subconsciously flicked forward to pick it up.

”…Boomerang?”

”Just in front of me, I tried to catch it,” Ditzy explained. ”But the poor thing got hit right in the eye instead.” Suri absently thought that Ditzy must be completely daft if she called that monster ”poor thing.”

”He does not seem to aggressive right now.” Suri recognized the voice as Flam’s. ”Ditzy, would you object to see if you could get him to notice you?”

”NO!” Suri screamed and looked up from her crying. ”NO, HE WILL KILL US ALL!” Flim, Flam, Topsy and Ditzy all looked over at her. Maybe they had not realized she was conscious.

”Shh, it’s all right, Suri. It’s all right,” Filthy mumbled beside her. She startled, twirled around and hyperventilated. Filthy was still visibly jumpy himself, but he managed a wavering smile. ”Calm down. All is fine. The monster is down.”

”B-but h-he…” Suri stammered and pointed lamely. She did not say anything else. She knew her voice would not carry.

”Then we should get out of here before he does anything,” Filthy pointed out. ”We should see if the others have any ideas.” Gently, Filthy coaxed Suri up on her hooves and helped her over to their friends and a very uncertain Marmalade, who sat slightly at the side. She did not seem to know if she could join the others and did not dare to get any closer to the monster. She was stuck where she was.

Suri felt better moving, even if she still shook so violently every step was awkward. Dull pain still throbbed in her knees and legs. Looking down, she saw that she had scraped them pretty badly. She and Filthy subtly made their way into the small circle their friends had formed by the pool’s shore.

”We have to find out,” Flam said insistently. ”Now that he is not doing anything, we have a golden opportunity to see where we have him. Ditzy, you up to it?”

”I w-will fol-low then,” Topsy hissed. Flam took no notice, but instead looked at Ditzy.

The cloud gray pegasus threw a dubious look at the huddled cyclops and swallowed, but nodded nonetheless. She and Topsy flew up, near the roof of the cave and slowly made their way closer. When they hovered just above the monster, Topsy pulled away a small rock from the ceiling and threw it.

With a grunt, the monster shifted and opened a red eye that oozed tears. When he spotted the two pegasi he roared sadly and curled up even harder. Both Ditzy and Topsy stared. The monster seemed as terrified of them as Suri was of him. The two ponies returned to their friends.

”I thought so,” Flam said with a bemused expression. ”The last thing the overgrown goat saw before he felt pain like never before was probably not the boomerang, but you, Ditzy. He think you made his eye hurt like that.” Flam chuckled. ”So congratulations, Ditzy. You have managed to scare that beast into submission.”

”I have?” Ditzy’s tilted her head. ”But I didn’t want that. I tried to stop the boomerang.”

”Don’t let him know that,” Flim mumbled with an anxious look to the monster. ”Better like this. I imagine that was how the griffons imagined us to die, so as long as he is not hurting us we should be out of danger.”

”Well… that’s good,” Ditzy mumbled. ”Okay, I will try to keep him calm.”

”Perfect, now Trixie would very much like some thanks for her amazing wit that brought that boomerang here in the fist place,” Trixie pointed out.

”That’s only fair, I imagine,” Filthy said, still holding a hoof with Suri. ”Thanks Trixie. You probably saved all of our hides in bringing the boomerang. How did you even do it?”

”Trixie took it from Gamon’s place and hid it under her cape. She assumed, quite correctly, that the griffons would not search her.”

”That was a great risk you took then,” Flam pointed out. ”How could you be so sure they would not search you?”

Trixie shrugged. ”Why would they conceive us lowly ponies as a threat? Of course creatures such as us could not smuggle anything with us down here, we are too dumb to think of it.”

”You seem to know the griffons surprisingly well for somepony who have never met them before,” Flam pointed out.

Trixie gave a hapless smile. ”Let’s just say that Trixie understands what hubris can cost you better than most ponies.” The bitterness in her voice was palpable. ”And she also wants to know how any of you propose we are supposed to survive down here even with that beast out of the way. We have no food.”

”Waterweed is edible,” Marmalade called from outside their little circle.

”Right, you are still here, aren’t you?” Flim exclaimed. ”I forgot. Why are you sitting there, all by yourself? Come over and socialize a bit.”

Marmalade looked like Flim had just asked her to fly around the cave. ”M-me? But… I tried to have you guys killed like… three times over, and I am the reason you were even down here! Why would you even let me near?”

”Because we have somepony among us who is too kind for her own good,” Flam answered with a sidelong glance to Ditzy. ”And because we will need your help to get out of here.”

”Get out?” Marmalade mumbled. ”You will… actually try to escape?”

”What else?” Flim asked innocently. ”Wanna join?” He held out a hoof. Marmalade looked at it, evidently wanting to hope that Flim was sincere, but not quite daring to. Cautiously, like a shy animal, she edged closer, still limping slightly. Flim disengaged from the circle and approached her alone, still with his hoof extended.

Marmalade swallowed and extended her injured hoof, as she could not stand on it, and bumped it carefully with Flim’s, sealing their agreement.

With a practiced movement, Flim caught her hoof by the fetlock and twisted it. A startled squeak sounded from Marmalade as Flim looked over the injury. He winced. Her hoof was split right through, as if some depraved soul had struck it with a chisel. ”You should place that in the water,” he said, ”and pray to Celestia that it has not already been infected. What happened to you anyway?”

”Gamon,” Marmalade mumbled.

”Why am I not surprised?” Flim asked silently. ”Anyway, we need to get out of Griffonstone and then a little while down the mountain. If we do that, we will be safe. Do you know anything that can help us with that.”

”We will not be safe,” Marmalade said sadly. ”They will find us within the day as long as we are still in these mountains.”

”No, we will just use the time machine again and escape,” Ditzy explained to Marmalade.

The orange earth pony looked at her and got the somewhat confused look that everypony gets when they really saw Ditzy for the first time. Flam took the opportunity to prevent any more questions that Marmalade likely would not believe any time soon.

”Just trust us on that. If we can get to that cave, we will be out of danger.” Flam paused. ”But if we want to get that far, we will have to figure out a way to get out of here, first and foremost.”

”That cave over there seems like our best candidate,” Filthy said and pointed to the large opening at the other side of the pool. ”Or, maybe we could get the grating open somehow?” He shot a longing look at the golden door in the roof, near fifty ponylengths up.

”That will be our last ditch possibility,” Flam said. ”If the griffons see us playing with it, we are done for.”

”So what do you propose then, brother?” Flim asked.

The unicorn shrugged. ”For now, let’s just see what we have to work with. Get exploring everypony!” He managed a semi-happy tone at the end. He rose from the floor and cast a worried look at the cyclops, who in turn was keeping his eyes steadily at them, especially at Ditzy and Topsy, who flew up to explore the cave roof.

Filthy and Suri made nonverbal agreement to stick close together and started to make their way around the pool and to the cave behind it.

”How are you?” Suri asked silently, even if the echo in the cave made whispers a rather moot point. When she looked at her companion as they went by the water edge. He seemed relatively calm. His legs were still shook a little and his pace was faster than normal, but he had spoken to her clearly, without any noticeable anxiety.

Filthy drew a deep breath. ”Been better, I guess…” he shuddered. ”It was a little too close for comfort there.”

”A little too…?” Suri mumbled. ”W-we could have died, and all you have to say is ’a little too close for comfort’?”

”Sorry,” Filthy said with a sigh. ”I know I… well, I know it’s silly, but I have lived all my life never letting anypony know when I’m afraid. Can’t let anypony see any emotion at a negotiating table. Anxiety and stress are both feelings I guard closely. It just comes naturally to me at this point.”

”So you are afraid too?” Suri asked, a little shyly. It was not exactly a question she had ever imagined herself asking.

”Like a lost colt,” Filthy mumbled. ”I-I… I’m just so worried about my little diamond,” Filthy’s voice wavered at the last word. He sniffled a little, but his eyes remained dry. He drew a breath, and when he continued his voice was calm and composed as usual. ”I can’t die here. She needs me. I can’t let her grow up without me, she needs ponies she trusts.”

”I’m afraid too,” Suri admitted. She came to a little stream running out of the wall and crossed it gingerly. ”Like… I have no pony left in Equestria, no pony who will ever miss me, m’kay.” She bent her head, feeling ashamed. She spoke silently. ”I’m afraid to be forgotten. I… just want somepony to think of me, once in a while when I’m gone, m’kay.” The words tasted bitter in her mouth as she said them. Filthy did not seem to be afraid at all for his own sake; only for his daughters. Her own fears sounded so petty, so selfish beside his.

”I understand,” he said as he hopped over the stream.

The two of them continued in silence until they stood just before the pitch black cave. Up close one could see that it did not seem to continue very far into the mountain. Rather, after just a few ponylengths beyond the pool, it quickly narrowed and became a sharp drop. Suri gingerly slid forward on her belly and peeked down. The hole was scarcely large enough for an adult pony and the blackness was absolute. Climbing down should be possible, Suri imagined, but the risk of getting stuck or simply coming to a dead end with no way turn around also seemed much too plausible for her liking. Also there was a stifling stench rising from the pit.

”No,” Filthy Rich said as he scooted up beside her. ”I’m not going down there; I’d rather hack my way straight through the cavern wall with my bare hooves.” Suri could only agree. She carefully began scooting backwards, away from the pitch black maw. She took it slow. If she slipped she might very well fall down into the abyss. She felt a fresh pang of fear piercing her heart and was forced to stop for a moment, just to breathe and gather her bearings. Slowly did she make her way back onto more stabile ground.

”Suri,” Filthy said lowly, still by the edge, ”Perhaps you would be so kind as to pull me back? I… d-don’t know if I can move…” Suri thought she might hear a small sliver of fear in his voice. She reached forward and pulled Filthy backwards by his hind legs.

”Thank you,” Filthy mumbled once he too was on stable ground. ”Really, thanks a lot.” Suri could not help but to smile a little at his bashfulness. The contrast to the composed, easygoing Filthy Rich she knew was staggering. And just a little bit cute.

Suri’s breath caught in her throat. She had just thought Filthy Rich cute. That was undeniably a trait one would only attribute to somepony one was attracted to- attracted in the most pure sense of the world. She would not use that description for just a friend or colleague. ”Cute” meant something deeper to her, something more.

And she had used it to describe Filthy Rich, a married stallion and a father too. To court a pony like him was unimaginable both morally and practically. He was one of the richest ponies in Equestria, handsome and kind. She had pretty much nothing she could call solely her own; not a home, not much money and no items worth mentioning. A more improbable match than she and Filthy was hardly imaginable, even putting aside that she would never again be able to look into a mirror with self-respect if she engaged in an affair with a married stallion.

”Suri? What is it?”

Suri startled at her name, and caught Filthy looking at her quizzically. ”No, nothing, what would it be?” she replied, faster than she had intended. ”Come on, m’kay. Let’s see if the others have found something.” She quickly made her way over to the small stream. A little too quick, as she slipped and fell face first right in the ice cold water.

She thrashed wildly and got her head up after just a second, her mane now a wet mess. She looked around, and so unwittingly stared into the small opening from where the stream welled out from.

A highly surprised Gneiss Pick stared back with wide eyes.

The two ponies stared at one another, none quite understanding the fact that there was another pony in front of them in a place where both of them knew there should not be another pony.

”COME’ERE!” Suri screamed and lunged for the foal. If he got away and tattled on them to the griffons they were all dead. Gneiss snapped out of his paralysis and tried to back away, but he could only slowly crawl backwards; the opening was not wide enough for him to turn. Suri grabbed him by the mane and proceeded to drag him out, aided by Filthy Rich who had picked up on her call.

”Let me go you bastards! What have you done with Arimaspi?” Gneiss called, kicking Filthy and Suri with a surprising strength for his small body. ”Let me go!”

”Gnss?” The Cyclops rumbled and looked towards Suri and Filthy. ”NO HURT GNSS!”

The Cyclops rose up from his covering and lumbered towards Suri.

”Sssstop!” Topsy hissed from the roof, went into an artistic loop and struck the cyclops right in the neck. Arimaspi looked around and his eye fell on a Ditzy, who seemed to be contemplating whether to fly away and hide or try to put on a scolding glare. Arimaspi slowed down and looked alternately at Ditzy and at Gneiss.

”Hello!” Flim came rushing from the other side of the cave. ”What is happening?” He caught a look on the still struggling Gneiss Pick, even if he had been thoroughly wrestled to the ground by the two adult earth ponies. ”And who is this?”

”I’m Gneiss Pick, and Arimaspi’s friend. Let me go or I’ll have him crush you all!” the colt yelled angrily.

”The taskmaster in our mineshaft?” Trixie said when she saw Gneiss. ”So that’s what you were doing when you crawled into the hole? You weren’t looking for hard-to-reach ore, you came here.”

”Yea I did! And the griffons have no clue about it!” Gneiss yelled. ”I’m gonna get out of this stinking city with Arimaspi’s help, just you wait and see! And I’m not going to let you filthy fools hurt my friend!”

”Mr. Rich,” Filthy corrected, still struggling to keep the foal pressed to the ground.

”So you too are trying to escape.” Flam pointed out. ”Perfect, then we want the same thing. Why don’t we sit down and talk this over like gentlecolts?”

Nighttime Necessities

Gneiss sat down warily in front of the mustached unicorn. He threw a quick look to the stream he had followed in, but quickly deduced that it would not offer him a way out. Both of the ponies who had caught him stood directly in his way, and there were at least two pegasi. ”Now, then,” the other pony said. ”My name is Flam, former slave in this Celestia forsaken place. One might say that we here,” he made a sweeping motion with his hoof, ”got tired of the working conditions and tried to steal back our stolen goods. Griffons did not like that, so we were thrown down here. Big goat attacked us, so we showed him the error of his ways. That was pretty much all; then you came.”

”How could you guys fight Arimaspi?” Gneiss asked with a perplexed stare. ”You don’t even reach like… up to his fetlocks! He should have squished you in one second! ” Gneiss looked a bit disappointed that Arimaspi had not squashed them. ”And who is Celesita? Some pagan god from wherever you are from?”

”She is our Princess, ruler of all Equestria,” Ditzy explained wisely. ”I heard she was the one who invented muffins and thus started the Equestrian calendar. She is awesome!”

”I thought this era began when Discord was turned to stone?” Flam mumbled. Gneiss Pick looked around to see if there was anypony sensible here in here besides him. Who were Celestia and Discord? What was a muffin? Was ”Flam” even a name? There were too many things that did not make any sense with these ponies, even aside from the fact that Arimaspi seemed deathly afraid of them for whatever reason.

”Never mind that,” Flam decided. ”How come you know… Arimaspi?”

”I found the tunnel to this cave ages ago,” Gneiss explained. ”Arimaspi was stuck here then, but didn’t seem to mind my company at all. I hacked out some of the ore here to help fill my quotas, but also began talking a little to him.” He nodded to Arimaspi. ”He says he has been stuck here for a long time, but can’t get out, so we decided to escape.”

”Just like that?” Flam asked dubiously. ”You just decided to help a monster that could accidentally sit on you out of the kindness of your heart?”

Gneiss snorted in dislike. ”If all ponies thought like you, we would not be much better than the griffons.” Flam decided not to press Gneiss any further after that comment. ”Besides, if I need to dig out ore then I might as well try to dig out of here.”

”Straight through the mountainside?” Flam asked, now even more dubious.

”What does this look like to you?” Gneiss asked angrily and more or less pressed his pick-adorned flank into Flam’s face.

”The worst idea I have ever seen,” Flam replied dryly. He grabbed Gneiss with his magic before the colt could reach him with his swinging hooves. ”But fear not. I think we will be able to help one another. As I said, we want the same thing; to get out of this rat hole of a city.”

”Yea? Fine!” Gneiss screamed angrily. ”Then let’s hear it! Let’s hear your super idea! How are you gonna get out of here?! Huh?!”

”Glad you asked,” Flam said without taking note of Gneiss’s tone. ”For I’m going to need your knowledge about this mountain.”

”Uh… you do? Well… okay?” Gneiss stammered lamely. The colt looked like he had expected Flam to yell back at him. This composed request for help made him confused. ”Yea, I know all about this mountain. What do you wanna know?”

”My friends tell me that the cave over there ends in a hole,” Flam nodded to the cave in the back of the room. ”Do you know anything about how it looks down there?”

”Sure do,” Gneiss said smugly. ”I went down once. Sorry to say that it continues… like, forever downwards. And there is not the slightest draft of wind or anything, so that’s no way out. I think it ends in a cave, or something. It’s also where Arimaspi dumps the bodies of his victims.”

”So a cave huh? Interesting,” Flam said curiously. He stroked his chin. One could practically hear the gears turn in his head. ”And what type of stone is there?”

”Marble,” Gneiss answered. ”This whole dungpile of a mountain is made from various kinds of marble.”

”Marble, huh… good…Perfect, actually,” Flam continued. ”Well, then I think I know how to get out of here. It will take some physics labor, and… there are some minor risks, like accidentally being blown sky-high, but nothing we can’t handle, I’m sure.”

”What do you want to do?” Marmalade asked curiously.

”I want to build a bomb,” Flam said calmly. ”A huge one. But I need that water in the pool down in the cave. I’m not sure how strong the blast might be, but some kind of shelter for us might be a good idea…”

”Pff! Shelter?” Gneiss said dismissively. ”Just get Arimaspi out and he can carry us all. Not much can hurt him.”

”If any of us are at the wrong place at the wrong time, I think we will be grateful for shelter,” Flam said gravely. ”But we will need some pickaxes before anything else. Gneiss, you will have to get those.” Flam turned to the others. ”And with them we need to hack a chute from the underground pool to the hole, as wide as possible. Make sure to start by the hole. We don’t want any water to run down the chute before everything is ready. Understood?”

”I understand what to do,” Flim said. ”No clue how it will help us though.”

”Just trust me,” Flam said. ”Can you get those picks, Gneiss?”

”In a second,” the colt said smugly. ”Or… actually not until tomorrow. It’s already nighttime and the griffons don’t want us in the mines after sunset.” He got up and started crawling through the stream.

Filthy looked after him. ”Now what?” He asked. ”Anything else to do now?”

”Marmalade,” Flim asked. ”You have been here longer than any of us. Do you know anything useful about this city’s layout?”

Flam did not say that if his plan worked like it said in that book on ancient Roaman mining techniques, then there would not be much of a city layout left, or city for that matter. He glanced over to Topsy.

*****

Suri laid on the cold stone floor, staring up at what little of the starry sky she could see through the grated hole they had been thrown down. She had always been pretty good with constellations, but now it looked like somepony had overthrown the entire sky; she could not recognize even a part of any constellation. She sighed. The alien night sky made her more depressed than she already was, for it served as yet another reminder of how far from home she was. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep.

A new surge of self-pity grabbed her heart. The earlier haunts of her own mortality returned with a vengeance, dashing all hops for rest. Whenever she closed her eyes, she saw the memory of Arimaspi towering over her yet again.

She reopened her eyes and rolled over to the side. She saw Filthy Rich. He slept on his stomach with his head on a flat rock. Suri really had hoped he was awake, so that maybe they could talk a little bit more. Not because he was cute or anything, she told herself, but because he had gone through the exact same thing as she. If there was anypony who understood her, it was him. And maybe he needed some consolation too.

Apparently not.

Just as she was about to try his sleeping position, she could see Filthy shift restlessly. Then he opened his eyes with an annoyed grimace. Suri’s heart leaped with joy, and she only partially managed to convince herself that it was because she now had somepony to talk too. There was no romance involved. Of course not.

”Hey, you asleep yet?” she mumbled.

”No,” Filthy said with a sigh. ”Whenever I close my eyes I’m worried that cyclops will come and crush me.”

”Me too,” Suri whispered truthfully.

They were silent for a little while, listening to the breathing of their friends.

”What do you think Flam is planning?” Filthy asked suddenly. ”Do you have any idea how you can make a bomb with water?”

”No clue,” Suri whispered back. ”Sounds impossible to me, m’kay. Water is used to disarm gunpowder and stuff, right?”

”It is,” Filthy said. ”So how will he get it to detonate? And as powerful as he seems to think… I don’t get it.”

”Maybe there is some mineral that does stuff with the water down in that cave?” Suri suggested, happy to speak about this. It kept her worries away. Filthy evidently liked it as well. ”His magnesium flashes when it’s heated. You think maybe something down there explodes in contact with water?”

”I doubt it,” Filthy said. ”Flam has read a lot, but to just recognize something like that… he is not a geologist or a pyrotechnist. I just don’t know.”

”Me neither,” Suri said. ”But I asked him to trust me once, so it is only fair that I repay him in kind. If he says that he can get us out, then we should try to believe in him, m’kay? He is clever, he has shown that before.”

Filthy was silent. She could feel her earlier haunts linger in the edges of her mind.

Suri looked at him, his face illuminated by the stars. ”Hey?” she began silently, shy for her question. ”My mother used to let me hold her hoof when I was filly and couldn’t sleep.” She paused. ”Would you…” she felt her face blushing profoundly.

Filthy looked over her with a new, searching kind of expression. Then his face softened. ”Sure, Suri.” He scooted a little closer and held his hoof over towards her.

She took it in hers and eventually found her way to a deep, dreamless sleep with a curious smile on her lips.

*****

”Topsy?”

The midnight blue pegasus stirred from his sleep at once, flapped up into the air and listened to his surroundings. While his eyes needed time to adjust to the darkness, his ears almost immediately gave him a clear understanding of his situation. He heard his friends breathe calmly below him; five distinctive sounds and the cyclops’s powerful snores. Concealed behind the soothing sounds of his peacefully sleeping friends were also the omnipresent ripples of something much greater, something much, much more powerful: the winds.

Ever since he came here they had been whispering to him, their voices shifting in and out of his mind like shadows of a flickering candle. Sometimes Topsy could not quite tell whether a thought was his or if the winds had just whispered again. Even now they were here, here in this cave, whispering.

”Good, you are up.”

Topsy recognized Flam’s voice. His was a bit more refined and elegant than his brother’s. That was the easiest way to tell them apart. The scanned the room with his ears and located Flam’s slightly faster breathing behind him, nearby the cool, lapping sounds of tiny waves. Topsy flapped his wings decisively and landed just in front of the unicorn. Beside him laid the pool, black and smooth like glass.

”I need to talk to you,” Flam began calmly. ”And nopony else must know. Alright?”

Topsy understood that Flam actually meant with the last word. ”Alright,” as in ”if it is not alright, tell me now and we will forget the whole thing.”

Topsy nodded. He did not want to make a sound that could wake Ditzy up. Poor mare should sleep now and forget all horrors in this world for a few hours.

”I look out very carefully for my brother, you know,” Flam began. ”Even if he does not care much for the dangers he might put himself in, I very much do. I would… go to great lengths to keep him out of trouble, pay the ultimate price for him, so to say. I… imagine you understand me? That you have felt the same?”

”I h-have. I d-do every day with her,” Topsy said and shifted his ears to where Ditzy laid. Only her peaceful breathing was enough to make the winds he kept hearing a little quieter.

”I thought so,” Flam said with a nod. ”I… think I can understand what you felt when they put their claws on her. When we were captured, I mean.”

”You c-cannot,” Topsy said quickly.

”I can,” Flam replied with ice cold conviction. Something about his tone gave Topsy pause. He could not put a hoof on it, but Flam’s tone had changed when he spoke those two words. It was cold, devoid of emotion save for a pure type of rage. Topsy knew it well. When Ditzy was threatened, then that rage consumed him, then he welcomed the winds.

Topsy understood. When Flim was threatened, even though Flam’s own rage was mixed with a paralyzing fear, it was the same kind of anger. An anger directed to those who would dare to touch his friends. ”You can understand,” Topsy agreed.

”My plan…” Flam said and threw a worried glance at their sleeping friends. ”Is not only meant to break us out. It is also my vendetta against those who harmed my brother. But I need your help.”

”W-will you… h-hurt them? The g-griffons?” Topsy asked. He felt his heart hammer wonderfully strong in his chest. He felt the powerful rush of adrenaline coursing through him at the thought.

”Hurt them, hurt them, hurt them,” the winds whispered hungrily.

”I want to,” Flam said which a sigh. ”I know my brother… all of our friends really, don’t want me to, but they don’t understand. Only you do. Don’t you?”

Topsy nodded. He understood. He too wanted to hurt those who hurt Ditzy. He really did. ”What do you need?”

Flam visibly relaxed. ”We are a bit alike, you and me. Thanks Topsy, for listening.” Flam patted Topsy once on his back. ”If my stratagem can work in the first place, then the result will depend on how much water I have. That birdbath lake we saw should be right above us, and I want to break its bottom so that all of that water flows down into the cave. I’m not sure how strong the explosion will be, but I think both this pool and the water in the birdbath will make sufficient revenge. They hurt our dearest friends; so we take their entire culture, their way of life, away and they might just call me the Element of Generosity himself.” Flam paused for a moment. ”Will you help me?”

Topsy did not need to think. ”D-done.”

Flam nodded. ”I will reduce this place to a pile of ash and dust, see if I don’t. Now then, here is how what you need to do…”

*****

As the sun touched Flim’s face, the unicorn looked up. He groaned when he realized that the only reason he had woken was because he had managed to place himself right where the sun struck the cave floor. All of his friends were still asleep. Flim sighed and got up, knowing well that he never could fall asleep once he had woken up in the morning.

He silently went up to the pool and looked down.It would have to suffice as mirror. He winced when he saw his wounds. Ditzy’s cleaning had probably helped, but it still did not look good. Luckily his coat would soon grow back and cover the scars, but until then he should probably have to clean his face carefully every day. He trotted around the pool and looked over the place where he would have to hack. He noted that it was the same soft marble as the rest of this mountain, so this would not be so bad.

Without a pickaxe he could not start working yet though, so he continued walking around the pool, trying to stretch his legs a little. ”Prankster?” He asked up to the grating. He was not sure if he expected the parrot to hear him, but it did. The black bird looked in between the bars and flew lazily down to him. ”Hello,” Flim said with a warm smile. ”I was worried about you, buddy. Good to see that you are alright.” He gently stroked the bird over the wings, earning him a satisfied flutter.

”RRRRAK!” Prankster croaked and affectionately bit his partner-in-crime’s ear before he perched himself on Flim’s back.

”Sorry for leaving you behind…” Flim said earnestly. ”But our plan did not quite work out the way we wanted to, and believe me I’d would have wanted to have you here with me if I could, but the underground is no place for you. However… I’d be very grateful to have you out there once we break out… you have saved us more than once before.”

Prankster seemed to contemplate whether his devotion stretched far enough to oblige Flim with yet another of his asinine plans, especially since his last idea had left him high and dry. ”KRRRAK!” he rasped and bent his head in a little nod.

”Thank you, my friend,” Flim said. ”I won’t forget it. I will buy you the best seeds I can get my hooves on once we are back, okay? Even a whole coconut, just for you. Promise.”

Something in the glint of Prankster’s eye told him that the parrot would hold him to that promise.

*****

The eight ponies and the cyclops were working hard. They had decided to work in shifts, four by four while the others were resting, as it soon became apparent that too many ponies at the same time became a hazard with the abyssal hole so close. As such, Gneiss, Flam, Topsy and Filthy took the first pass, while the others rested. Flim had argued to do his share, but was stopped by his brother, who plainly refused that Flim should extort himself in any way with his wounds still prone to infection.

In the end, Flim resigned to his brother, and instead looked about the shoreline to collect some waterweed for their food. Marmalade sat together with Suri by the shore and had her hoof in the cold water. The two mares had, apparently, decided to give one another a new chance and they were now trying to get a grasp on one another. Ditzy was flying by a hesitant Arimaspi, trying to convey friendliness. Now that she knew the cyclops at least had a rudimentary grasp on language, she had wasted no time in trying to befriend it.

The only visible effect so far was that the cyclops kept throwing worried glances up at the pegasus.

The second shift started well into the afternoon, as both Flam and Topsy only hesitantly let the others work instead. Indeed, once Topsy had rested just a little, he asked to work even more. Flim quickly agreed, exchanging him for Marmalade, as she had the most trouble with her injured hoof.

All the while, Topsy was deep in thought, often peering up to the roof. He saw small droplets of water coming down from a tiny crevice, so he assumed that was were he wanted to break open the roof. How to do so, however, he was still not sure.

He had a rudimentary idea. Gneiss Pick had brought, along with the pickaxes, a lantern too, and Topsy realized that it was not filled with fireflies as was the custom in Equestria, but rather equipped with a bottle to feed gas for burning. Topsy thought about trying to heat the bottle with a lightning bolt. Maybe the explosion would be powerful enough to blast open the roof? Or at least enough for him to break the rest on his own?

Problem was that he would have to involve Gneiss to fetch him the lanterns, and Topsy did not trust him to be secretive. But again, judging from their progress today, they might complete the chute tomorrow. He did not have long to make up his mind, as he would have to tell Gneiss that he needed lanterns before the colt left them for the night.

Topsy made up his mind over the course of the day. He had no other ideas, and Flam counted on him to do his part. ”Gneiss-s?” Topsy asked with his typical hiss, causing the colt to jump and turn around. He took a few trots back from Topsy, with an anxious look on his face. ”I am going to need your help-p.”

Topsy flicked his wing in and out rapidly. He knew that most ponies were unsettled by his stammer and twitches, something he was not shy of using in situations like this. Based on Gneiss look, it worked once again.

”What?” Gneiss asked loudly, challengingly.

”You will bring me all l-lanterns you can get your hooves on… t-tomorrow, y-yes?” Topsy stalked closer with feline like movements. Gneiss stumbled backwards.

”Lanterns coming up, Mr. Pegasus, sir!” he said loudly, turned around and dashed for the stream where he entered the cave. Aramaspi rumbled unhappily behind him, wanting to help his distressed friend, but still afraid of Ditzy, who was yet again flying circles around his head.

Author's Note

On a completely unrelated note, I thought I should describe an ancient roman mining technique. It was called ruina montium and worked more or less like this: the romans would use their extensive aqueduct system, or a natural lake, and from it dig a tunnel into a mountain. Then, deep inside the mountain they would hack out a round cave. Once everyone was out of the tunnel they let the water from the lake flood into the tunnel.

With enough height difference between the ending cave and the lake, the water gained a tremendous force when flowing through the mountain. Once it reached the cave, all of that force struck the mountain, crushing it from the inside out. After that, they had their slaves sift through the remains after valuable metals.

I thought that was interesting.

Idol Infamy

The following evening, eight ponies were standing ready by the thin wall that still separated the pool from their newly dug chute. Topsy listened happily to the winds in the cave, and the heartbeats of his friends. Wherever he directed his ears he heard the same, excitement. The world was waiting with bated breath, waiting for them to begin.

”Alright,” Flam said, looking over their work. Topsy saw that he cast a quick glance up in the ceiling, where the lanterns were hidden on a small ledge. All save for one, which Flam now held in his magic. ”That should be as good it is going to get.” He swallowed. ”Now… remove the last part when I tell you too, okay? Then, once the barrier is down, run to Arimaspi and climb onto him. He will have to get us up to the palace, and then out the city. Everypony understand?”

Flam himself shot a hesitant look towards Arimaspi’s stomach, now rigged with some stolen ropes from the quarry made into a coarse netting by Suri. Marmalade, Suri and Flam would sit there, along with their false idol, which had made it this far relatively unscathed. Gneiss would be at Arimaspi’s shoulder, directing the cyclops, and the other non-flyers would be at his head, trying to defend him. Topsy and Ditzy would stay airborne and guide them if needed.

”What are we going to the palace for?” Marmalade asked accusingly. ”We are already tempting fate with this plan, detours are the last thing we need.”

”We are going to the palace because, A, that is the very reason we even came to this Celestia-forsaken place, and B, because I say so,” Flam explained harshly. ”Any more questions?”

Marmalade looked sullen, but said nothing more. She grabbed a pickaxe in her mouth.

”In that case… my friends, don’t interfere with what happens now.” Before anypony even had processed his last sentence, Flam threw his lamp into the pool water and ignited his horn. Just as the glass broke on the bottom, he used the spell that normally ignited his magnesium powder. A violent, orange light blazed just under the surface, and a puff of steam left the pool. Topsy flapped his wings quickly and caught the rising steam in his fore hooves where, influenced by his natural pegasus magic, it condensed down into a thin, wispy cloud.

Topsy dragged the cloud over his own fur as well as on the ground to charge it with static electricity, and then threw his tiny thundercloud up in the roof.

”Now, break the barrier!” Flam called, just as the cloud left Topsy’s grip. Filthy, Suri and Flim reacted the fastest and bashed their pickaxes feverishly at the thin stone, soon aided by the rest.

An earthshaking explosion sounded from the roof, and a deluge of water splashed from above and into their chute. The ponies ran heads over hooves away from the sweeping water, and climbed up onto the wary cyclops.

Flam watched with pride and anxiety as the water flowed down into the hole. Now he had just to hope that there was indeed a cave down at the bottom, or everything would go south.

His plan was simple, really. All that water was falling with tremendous force down into the cave, driving air in front of it. That air would not have anywhere to go when forced down into the cave; it would instead compress and heat up immensely. The heat and pressure from the water would strike the very root of the mountain. And Gneiss had said that this mountain largely was marble, a very soft stone.

Flam had basically built the world’s largest pressure hammer, and the entire mountain was his nail. He was going to crack it in half.

”Brace yourse-”

BOOOOOOOOOOOOMM!!!

The force from the pressure clap resounded through the stone. Flam held onto Arimaspi’s belly netting for dear life as the ground beneath them shook like a drumhead. He looked down and saw cracks in the rock flowing like dark streams of water. Everywhere, the very ground began to break apart and fall into a bottomless abyss. There was something hypnotizing about the cracks and the way they moved over solid rock; tearing through it like paper.

It was not until that moment Flam really understood what forces he had set loose. Forces that could rip a mountain, a mountain, to pieces. He gasped and his pupils contracted to pinpricks in fear.

”Ball is with you now, brother,” he said, strangely clear-minded. ”I don’t… know anymore.”

The cracks continued up on the walls and roof as the ground began to shift under Arimaspi. With a confused grunt, the cyclops leaped away just before the ground he had been standing on sagged and collapsed. The cyclops landed and immediately grabbed hold of a small outcropping from the wall to prevent being swallowed by another hole that opened beneath him. Flam had a much better view than he would have liked of the pitch black abyss that spontaneously opened right underneath him.

”Leap there!” Gneiss called shrilly from above Flam. He tore his eyes away from the abyss to look around. He looked right into the former living room of the former house that had crashed down into the cave, golden roof and everything. With all the power in his hind legs, the cyclops launched himself from the floor, over another crack twice as wide as him and onto the rooftop. It began to splinter the moment he set his cloven hoof on it, but it was enough. With another powerful jump, he launched right upwards towards something Flam could not see.

For a moment he was hanging queerly in the air, but then he felt Arimaspi crawling upwards, up from the cave and out in pale moonlight. They were out.

*****

Flim looked about the street from his vantage point between Araimapi’s curved horns. Beside him sat Trixie and Filthy with his boomerang ready.

Panic reigned everywhere. Cracks were still running out from the hole behind them, undermining houses and streets alike. Griffons were calling to one another and flying up from their homes, holding their young and whatever possessions they could collect in the hurry. Above the white city, just in front of the moon, towered the Ironfeather Citadel. It seemed to be the only structure that still stood whole in the calamity. A lot of fleeing griffons were now making their way there.

”You sure you wanna go to the castle?” Gneiss called up to Flim quickly. ”We could probably get out easily now when all the guards are up there…”

”To the citadel,” Flam called from the belly netting. ”We are not going home empty hoofed.”

”If you had not blasted us out, I’d leave you here,” Gneiss called down irritably. ”Arimaspi, forward to the big house. And feel free to smash any building you see.”

”Wait, what?” Ditzy peeped in abject horror, her eyes gleaming with tears for all the destruction. ”But we can’t destroy Griffonstone any more! This is horrible!”

”MASBI SMASH!” A massive fist flew straight to through the nearest wall and tore off a piece of the roof. He threw it up the street, grazing the feather of a fleeing griffon. Before Ditzy could voice a complaint, Arimaspi let out challenging roar, bent his head down and charged up the street, toppling the ponies standing on his head. With herculean strength he broke everything that came within reach of his fists and horns and trampled the already crumbling road.

”BACK! BACK BEHIND HIS HEAD!” Filthy screamed while Flim was still trying to find his balance after the sudden burst of speed. He grabbed onto the twisted horns and managed to stabilize. Then he saw why Filthy had called out, and why both of his friends were now throwing themselves backwards.

Arimaspi had crossed through the city at breakneck speed and was about to ram his horned head straight into the citadel wall, never minding what Gneiss screamed into his ear. Flim jumped out from in between the horns into a gyrating swipe, picked Gneiss up and ducked in behind the monster’s powerful shoulders just at the same time Arimaspi reduced the citadel’s outer wall to gravel.

Flim, Trixie, Filthy and Gneiss looked up out between the horns. They were in a large, vaulted room filled with griffons being filed away into various other parts of the castle. To their left, farthest away from the main gate, stood a screen of heavily armed guards, blocking off a portion of the room. Just behind them, on a wooden podium stood their prize; the golden Idol of Boreas.

And further behind, on a flight of stairs, sat the largest, most regal griffon they had ever seen. His wings were bronze brown and gleamed as if made from metal, creating a stunning transition to his dark gold coat and the snow white ring of feathers around his eyes. On his head rested a slender gold crown, the shape of intwined holly leaves. The adornment further accented the blazing eyes of the griffon king. Even from where they were standing his eyes seemed to burn with a divine radiance.

Griffon civilians screamed in utter panic and raced for the door at The cyclops’s violent entry. The guards around the idol and king all raised their spears and shields. With the precision only a unified goal and decades of training could yield, they closed in together around the idol and formed a spiked circle. King Guto leaped from his throne and landed among his honor guard.

”Orders!” one of the guards called once the King was safe in their midst.

”Remove this beast from my court. To my side, Ironfeather Guard!” Guto commanded with a rich, filling voice that was at once inspiring and demanding. The guards immediately threw themselves into the air, their king front and center.

Arimaspi charged the formation with swinging arms, but only hit the air. These griffons were a lot more agile than they seemed, spinning and twisting around and about Arimaspi’s clumsy attacks, slashing with long spears when they got a chance.

”Trixie!” Flim called as he ducked from a brave griffon’s hack. ”Fireworks now!” He hopped over the following swipe and threw his rope onto the griffon and pulled, entangling his wings. The confused griffon fell right in front of Arimaspi’s eye.

”SMASH!” The cyclops rumbled and lifted one of his treelike arms while flailing at the remaining griffons with the other to keep them away. Three of said griffons disengaged the raging cyclops and dove for their comrade while the others closed in on their king. The fist fell, but the three griffons were faster. The snatched up their friend and flew between Arimaspi’s hind legs to escape his crushing hand. But in doing so, they had been forced to abandon their own attack, giving Trixie a moment to catch her breath.

”Watch and be dazzled!” she screamed and ignited her horn. From it flew a bright star right into the cluster of griffons where it exploded in a cascade of lights. The griffons immediately flew upwards and backwards, closing further around their King as they did so.

”Ditzy, the idol! We’ll cover you!” Filthy called and pointed at the idol. The griffons had indeed retreated so far upwards that one could now fly under them.

The cloud gray pegasus did not need to be asked twice. She had kept partially hidden behind the crushed wall, but now she flew forward as fast as she could towards the coveted idol.

The griffons recovered as they heard Filthy’s call. King Guto looked down and saw what was about to happen. Without waiting for his guard he tucked in his wings and fell, golden talons wide open to impale the cowardly vermin.

Ditzy squeaked when she saw the massive griffon fall. Then, like a bolt from a clear sky, a midnight blue blur appeared beside the griffon King and kicked him on the chin, sending him out of his course and straight into the flight of stairs. Topsy went into a half somersault in midair, tapped down on the ground and then launched himself upwards again, dodging a flurry of steel. Ditzy snapped her attention back to the matter at hoof, and nearly flew right into the idol. Instinctively she reached out and caught it, pressing it hard to her body with both her front legs. She was surprised how light it was.

”THE IDOL! THE KING!” the griffon guard screamed in abject horror and confusion. Almost half of the griffons went after Ditzy while others flew down to help their disoriented monarch. Some instead followed Topsy, screaming for vengeance.

”Five on one…! Is cheating!” Flim screamed and aimed two energy beams at the griffons chasing Ditzy, buying her another moment. Trixie and Flam both followed his example.

”Arimaspi, turn around and let’s get out of here!” Gneiss Pick shouted into Arimaspi’s ear. The cyclops looked about, grabbed a nearby statue and threw it into the cluster of griffons following Topsy. The ex-Wonderbolt slipped out of the way with a narrow turn. Two of the griffons followed, while the last one reacted a fraction of a second too late and caught the statue on the wing. He spun uncontrollably straight into the wall and hit the ground just as Arimaspi leaped out from the castle with Ditzy at his heels. Topsy flew after her alone, narrowly feinting the griffons behind him while trying to keep them from his precious friend.

One particular brave guard flew right at him, took a kick to the wing but powered through nonetheless, poking with his spear at Ditzy. Luckily for her, he had a hard time flying with his wing, so she still kept ahead.

Topsy snapped around, leaving the griffons to knock down the newest threat to Ditzy. He dashed forward, came up at the pursuer and struck him in the neck, knocking him out instantly.

”Topsy, out of the way!” Filthy screamed with a furious wave of his hooves. Topsy saw him and picked up his ears. His hearing should warn him of any danger. Then he realized his folly; with the sound of an entire city collapsing around him, he was not able to pick up the keener sounds around him; he could not listen for danger like he was used to. The realization came too late. He felt like somepony bucked his side, just under his wing. Filthy had thrown his boomerang at the griffon, and he had hit Topsy instead. He wobbled a little in his flight, and that was enough for one of the griffons.

Topsy screamed as he felt the blade slash over his hind legs. He felt the rush of air on his wound, but hardly any pain. Adrenaline and unfailing worry for Ditzy prevented such things. Still, he noted grimly that he had fallen a little behind and so allowed more griffons to snap at him.

With their biggest problem thus out of the way, the griffons dashed past him after Ditzy.

*****

”Marmalade, they need our help,” Flam said as the three ponies in the belly netting watched the battle unfurl. ”Topsy needs time to get away from those guards, else they will hack him to pieces.”

”What can we do from here?” Marmalade squeaked without taking her eyes away from Ditzy’s attempt to dodge the griffons. Despite Filthy, Flam and Trixie’s energy beams the griffins kept closing in. With Topsy falling behind, it was apparent that Ditzy would not be able to keep up with the relentless attacks forever.

”I need you to climb up there!” Flam called and pointed towards Arimaspi’s neck and back. ”Open this and throw it at them!” he hoofed her a small golden box with his cutie mark engraved onto. She clicked a small button and saw a small mirror with a fine powder right under it.

”Why me?!” Marmalade whispered. ”Aren’t you like your twin with the ropes? Can’t you climb?”

”No, I’m not like him. Besides, you are an earth pony; I couldn’t throw it far enough even if I got up!” Flam said urgently. ”And having lived in a quarry, you must be a better climber than Suri!”

Marmalade would never call herself a good climber, but she took the small box anyway. These ponies could easily have left her for dead that time in the quarry, but they didn’t. Instead they had gotten caught for her sake. Now they needed her help, and she was not about to let them down. If nothing else because she was just as dead as they should this escape fail. She swallowed and awkwardly made her way over to Suri and Arimaspi’s side.

There were a couple of thick ropes there that held the belly netting in place. She would have to climb with the help of them as Arimaspi ran through the city, narrowly avoiding house walls, trees and griffon guards, all that could easily make her fall.

She grabbed one of the ropes with her fore hooves and squeezed it as hard as she could against her body. It was not comfortable or safe, but it did prevent her from falling outright. She pulled up her hind legs too, and was now hanging upside down. Her whimper was muffled by the small box she held in her mouth as she started to slowly slide herself forward, pushing with minimal movements with her hind legs and wiggling her fore hooves forward in the same pace.

Once out from the relative protection of Arimaspi’s body, she immediately began to feel the wind ripping at her, making her grip even more tenuous. She closed her eyes to prevent her from looking at the ground or forward. If Arimaspi hit a wall she would be done for, but there was no way she could prevent it if she saw it either. Instead she focused her entire being on the minimal movements of her hooves. She was getting sweaty. It was harder and harder to hold on.

She opened her eyes in panic and began making bigger movements, as big as she dared. She slid downwards a little, but then stopped, standing on something. She looked down and saw Suri pushing her up by carefully balancing on the edge of the belly netting. Flam held her around her barrel for support.

”Hurry, I can’t stand like this!” Suri screamed up to her as she waggled a little, as Flam did his best to hold her still. Marmalade pushed off Suri’s hooves and was able to climb further up from that. Enough for her to be off the worst part of her climb. Now she could start crawling rather than climbing.

”COME BACK HERE, SLAVE!” she heard from right behind her. Marmalade had just enough time to grab onto the rope with all her might before she felt the talons of a griffon around her hind legs, trying to tear her away. She squeaked in terror and tried to kick the griffon behind her, but he was furiously strong.

Marmalade felt her hooves sliding along the rope. She whimpered in fear and instinctively tried to re-affix her grip. When she moved her hooves the griffon pumped his wings with a triumphant, eagle like scream. Marmalade lost her grip. For a split second, she did not know what to do, so she did the only thing she could. She spat out the golden box and bit the rope. It hurt a lot. She felt like somepony was trying to yank her teeth out with a wrench. Yet she bit down harder, feeling the woody taste on her tongue mix with the salt from her tears.

”Get lost!” Flim called angrily and rammed the attacking griffon. The griffon shrieked out in pain and let go of Marmalade with a nasty gash in his shoulder from Flim’s horn. ”What are you doing here?” Flim asked Marmalade as he went back to firing the pursuers.

”RRRAK!”

Marmalade folded her ears backwards in displeasure at the raspy sound. When she looked around she saw a rather large black bird dive past her and snatch up the box from the ground. For a moment she even forgot to be afraid. What kind of bird was that? She had never seen anything like it in Griffonstone before. She was even more surprised when the bird dropped the golden box in her hoof.

”Perfect Prankster! Thanks old friend!” Flim called as the bird disappeared in the night. ”I guess that’s why you are here then?”

Marmalade did not answer. She shoved all thoughts about the alien bird that apparently obeyed these ponies into the back of her mind and grabbed onto one of Arimaspi’s horns for stability. She spat out the small box into her hoof and looked to their opponents, readying her throw.

*****

Topsy was flying slower now. For all his resolve and anger, not even he could keep up for much longer. He could still, barely, shift himself away from the griffons, but his sight was blurred with pain and his wings ached like never before. His wound from the slash stung a lot by now, and he was faintly aware that his hooves felt sticky with both sweat and blood from multiple small wounds. It was hard to breathe, like the air never quite reached his lungs. The griffons kept flying about him, close enough to dart in and give him another stinging wound, but too far for him to strike back. He was too tired, too slow.

And he could not hear the winds at all. The only thing he heard was his own labored breathing and, for whatever reason, Ditzy’s heartbeat, as powerful as a drum in his ears.

”TOPSY!”

It sounded distant, like whoever it was had called to him through a very long tunnel. He instinctively looked up. Arimaspi seemed further away now, and it was impossible to make out any defining features. He saw only a large, black and gray blur.

There was a quick glint of gold in the air just above him, and then a flash of green magic.

A star blazed up behind him. Screams followed the blazing light and his tormentors were gone. With one last hissing breath, he stopped flying and fell, his last strength spent. The griffons were gone. Ditzy should be safe.

He fell. It felt wonderful, the winds around him ripping in his wings and coat without him having to fly.

Then he heard Ditzy’s powerful heartbeat closing in, and felt her hooves around his barrel.

*****

”Stop! Stop!” Flim called urgently to Gneiss. ”The griffons are gone for now, we need to get Topsy and Ditzy onto this walking earthquake!”

Gneiss shouted something to Arimaspi, who did not stop, but instead began to ravage the nearest hovel. As he did not move too much, Ditzy was able to fly onto him and collapse on his back, Topsy beneath her and the idol of Boreas in her mouth. Trixie took the idol from her mouth and put it under her hat, and Ditzy did not hesitate to draw a breath as deep as she could manage now that her mouth was free.

”They are here, now get us out before the bad guys come back!” Filthy shouted.

”I doubt they will,” Flam poked his head up from the side of the cyclops. ”Their eyes are much, much sharper than ours, so they should be blinded for quite some time, I hope. Pity on my box, but oh well…”

Flim nodded. ”Then let’s get out of here before they decide to prove you wrong.” Gneiss seemed to agree, for with a quick shout, Arimaspi was dashing out of the city, onto the slim stone walkway that connected the Griffonstone plateau to the rest of the mountains.

A sudden jerk of Arimaspi’s body caused them all to topple and grab one another for stability. ”NO!” Gneiss screamed shrilly. ”NO! NO! STEADY!”

But no matter how he screamed, Arimaspi lost his balance and was flailing after something to grab with little success. He swayed over the abyss. ”GET OFF HIM!” Flim and Flam both screamed. ”HE IS GOING TO FALL! GET OFF!”

Flam threw himself off the cyclops and onto the stone walkway and was quickly followed by Suri with their false idol in her teeth. She had no clue what they should do with it at this point, but it would not make anypony happy down in the abyss. Trixie leaped down with Ditzy, who had picked up Topsy on her back. Filthy helped Marmalade down in a similar way.

”Gneiss, we must leave!” Flim called to the colt.

”No, he will pull through, I know it,” Gneiss whispered. ”I won’t abandon my friend, and he won’t abandon us here. He will see us all the way through.”

Flim shook his head. ”No,” he said callously and levitated Gneiss up from his position just as Arimaspi toppled over the edge with a confused grunt. Flim dashed over the cyclops’s strapping back and jumped for the stone bridge with the foal in his magical grasp. He landed on the bridge, skidded in the gravel. Marmalade caught him not a hooflength away from the other edge.

The ponies looked down in the dark void. Nothing could be seen through the night. Nothing could be heard over the winds. It was like the gargantuan cyclops had just vanished in the depths.

”Something so big… so fast?” Suri mumbled to herself. It felt impossible for something as powerful and destructive as Arimaspi to disappear so quietly. Time seemed to slow down. She was suddenly very afraid.

Death. Even as mighty as the cyclops had been, he could not outrun death. The giant had fallen. Who was she then, to think she could live through the night? Just a little pony, lost in time and running for her life through a hostile city. How could she ever have imagined she could survive this? She sniffled a little, before she felt a hoof in hers. She looked up, and met Filthy’s frost blue eyes.

She managed a minuscule smile. At least she was not alone anymore. It was not everypony for themselves anymore.

Suddenly the queer serenity was gone. Gneiss Pick shrieked; an unearthly sound that no pony should be able to make. The sound of utter powerlessness and despair. Gneiss had lost the one real friend he had in this world. Arimaspi was gone because of this asinine plan. If they had only dashed for the exit directly this might not have happened. If only he had thrown the mustached unicorn from Arimaspi earlier, this would not have happened, but now it had happened. Arimaspi was dead. Gneiss Pick’s legs gave out. He laid on the stone and cried for his friend.

”Chicken hearted slave,” a disgusted voice came from ahead of them, from the end of the stone bridge. Even though the voice loathed them all more than could be put into words, there was still no mistaking the regality and magnificence of it. All ponies except for the crying Gneiss turned to the source, and in the gloom they could make out King Guto. ”To cry for a fallen beast like that. Never before have I borne witness to such a pitiful display. If not for your inherit inferiority, I might have pitied you.”

”Then you are better than me,” Flam, who was in the front of the pack, called savagely. ”For you can be assured that I would never pity you!”

”We griffons have always been better than you,” Guto pointed out casually. ”Which is why you will return our idol right this instant or I will throw you from this bridge as I threw him!”

”So you want this?” Flam called grimly and held up the idol. Guto looked at it with anxiety in his eyes, even though none of the ponies could see it.

That was the Idol of Boreas; the symbol of griffon pride and ambition. It had been theirs since times immemorial. That idol was the griffon identity, their very essence made manifest. He had been entrusted with its keeping as King. Ever since king Grover’s reign, the griffon kings had been standing vigil over the sacred idol.

He could not be the king to lose it. He just could not let it happen. Even this, that the filthy slaves had come this far, filled him with shame. He had shamed the griffon race by allowing this to happen.

The only way to save what little honor he had left was to get it back.

”Then come and get it!” Flam called and launched the idol as high up in the air as he could. Guto did not think for a moment; he leaped up in the air after it, wings beating strongly and shoving massive amounts of air backwards. He did not even care that the filthy slaves ran over the bridge; he could hunt them down and kill them later. Now, all that mattered was the idol. He came up under it and reached out a talon. He felt the lovely gold in his palm.

But there was something wrong. He felt it the moment he touched it. It felt clunky and cold. The idol, the true idol, was nothing like that; it was light and graceful and the pearl always burned with the same intensity as the griffon spirit. The idol radiated life and pride. This… abomination was nothing like that; it was but a cold, dead shell.

Guto dropped the idol as if he had burnt himself and looked downwards. He did not know how, but they had tricked him. They must still have the real one! He felt fury overcome him. Fury like that of a raging tornado. He let out a call like that of an eagle and dove at the ponies. He reached out both his forelegs, razor-sharp talons gleaming in the moonlight. He would fly right at them, slashing and clawing; He would mow them down like a scythe does wheat.

The ponies backed away, except for one. The mustached one who had shouted, he stood fast. Guto saw that he held the idol in his magic, but right now he did not care. He just wanted to kill them.

”FOR GRIFFONSTONE!” He shouted.

”For my brother,” the mustached one said and angled the idol forward like it was a spear and thrust it forward just as he jumped aside. Guto’s vision became blurry and he felt like the earth were spinning underneath him. He stumbled on the ground and whirled around to face his hated adversary. He met the glare of the mustached one and flapped his wings to launch at him. Then without a warning, his wings folded underneath his weight and he crashed on the ground, an ice cold feeling piercing his throat and his vision shifted from blurry to dark red. Faintly he scrambled one of his talons to the cold place.

It became wet.

A tear left Guto’s eye. He had failed. He was not a worthy king.

*****

Ditzy squeaked and flapped over to the shallowly breathing griffon and gently pushed the king’s head aside. She cupped her mouth with her hooves and whimpered at the nasty wound in his throat. Flam stood beside her, looking like he had just woken up from a nightmare. He still held the idol in his magic, the tip of the griffon wing now awash in blood.

”We must help him,” Ditzy said with a pleading look to Flam. ”Please this time. We can’t just let him die. He only did what he thought was best, right? Please let’s help him.” She took Flam’s hoof in hers and squeezed it while looking with gleaming eyes into his.

”Trixie, can you use your firework spell?” Flim interjected. He got a nod for answer. ”Then do that. After that we run like never before. The griffons will have to patch their King together on their own, but we will make sure he is found.”

Ditzy looked with a pained expression to the injured king. She could see the sense in the argument. They could not stay here for very long, lest the rest of the guard would return and lock them up again. Still, it felt wrong to leave anyone like this. What if the guard did not come? What if the griffons did not know first aid?

Ditzy was interrupted by the glow of Trixie’s horn. Before she had opened her mouth, the azure mare had made the choice for her by sending up her flare.

After that they could only run, run as fast as their legs or wings would carry them. Ditzy did not remember much of the nightmarish flight through the mountains. All her friends were pushed far beyond their limits, running only on adrenaline and fear at this point. The footing was uncertain with a deadly fall on one side and only an animal track to follow in the darkness. Add to that the nerve-wracking expectation of a griffon bursting out of the darkness every time a twig snapped under their hooves and one could understand why Marmalade and Trixie were both crying once they reached the coveted cave.

The ponies got a second wind when they saw the blue police-box standing there waiting inside the cave. They stumbled inside it, and collapsed in a pile once Trixie had closed the door. She had one hoof protectively over the bloody idol.

”Curtains…” Flam mumbled and took the handle in his magic. He strained himself but did not have enough power left to push it all the way down.

”Close,” Trixie helped him, and together they pushed the handle down.

VAPP!

*****

”My King? Can you hear me?”

Guto was far from sure he could, but he opened his eyes anyway. The red haze was still there, but when he drew breath he could clearly smell the salve on his wound. He blinked a few times to get the world back in focus. He looked up on the captain of his guard, anxiety written plainly on his face.

”My King?” the captain tried again. ”Griffon greatness?”

”Griffon glory,” Guto answered out of reflex. ”I… where is the idol?”

”Gone,” the captain said with a pained expression. ”Have no fear, my king. The guard is searching, though none of us can see very well yet due to their vile sorcery. Still, I am certain we will find the thieves. They can’t get out of these mountains before we have the entire guard mobilized.”

”The idol is… gone,” Guto said with a hollow voice. He did not know what to think. It felt impossible for something like that to be true; it was just unreal. Water flowed downwards, heat traveled from a warm place to a cold and the idol was in Griffonstone. Those were fundamental truths that made up the world. One such truth could not just… not be true any more. ”And Griffonstone? Our people?”

”Shaken, and the material damage is immeasurable,” the captain replied. ”I… I’m not sure how we will repair it. The very mountain… those ponies-”

”No,” Guto said as sharp as he was able. ”No. I forbid you to speak of it.” The king coughed, wincing in pain as he did so. ”Hear my orders, for what I say was said in heaven. None is to speak of the ponies. None is to mention them. Idol or no, we are the master race, and that must not be changed. My people must still believe in that.”

Guto laboriously pushed himself up. ”Hear my decree: forget the ponies, and make history forget them too. R-Round up all who can write in my kingdom and tell them. Tell them there were no ponies. It was just the cyclops. He took the idol with him, we killed him on the bridge and recovered the idol from his dead body.”

The captain nodded. ”I will see to it.”

”There were no ponies,” Guto mumbled as he began to walk back to his once grand city, the captain steadying him. ”No…p-ponies…”

Spoiled Sans Suri

The ponies inside the police box looked at the door, all of them exhausted. ”Well, if we are not home now, we are dead,” Flim said dryly. ”Anypony feel like opening?”

”Hello? Are you in there? Did everything work out?” Ditzy had never been so happy to hear Doctor Whooves’s voice before. She pushed herself up on her legs and more or less rammed the police box door open. She spilled out and landed on a highly surprised Doctor. Before he had even opened his mouth, Ditzy pulled him into a hug.

”Thank Celestia,” Filthy mumbled and made his way out. ”I really thought we were done for, there at the end.”

”Me too,” Suri confirmed. ”Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to sleep for two days straight, m’kay, and Celestia save anypony who dares to say otherwise.”

”Trixie, maybe you could keep the idol out of sight?” Flim slurred as he collapsed on his sleeping bag. ”Just in case?” Trixie did not answer, but followed through with his suggestion by putting the idol into her sleeping bag, before she collapsed, asleep.

”Right.” Flam nodded after having kissed the ground. ”Let’s all get some rest. I will stay up to explain what happened to the good doctor.” Doctor Whooves picked up on that and made his way over to Flam after having wriggled out of Ditzy’s heartfelt embrace. He threw a confounded look to Flim’s slashed up face, and the orange mare who he had never seen, before meeting up with Flam by the cave entrance. The unicorn looked with a thoughtful expression up to Griffonstone.

”Did it work then?” Doctor Whooves asked before he even got up to Flam. ”Could my machine truly make time come forward? What did you see? How was it? Did the space-time continuum look intact when you left, or was reality collapsing in on itself?”

”Was it supposed to?” Flam asked. ”It did not look like it.”

”Well, it was about fifty/ fifty…” Doctor Whooves replied. ”You know, these are cutting edge theories we are dealing with; there are bound to be some… teething problems with a few things.”

Flam was to tired to berate the doctor about the fact that he apparently had been uncertain whether they would even arrive safely. ”Everything seemed to work out.” He said shortly. ”Now shut it, for I’m going to give you a history lesson…” Doctor Whooves obediently shut his mouth, despite having innumerable questions himself. He reminded himself that there would be time to discuss them later, when the first time travelers in history were not so tired.

By the time Flam finished his report Doctor Whooves had a multitude of things to mull over to himself. He was now one of the few who knew what had really happened when Griffonstone fell from glory, and that alone made him giddy. His time travel theories har yielded real, indisputable results. His dream had come true. He excused himself and went to the time machine. It would have to be dismantled for the trip back to Ponyville.

Flam yawned and slumped back to the cave wall, exhausted. He thought about going over to his and his brother’s tent, but thought better of it. That was nearly ten ponylengths away, after all.

”Hey, doofus!” Somepony said bitingly beside him. Flam looked over and saw a red-eyed Gneiss Pick stand by him with a rock in his hoof. ”My friend died because of your stunt!” He weighted the rock in his hoof. ”Do you know how much I want to kill you right now? He was my only friend, and now you have taken me… to wherever the hay this is! You have killed my friend and kidnapped me!”

”If you wanted to kill me you would not stand there rambling about it,” Flam pointed out and flung the rock away with his magic. ”So what do you really want? Be quick please, I’m tired.”

Through the sorrow, Gneiss looked a little disappointed by the lack of response from Flam at this fateful meeting, but he gathered his bearings quickly. ”But you did also save me from a life in the mines. While I would have gotten out eventually, it might have taken me years, even longer to free Arimaspi. And… we are safe now, right? You have… taken us someplace safe right?”

”Forward in time,” Flam said, not caring about the strangeness of the statement. ”There is no slavery here. You are safe.”

Gneiss nodded. ”I’m not gonna thank you, you bastard. But I’m not gonna kill you this time either.” He glared and looked longingly after another rock. ”But if we ever meet again…! You had better watch out, got it?”

”Right,” Flam said, not bothering to sound convinced. ”The Crystal Empire is the biggest mining city in Equestria, and the inhabitants are not strangers to feeling lost in time.”

”I don’t need your help! Just go and…!” Gneiss looked like he tried to find a word foul enough.

”Then starve if you like, I won’t miss you,” Flam said darkly. He regretted his outburst immediately; this was a foal he was talking to. ”Look, you go wherever you like. Just thought you should know one place where you might get start building up your life.”

Gneiss only scoffed in response. He turned away and started making his way down the mountain. Flam looked after him. ”I’ll ask Ditzy to fly down and buy him a train ticket. Hopefully he won’t know that somepony paid for him…” With that, Flam put his boater hat over his face, closed his eyes and sighed. ”So we came to a city of marble, and we leave a city of bricks…”

He tried to forget that feeling he had felt when the griffon dove at him.

That desire to hurt.

Flam shivered in the sunlight.

*****

”Eh, I fold,” Filthy said with a sigh and threw his hoof of cards on the table. He had two pairs in sixes and jacks, and felt fairly sure he would not be able to do much with that. Five players were still in the game, three ponies they had met on the train together with Flam and Trixie, none of which were playing entirely fair.

”I don’t get how they do it,” Suri said with a glare to the players. ”Those guys must be the luckiest ponies in Equestria.”

”Maybe they are just better at it than you?” Marmalade suggested. She had looked over Flam’s shoulder for a while, evidently trying to figure out the rules. ”Luck can’t be why you lost all you had after five games, right?”

Suri glared at Marmalade, who recoiled a little. Suri scolded herself. Marmalade had been very submissive since she escaped Griffinstone, more or less always following in their tracks like a lost dog. In fact, this was probably the first time Suri had herd Marmalade say something without being asked.

And had Suri just glared her down. She resisted the urge to facehoof.

Suri smoothed out her expression before turning to a sullen Flim, who was sitting with glass of cider in front of him, sighing. Ditzy patted him on the back. ”And what happened to you?” Suri asked. She lowered her voice. ”For a con artist you are useless at poker.”

”I know,” Flim answered with a hollow voice. ”I’m too impulsive, I know that, but no matter how I try I don’t seem to ever learn.”

The whistle put a stop to further discussion. Everypony’s ears collectively peaked up at the sound. ”Arrival at Ponyville in five minutes!” called the conductor. ”Ponyville five minutes! Can everypony please make sure they have their belongings ready?”

”That’s us,” Flam said stilly. ”So I guess this will be the last round we have together.”

”Then let’s make it count, shall we?” Trixie said gleefully and pushed her pile of bits further onto the table. ”All in. Show Trixie what you got.”

”You are on,” one of the other passengers said and matched her bet. Flam folded and cursed his misfortune. One other passenger shrugged and went all in too, while the last one folded. The three remaining players made their last changes.

”Ah, darn it,” one of them said. ”I have a straight, seven thought jacks.”

”Full house, fives full of queens” the other passenger said and looked hopefully to Trixie.

”Well, Trixie is sorry to say that she has the winning hoof with four of a kind, in Princesses, no less!” Flam did not feel like saying that he had discarded Celestia when he folded.

Trixie collected her prize and bid her opponents farewell before removing herself from the table rather quickly. Suri went up to one of the train windows and carefully peeked out at the Ponyville station. She drew a breath of relief. No Spoiled Rich in sight.

”Okay then,” Flam said mirthfully once the seven ponies were gathered on the station. ”Topsy should lie in waiting for us, so we will soon have the idol here. My brother and I will visit Twilight right away to give her the good news.”

”Why the rush?” Filthy asked casually. ”Can’t we wait until tomorrow? I’m tired.”

”We can,” Flam admitted, ”but I don’t want to wait another second. After all grief we have gone through, I want to settle this business once and for all.”

”Fair enough, Trixie assumes, but rest assured she will be going to her wagon now. Tell her tomorrow how it went, okay?” Trixie yawned. ”The Great and Powerful Trixie thinks she can hear her bed calling out to her.” To emphasize her point, Trixie flicked an ear to the side as if trying to catch a distant sound.

”And I want to see my little Muffin,” Ditzy said happily. ”She must have been lonely.”

”Same here,” Filthy said. ”I want to check on my little diamond, and also find out if my wife have tried to pull any hocus-pocus while I was gone.” His tone suggested that the actual question was how long it would take him to straighten the problem out, not whether there was a problem or not. ”Also, I will hire a room at the inn for you, Marmalade. What about you, Suri?”

Suri shrugged. ”I guess I might as well settle in for the night too. I’ll take a small walk with Filthy and Marmalade to the inn and then come to your wagon, Trixie, m’kay.”

”Suit yourself,” Trixie said and went to leave, passing Suri. ”If you decide to stay with Mr. Rich for the night, Trixie will certainly understand,” she whispered in a highly suggestive voice, causing Suri to blush.

”RRRRAK!” Prankster rasped and took off, not wanting to sleep just yet apparently.

”Well then, see you all tomorrow,” Flim said with a jolly wave as he and his brother made their way towards the edge of Everfree to pick up the idol. Ditzy fluttered off and Trixie went down a back alley quite fast, leaving only Suri and Filthy, as Marmalade hardly counted for company.

”So, shall we?” Filthy asked with an encouraging look. ”Can’t wait to get home. Sleep in my own bed instead of the ground.”

”Me too,” Suri said. ”In my bed, that is. Not yours,” she added quickly when she realized just what she had implied.

”I certainly hope so,” Filthy said lightly.

Suri winced at his words. She knew it was just an off-hoof comment that did not mean anything, but it still hurt. She had been debating with herself for a while now about that sudden feeling she got in the mine, and decided that it was probably nothing after all. It was just another errant thought spawned from her panicked mindset at the time. It really meant nothing.

So why did his comment hurt so much more than it should have? Normally she would just have shrugged it off and retorted with a snide comment that she was out of his league, but now she felt legitimately saddened. And dirty. She had not had a bath for days. Her mane was a mess and her coat was matted with marble dust and sweat. Of course Filthy could not find her attractive in a state like this; she did not find herself attractive like this.

…

Why was she having this debate anyway?

”Suri?” Filthy asked with a surprised glance at her downcast expression. ”Ah, I’m sorry. I did not mean it like that.”

”Nono,” Suri hurried to say. ”I… just thought of something else.”

”Alright then,” Filthy shrugged. ”What did you think about?”

At once, Suri’s mind was blank. She opened her mouth to answer but could not seem to form any coherent words. Instead she became more and more aware of how stupid she must look, which only made her mind even blanker.

”Never mind then,” Filthy said quizzically. ”Here we are, at least.” Suri had momentarily forgotten that Marmalade was even here. ”Okay, Marmalade. I’m afraid I only have thirty-eight rooms in my mansion, and sadly none of them have decent enough furniture for a mare like you, so you will have to stay her for tonight. I’ll see if I can get a room in order tomorrow, and then we will have to think about what you can do now.”

”Do now?” Marmalade mumbled shyly. ”What do you mean?”

”Well, we brought you here, so we, or at least I, won’t just leave you drifting in an alien world. I’ll try to put you up with a job so that you can settle down and live a normal life without murderous griffons.”

Marmalade stared at Filthy with a dazed expression. ”Hello?” Filthy knocked Marmalade lightly at the temple. ”You still there? Shall we get you a room already?”

”Thanks,” Marmalade mumbled. ”T-thank you, from the bottom of my heart…” It was not lost on Suri that Marmalade blushed. And for whatever reason, she felt a sting of… she quickly deduced that it was not jealousy. She was just being protective of Filthy, one of her friends. That was all.

Filthy and Marmalade went into Berry Punch’s combined bar and inn. Suri contemplated whether to follow, but decided against it. She really had no reason to. ”Hey, I’ll go back to Trixie’s now, m’kay?”

”Be seeing you!” Filthy said with a wave. Suri nodded and turned down an alleyway. That should save her some time, and she did not want to keep Trixie waiting.

She looked about and picked her ears up attentively. It was Ponyville, and her impressions of the town were the best she had ever had of any place, but she did not like strolling around in the dark when there were no ponies around. Simple self preserving instincts, it did not mean anything. She went around a corner and stopped in surprise.

Somepony was laying by the wall in a pile of boxes. Beside him stood a few bottles. Suri thought about turning back, but that hardly seemed respectful. She went by the homeless pony without looking at him.

”Hey, you,” he said with a slight slur to his voice. ”Uh, are you like… Suri Polomare?” Suri froze in the middle of her step. How did this pony know her name? She had never talked with any homeless ponies before. Actually, when she thought of it, she had never seen any homeless in Ponyville at all. The homeless pony got up on his hooves. There was something strange with his movements, but Suri could not quite put her hoof on what. ”You are Suri then,” he said. His voice was clear.

Suri backed away a few paces from the unknown pony and instinctively put her ears down. The atmosphere felt threatening all of a sudden. The homeless pony went out in front of her. Suddenly, Suri realized what was strange about the way he moved; he was precise and balanced. No drunk could move like that. He was sober as a judge. Suri heard hoof steps behind her and looked over her shoulder, at another pony. Her heart beginning to hammer rapidly in her chest. ”What do you want?” she asked, trying to keep her voice from shaking.

”Just don’t hold it against us, kay? It’s nothing personal. Just business.” Suri felt something strike her hard in the base of her neck. She tried to scream out in pain, but the pony in front of her darted forward and placed a hoof over her mouth. ”Hey, Brickbuster, get over here and do your magic.” The two ponies struggled, but the assailant got help from a third pony, a pegasus, and together they were stronger than her. Suri hyperventilated as the two pushed her up on her hind legs, exposing her belly to the last pony.

He was a burly looking one, drab yellow coat with a cutie mark of a broken brick. Suri saw that he wore horseshoes. Iron horseshoes. She squirmed in her attackers’ grip as tears began to pool in her eyes. Brickbuster came closer slowly, as if to really draw out on her terror. She struggled harder with every step he took, egged on by ever increasing panic.

Then, in one fluid motion, Brickbuster turned around and kicked her in the stomach.

Suri gagged and felt like her organs had been squashed. She wanted to vomit, it felt like the blow had knocked her last meal out of her belly and up in the throat. It hurt a lot, but not nearly as much as the fear. She was alone in a dark alleyway, she was caught and had no way to defend herself. They could beat her, or worse, for hours if they felt like it. Nopony was going to come here until morning, and she could not scream; if nothing else the strike had knocked the wind from her lungs. She cried openly and tried to look at Brickbuster. Maybe her pitiful look could make him stop? Please let him stop!

She tried to bend over to protect her injury, but the two ponies would not let her; they held her steady as Brickbuster readied another kick. Suri shook her head feverishly, tears sprinkling everywhere.

She saw Brickbuster turning again and closed her eyes.

A muffled groan escaped her lips and her hind legs went out under her. The two others still kept her standing. ”You’ve pissed off the wrong pony, Polomare,” the not-homeless pony said. Suri did not even have enough air left in her lungs to groan anymore, she just peeped in pain as the next hit struck her, over the ribs this time. ”So now you pay the consequences.”

Finally the two ponies let her go. Suri’s first thought was to scream for help, but she could not even drown out a mouse squeak in her present condition. Instead she tried to get her legs under control and craw alway. She did not get very far before a kick struck her upper side, sending sprawling on the ground again.

The not-homeless pony sat down by her head. ”Boss wanted you hurt real bad. We’re not done with you yet, little mare.” He smiled wickedly.

”Please stop,” Suri whispered and put a hoof on her assailant’s, a wordless plea for mercy. ”It hurts… please stop. Please… what have I done?”

”Dunno, I don’t ask questions,” the assailant said. ”But the boss wanted me to give you a message. ’That will teach you to keep your filthy body away.’ Brickbuster, you know the drill, make sure the message gets through.”

Suri shook her head again and pulled the assailant closer in a shivering grip. She could hardly see anything through her tear filled vision, but she knew that Brickbuster was stalking closer. ”N-no… please no!” she pleaded. ”I’ll give you anything, just-”

Then she felt like her hindquarters were split in two. She could not even scream. She felt strangely sleepy, as if she began to shut down just to escape the torture, but her body was not so kind; she remained conscious.

”Nice hit there. Now hand me that scissors so that we can wrap this up already. Boss wanted proof, you see, so we’ll take your mane and tail now.”

”N-not… p-please…” She closed her eyes and prayed. There was nothing else to do; she did not even want to think about moving now. Every moment she expected to feel the metal snipping away her luxurious tail. Her lovely, silken tail and mane.

She never felt anything.

But she heard a lot. For example a very familiar bird cry, and an unfamiliar scream in pain and surprise. She opened her eyes again, terrified of what she would see.

Right above her, the ringleader beat furiously with a pair of scissors after a familiar black parrot. Then there were hoof steps running towards her. Suri only managed to pick this up because the small tremors in the ground felt like spikes being hammered into her pelvis bone.

”Don’t stop, Prankster! Claw out his eyes for all I care!” she heard, what was probably Filthy Rich, only his voice was so distorted by anger that he sounded more like Topsy. Suri looked towards the voice of her saviors.

Her eyes were blurry with tears, but she saw Marmalade and Filthy barrage into the highly surprised team of ambushers. Marmalade sent a nasty buck at Brickbuster’s chin, lifting the earth pony from the ground and throwing him a few ponylengths away. With a squeak she heard the pegasus take to the sky, while the last one begged after having been pushed against the wall by Filthy Rich. Prankster sat on his head.

”B-but boss… we only did what you told us to! G-get that blasted bird off me!”

”It is not a very clever idea to anger me any further than this,” Filthy said softly. ”Do you know who I am, little rat? I could have you bound up, tortured, killed and then hidden in less than a day. Nopony would ever come to look for you, understand? I could… remove you, with just a clop of my hooves. That is what I want to do right now. So if you know what is good for you, start licking my hooves and I might just let you get away with a few broken bones and two eyes less.”

The parrot rasped in compliance and pulled out a few strands of the attacker’s mane with his beak.

”M-Mr. Filthy, sir, I-”

Filthy slapped the stallion violently. ”Mr. Rich.”

”Mr. Rich, w-we just…” the attacker tripped on his words, ”your wife… us contracted she… she wanted us beat to her down…”

”It isn’t smart to lie to me,” Filthy hissed. ”Prankster…”

”He’s not lying,” Suri said with a small voice. She felt somepony cradle her head, presumably Marmalade. It felt nice. ” I think… truth…”

”Suri?” Filthy asked carefully, his eyes filled with doubt. ”Suri, can you hear me? I’m sorry for asking this now, but I must know. Do you think my wife ordered this? Do you really?” She heard in his voice that Filthy wanted her to deny, to say that it was not so.

Alas, Suri could only nod. Literally; she could not muster the power to shake her head.

Filthy was silent. ”Marmalade, could you knock him out cold and ask Berry Punch to take him to the mayor?”

”N-no! Wai-!” the not-homeless pony began before Marmalade smacked him soundly in the neck.

”Okay then,” Filthy said. ”Maybe you can take Suri up to your room? I don’t want to move her over to my mansion. I… have something I need to take care of, but I will come by you and take her to the hospital.”

*****

Flam knocked on the door to Twilight’s castle. His brother stood a little bit behind with an attaché case gripped in his magic; inside on a silk cushion was the idol. Flam felt wonderfully excited. This was it, this was what all had lead up to. Blood, sweat, near-death experiences and the cultural collapse of griffonkind led up to this moment. Now, all they had to do was play their cards right and take the game.

But that was what he did. He was a skilled enough con artist to sell flight lessons to Spitfire. Selling the Idol of Boreas to Twilight should be foals play.

If she decided to open the door, that is.

”Her service leaves a lot to be desired,” Flim pointed out. ”I don’t want to wait here for hours if I…” he trailed off. ”what bureaucratic responsibilities would fall under ’the Princess of Friendship’s’ office anyway?”

”Therapy sessions for recently divorced?” Flam suggested. ”Maybe… I’ve got nothing.”

”Who is there?” A groggy Spike called from a balcony overhead. ”And do you know what time it is?”

”Flim is here, and it is between midnight and one A.M,” Flim called back. ”I have an urgent message for the Princess, so kindly open the door!”

”Here to pilfer another one of my comics? How about no?”

”That was our wrongly delivered comic, which you just had to fiddle with!” Flim shouted up to Spike ”Don’t blame that one on us! Will you open or not?”

”Not,” Spike shouted. ”Now get lost and let people sleep.”

”It was a rhetorical question,” Flam interjected calmly. ”Since Sparkle is a government official she is forced by law to listen to our concerns. Open or I will get Mayor Mare to open for me, throw you in jail and then see Twilight.”

”Never heard of that law,” Spike called, but he did sound a little uncertain.

”Oh no? Then I will get Mayor Mare to read it to you and make sure you never forget it,” Flam said venomously and turned around.

He and his brother got ten something ponylengths before they heart the golden door swung open. A grumpy Spike stood by it as the brothers entered smugly. His eyes fell on the attaché case. ”What’s that?”

”Nothing much,” Flim said while studying the roof. ”A little trinket we found… thought Twilight may be interested in it…”

”Let me see,” Spike demanded.

The case snapped open, revealing the Idol of Boreas. Spike’s eyes grew with adoration. As a dragon, gold had a special place in his heart, and that was a red diamond the size of his eye inset in it. He drooled a little at the thought of sinking his teeth in that gemstone.

The dream died when the attaché case snapped shut. He jerked back a little, as if he had just woken up from a hypnotic trance. ”Right… I guess Twilight might wanna see that. Wait by the library and I will tell her. Don’t touch anything.”

Spike disappeared further into the castle, leaving two puzzled FlimFlam brothers by the door. They came to a nonverbal agreement to stay put. It was hardly good manners to wander around in a place where they might get lost. ”I have never heard of that law either by the way,” Flim said suddenly.

”Me neither,” Flam replied. They waited for a few minutes before an all to familiar alicorn came into view. Twilight had a suspicious look in her eyes. Suspicious and wary.

”Your highness, it is most kind of you to receive us at this late hour,” Flam bowed down. ”However, I would not have come here was I not convinced we would both get what we wanted.”

”As Princess, the least I can do is listen to my subjects,” Twilight said stiffly. ”But don’t hope for too much. What do you want?”

”Straight to the point, huh? Fine by me,” Flam said and took the attaché case from his brother. ”We recently stumbled across a little something, and naturally we thought about you,” Flam explained as he set down the suitcase.

”As a pony who is so adept at making friends, we thought you should be the one to have it,” Flim said as the first clasp opened. ”For the best of Equestria, it needs to be in competent hooves.”

”If used right, I imagine this will bring prosperity to both ponykind and griffonkind,” Flam agreed as the second clasp opened. ”All that is needed is the best diplomat Equestria has, and this little thing.”

”You are the diplomat, so all that stands between us and a new golden age is but a token of your good will,” Flim said with a dismissive shoo of his hoof.

”And I imagine you, as everyone, wishes to prove yourself to your mentor?” Flam asked an all the more wary Twilight. ”Would it not it be something to tell Celestia and Luna? That you alone have secured an alliance with the griffons, something not even they have managed?”

”All you would need is…” Flim said conspiratorially and gripped the lid in his magic.

”The Idol of Boreas.”

Twilight was positive she had misheard as the lid opened, but when she saw the red glimmer, all doubt vanished in a wave of beautiful red. It was as if the brothers had brought the sunrise indoors. The diamond seemed awash in every color of the sun, casting a fiery radiance on her purple crystal walls.

There was no doubt. They had the Idol of Boreas, griffon pride made manifest. She reached out a hoof, just to really convince herself. Flim and Flam did not stop her. Her hoof brushed over the golden surface. It was not cool as it ought to be, but comfortably warm, as if it had laid in the sun before being brought to her.

”So, Princess, are you interested or are you interested?” Flim asked with a suave grin. Twilight tore her eyes away from the idol.

”Let’s pretend that I am,” she shrugged, refusing to let the squee of delight tint her voice. She wanted to pick it up and just look at it, just relish in the fact that she had, here, in her own home, one of history’s most, mythical, most sought after artifacts. Aside from Flim and Flam and whoever they had worked with, she must be the first living pony to lay her eyes on it. Had Celestia ever seen it? Twilight was not entirely sure, and that alone made her giddy.

Twilight let none of these feelings show. ”What do you want in exchange?”

”You know that,” Flam said. ”We want you to cover our tracks.”

”Do you really think it is clever to extort a Princess?” Twilight asked. ”If I were to say to Celestia that you have tried to bribe me, what do you think would happen?”

”I know what would happen,” Flam replied quickly. ”You would effectively have doomed us both.”

”How so?” Twilight asked with a bemused expression.

”Well, my brother, me and anypony associated with us would more or less be ostracized from Equestria, a fate as bad as banishment,” Flam explained in a voice that did not sound very inspired. ”But with enough money we could probably start over someplace else. Or why not change identities?”

Flim continued. ”And we will have the Idol. So once we tell our side of the story you will be remembered as the Princess of Friendship who made sure the griffons would not befriend the ponies. Remember the Princesses have always put the good of Equestria before themselves. I seem to recall that Celestia banished her own sister without a moment’s hesitation when she became a threat to her subjects. But you would not even surrender some of your precious honesty for the better of your subjects?”

”Who do you think history will condemn?” Flam asked rhetorically. ”The gallant thieves who recovered the idol in a legendary adventure, or the Princess who refused to let go of her own selfish wishes for the better of all? Do you think Celestia or Luna would even hesitate?”

”We could continue, but I think the point has been made,” Flim said. ”What will it be?”

”Yes, Twilight,” the alicorn thought to herself. ”What will it be? Your morals or your duty?”

She did not want to think about it. To think that she even considered cooperating with ponies like Flim and Flam sent a pang of shame through her heart. She was a Princess; she was supposed to be a stalwart beacon to her ponies, an example to follow and a point of inspiration. Ponies would look at her and aspire to be as righteous as her, that was as much part of being a Princess as the crown on her head or the wings on her back.

But how could she be all that, how could she say she represented the best of ponykind if she would sell herself like this? It was about integrity, to stay true to herself.

But the brothers had made a valid point. The Idol of Boreas! She had, though via many hoops, gotten Yakyakistan to sign a declaration of friendship with Equestria, but it was Celestia who had invited the dignitaries and set it all up. All Twilight did was to complete her work, and she was uncomfortably close to fail even that.

What a surprise it would be, to tell her beloved mentor that she, singlehoofedly, had done the same once again with their neighbors in the East. To for once be able to do something Celestia could not, to for once be a Princess in the true sense of the word and repay Celestia for her trust in Twilight.

Her heart did not want to. Her brain really did.

Her morals or her duty?

Keep one, give up the other.

*****

Filthy Rich came up to his home, and was met by a smiling Diamond Tiara. She had a small paper in her mouth. ”Hey, father. Welcome home,” she said with a smile that would not have been out of place for the door guard at the Grand Galloping Gala. Filthy replied with a curt nod.

Diamond looked a little bit hurt from the complete lack of interest from her father, but quickly hid her disappointed look. ”I got back my geography test today,” she paused for dramatic effect. She had more or less locked her father into her room and refused to let him out until he had helped her memorize the entire west coast of Equestria. She had really put effort into this test. ”I got an A minus! Like, only Rumble was better than me!”

”How good,” Filthy said coarsely without slowing his steps. Diamond had to trot rather quickly to keep up with him. She folded her ears back in part anger and part sadness. She really thought father had cared for this, but he just seemed annoyed with her.

There was something else too. Her father seemed angry. She, who had known him for all her life, recognized the signs. Tightly pressed lips, stomp in his steps, aggressive swishing of his tail, fur on end. Filthy Rich was angry.

Diamond’s breath caught in her throat. As with any filly, an angry parent was the most terrifying thing in existence. She tucked her tail close to her hindquarters and slowed her steps. She had a feeling that she could wait with going through the test until tomorrow when her father had calmed down. She tried to catch his look, but it was like he was walking on the other side of a wall. He did not see her, he only kept glaring daggers in front of him. She tried to nuzzle him slightly, as that always brought a smile to Filthy’ face, but now he nearly trampled her. It was like she had turned invisible to him. Diamond shied away with a whimper. She had never seen her father like this.

”Good night?” she tried, just to get a smile, or anything at all except for the stiff, barely constrained anger, out of her father.

”Not very!” Filthy replied loudly with a tone as cold as any Windigo’s. Diamond felt tears starting to well up. Filthy had not heightened his voice to her since she was in preschool. He opened the door to his and mother’s bedroom and slammed it shut. Diamond startled at the loud sound; her father had closed it with all his strength.

Diamond was left standing in the corridor, shaking with uncertainty and still with the geography test in her mouth.

Then she heard her mother scream, and the door to the bedroom flew open. Her mother followed shortly, stumbling out and into the wall. She turned around with a gaze that could kill. Diamond whimpered in terror when she saw her father march out.

”I. Have. Had. ENOUGH!” He bellowed the last word, grabbed Spoiled and heaved her down the corridor towards Diamond Tiara, who jumped out of the way with tears streaming down her cheeks. She had never even imagined that her father could be like this. He frothed in anger and glared like a pony possessed. Diamond literally would not have been surprised if he would start beating mother. ”GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!” He screamed at the top of his lungs and began to advance on Diamond’s mother again.

Spoiled however, took the hint and backed down the stairs without taking the eyes of her furious husband.

Randolph poked his head out of a door. ”Sir, can I help you with something?” He asked sleepily before he saw Filthy thunder down the stairs. Diamond went up to him and sniffled in his leg.

”W-what’s gotten into f-father?” She asked meekly. ”H-he…” Damond’s voice broke into a cry.

”I will find out,” Randolph said as calming as he could manage. ”You can wait in my room, little miss. I will be back soon.” Diamond shook her head and kept close to Randolph’s leg as she followed the butler to the grand staircase. Bellow it was the main door. Filthy stood on top of the stairs, and pointed with a vile grimace at the door. Spoiled stood just in front of it.

”If you think you can just throw me out of my own home, then you are sorely mistaken, you inept fool,” Spoiled called haughtily.

”This was never your home!” Filthy panted slightly, then continued in a choked, menacing hiss. ”It is mine, and I never want to see you again. Much I can put up with, but you have gone above and beyond every line this time! GET OUT!” The contrast between his bellowing and the choked hiss was like a thunderclap in an otherwise still sky.

Randolph stepped forward, as collected as ever. Diamond felt her respect for the butler increase by a landslide; she had never considered him very brave. Whenever she asked him to do anything, no matter how humiliating, he always complied. To see him walk out to Filthy right now felt alien, like something out of a movie.

”Sir, I believe that is quite enough,” Randolph said silently. ”This is hardly dignified behavior, and you are obviously to enraged to think clearly. Please, let us talk this over tomorrow like gentelponies.”

”Ah, Randolph, just the pony I wanted to see,” Filthy said with a queer, familial tone that sent shivers through Diamond’s spine. ”I would very much like it if you went down to Town Hall and fetched me the necessary forms for a divorce. Tell the mayor I will gladly pay for the matter to be taken care of swiftly.”

”I regret to inform you, sir, that this task is beyond my duties,” Randolph said calmly. ”At least until you have thought this through.”

Filthy turned away from his wife and looked at Randolph with a horrible, amused sort of look. ”Well, Randolph, that sort of mentality is precisely why I am the richest stallion in town while your life boils down to serving me tea.” Randolph got something shocked and hurt in his furrowed face. Filthy sneered evilly. ”Now, how about you do your job before I have to revoke it?”

”Stop,” Diamond sobbed. ”Please, father, please just stop?” Tears flowed freely from her eyes, cutting through what little makeup she was allowed to wear and leaving streaks on her cheeks. Her eyes were red from crying and her whole body quivered in fear for her father. Her heart began to hammer at triple pace when her father shifted his baleful stare from a stunned Randolph to her. She drew a shaky breath. ”P-please?”

Filthy looked like he had seen a ghost. All color drained from his face and his twisted sneer ran of him like watercolor under a faucet. He closed his eyes and drew a breath. When he opened them again Diamond thought she could see his frost blue irises a little clearer. Without a word he went to his bedroom and locked it.

*****

Twilight breathed deeply and let her hoof extend forward when she let the air out. As always, Cadence’s breathing technique helped her think a little clearer. ”I… I am not some trinket you can buy. Take your idol and all your schemes and… just leave me be.”

Twilight turned around without waiting for the inevitable protests and marched back into her castle with as much regality she could muster in her steps.

Epilogue

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

His hooves ached dully from the heavy work. Each step on the treadmill sent another jolt of exhaustion up through his legs. He welcomed the feeling. One never felt as good as after a heavy training session. He gulped down a mouthful of air and looked up on the clock in the shabby gym. He still had about ten minutes to go before tonight's hour and a half was up. Then another fifteen minutes for stretching and fifteen to change and shower.

A good end to a decent day, he forced himself to think. He knew he had nothing to complain about; the day had been just as good as he could expect. Only it made him want to throw up that he even had to restrain himself like this. Since he lost his job he had been forced to subject himself to a strict budget. He gritted his teeth.

To think that he, HE, had to live like this! He should be able to get whatever he wanted, he deserved nothing less for all he had done! To think twice and thrice and again whenever he bought something had been unthinkable just a month ago, but now it was his bitter reality.

He knew that he really should not waste money on gym membership either, but he had already tried to quit. It did not work. He smiled haplessly at that. In the beginning he had just started working out to keep all the food he ate with his lifestyle in check, but now when he had to live on the cheapest food he could get, he found that he could not stop. He had tried, and after just one day he felt restless and stingy. He had renewed his membership that evening, albeit in this much cheaper place.

So now he was here, trying to vent some frustration.

He knew what would have to happen. He once again congratulated himself for even having a few thousand bits saved for this eventuality, else he would have been in deep trouble. Still, it would not last forever, even with his careful budget. He needed a job, a real one like the one he had lost. He had developed a taste for the finer things in life, and returning to his clinic would not keep up with that lifestyle. No, he needed to find somepony in need of his special services.

The clock chimed merrily and he stepped of the treadmill. He swallowed down some phlegm in his throat and placed himself in a tense pose to stretch. He needed that, and he needed some of his own special stress treatment badly. He was getting angry again, and that was not a prime emotion to think in.

He stretched and showered quickly, knowing that he would regret being so careless with his stretching tomorrow, but he needed to get home.

His house had been a ritzy apartment in the upper district, but that was the first thing to go when he was fired; that rent would drain his account in one month. So now he lived in a small attic room in the lower district. The only good things to be said about it was that it was cheap and close to his new gym.

He went up the stairs quickly and into his bathroom. His jacket had seen better days, but it still kept him warm in the evenings at least. He fished up a small pendulum and set it in motion. Wide, relaxed strokes through the air. He kept his eyes firmly on his reflection, letting the pendulum sweep in front of it with even intervals.

”When three strokes have passed, think of a sparkling fire,” he said loudly. He relaxed his breathing, absently noting how the pendulum swayed.

One.

Two.

Three strokes.

He forced an image of a burning fire into his mind, imagined how the orange flames kept licking on the wood and gradually turn it black and then gray.

He stared at his reflection without seeing the amber eyes or cotton-candy mane. Only the pendulum which continued its silent motion before him. ”Imagine the heat, the comfortable warmth of the fire.”

This was much harder, to create the feeling of heat when the room was actually pretty chilly. He did not quite succeeded, but at least it kept him thinking on calming things. There was something about campfires, something relaxing and soothing, and that was exactly what he needed.

He kept staring at nothingness for an undefined amount of time before the stiffness in the hoof that held the pendulum forced itself into his mind.

”Fine then,” he said loudly with an exhale. He went to the worn down sofa and sat down. ”So… Fancypants would be a good bet. He is rich enough, and has enough influence to have any eccentric behavior excused. Hiring me would probably not give rise to any suspicion, right?” He did not think so. ”But on the other hoof… would he need my more… delicate services? The ones that can make me somepony again? I can’t just be a therapist, I must be more.”

There was the catch. Fancypants was a known philanthropist and patron of many up-and-coming artists. In short, it was uncertain that he would want any… special treatments.

His alternative would be a pony who he had only heard rumors about: Filthy Rich.

Filthy lived in Ponyville, which was already a problem due to his… history with the place. Also, that backwater town would be rock bottom to live in. On the other hoof, Filthy was a businesspony, and businessponies never had their hooves entirely clean, so the chance was greater that there would at least some work for him.

He sighed and went to bed, his mind made up.

The next morning, he donned the one fancy attire he owned these days. First, a white-blue undershirt with stripes, then a saffron-yellow vest. Lastly, he took on a tailored, marine blue suit and tied his wine-red tie with small diamond shapes on it. Full Windsor Knot, of course. Lastly, he took out the lacquered box and put on the round bronze spectacles within. He blinked a few times when his sight cleared up.

Filled with confidence he went down to the Canterlot train station. ”Ponyville, and try to be quick about it, if you please,” he said. The ticket salespony was indeed slow as molasses. ”Hurry up, I don’t have all day!” he said impatiently.

”Sure sure, single trip or with return ticket?” the mare in the booth asked, sounding quite annoyed.

He thought for a second. ”Single trip,” Svengallop said. ”And I want a window seat, understood? And please no foals in the same wagon.”