Spike's Gambit

Chapters

Welcome to Las Pegasus!
The Princess of Friendship
Another One Bites the Dust
The King Killer
The Good Luck Magnet
Card Holder
To Each Their Own
Lucky and Unlucky
Nightmares
It's Magic, Part One
Roll Ruler
Dancing with Dragons
The Casino in the Sky
Ups, Downs, Ins and Outs
Deep Impact
Evil Women
A M.I.L.F. and A Luau
Thrills, Cocktails and Cupcakes
Spike's Birthday
Carnival Craze
Dangerous Moves
Applejack's Perfect Date
Equestrian Rhapsody
Catering
Room 2339
Ogres & Oubliettes: Dark Alliance, Act II
Ogres & Oubliettes: Dark Alliance, Act III
Ogres & Oubliettes: Dark Alliance, Act IV
Ogres & Oubliettes: Dark Alliance, Act V
Ogres & Oubliettes: Dark Alliance, Act VI
Spike's Women
The Game Is Poker
Perks & Invitations
High Roller
Speculation
Torch Overthrown
Reverse
Aces
Drake's Nineteen (And Then Some)
Shakedown
Takedown
Happy New Year
Bonus: Spike's Gambit Soundtrack
Initiation
It's Magic, Part Two
Ogres & Oubliettes: Dark Alliance, Act I
New Looks and Pep Talks

Welcome to Las Pegasus!

It was five minutes to eleven o’clock in the morning.

At least that’s what the digital clock showed when the driver of the white limousine glanced at it before refocusing on the long road ahead of him.

In the back of the limo sat a mature woman in a white business suit and a well-groomed young man in semi-formal attire. With super-flawless, silky-smooth skin, big boobs, a tiny waist and childbearing hips she was built like a goddess. He was tall, easily six foot one, built like a boxer. Not a heavyweight, or a lightweight, but somewhere in between. And he was handsome, with slicked-back green hair and emerald eyes, and sat with his briefcase on the seat beside him.

Wearing jeans and a jacket, he could have passed for a Canterlot University frat boy. In a suit and tie, he would have looked like he worked in the business district of Manehattan. At the moment, he was wearing black slacks, a mulberry vest (five hundred thousand dollars in gambling chips jammed into them), a white collared shirt, black leather shoes and white gloves.

The woman held the limo’s built-in phone to her ear.

“I’m considering staying a bit longer this time, Luna,” she said. “Take care of things in my absence.”

“Yes, sister,”

The woman in white hung up and dialed another number.

“Reservations, please... Yes, I’m calling to confirm the two rooms for Celestia Soleil and Spike Drake,” she said as she looked at the young man seated across from her.

Spike Drake, age 22, all expenses paid vacation to Las Pegasus; Equestria’s playground for the rich and famous. A city of bright lights and bustling activity, reputed for being a wild vacation spot, complete with loud noises, large crowds and fun times. Home of nineteen of the world’s twenty biggest hotels, hosting over thirty million visitors a year, generating five billion dollars in gaming revenue, and utilizing no less than sixteen miles of neon tubing.

But unbeknownst to him, is the fact that there is a prize in this holiday, not expected, but certainly bargained for.

Celestia smiled as she remembered the very first time she brought Spike to Las Pegasus. He was still a little kid, bouncing in her lap.

She told him to look out the window at the skyline ahead and she said, “See that city out there, Spike? See that big town, one day we’re gonna own that town. You and me. What do you think of that?”

That had been over fifteen years ago. Now, Spike was sitting opposite of her, flipping through a brochure for the Flimflam Brothers’ Resort. A luxury casino hotel filled with games and carnival rides; their destination.

It had 3,044 rooms, two casinos, two theaters, four gyms, five arcades, a full spa, six saunas, pillow top beds, indoor and outdoor tennis courts, four swimming pools (two outside, two inside) with extreme slides, fine dining, warm cookies at turndown, a musical chocolate fountain, a wing for shopping, and areas for riflery and archery. But its signature attraction was Ponet Fantastique, a stage show that featured acrobatic and trained exotic animal acts.

Spike had been looking forward to his summer vacation, especially since he spent the better part of his last semester working at a gambling den in the Badlands. But he always made time to study and never let his grades fall.

When the week of final exams came, he went to bed early while all the other students stayed up studying. Then when they finally did get to sleep, most of the information fell out of their heads.

But not Spike.

He didn’t study the night before. Instead, he got a good night of sleep, woke up extra early and studied in the morning. That way, everything was still fresh in his mind by the time he went to class to take his finals... and it worked.

He took his tests and he passed.

Ever since he was a child, Spike was a fast learner. He caught on quick, and he knew how to win. He was willing to do whatever it took to succeed, he knew how to think four moves ahead... and he never quit.

Outwork, outthink, outwit, outplay, outscheme, outmaneuver, and outlast.

Make no friends. Trust nobody. Make damn sure you’re the smartest guy in the room whenever the subject of money comes up.

And never say die.

Spike knew more about casinos and casino security than anyone... besides the men who invented them, of course. He knew that a certain hierarchy existed: dealers were watched over by pit bosses, who were controlled by shift managers, who in turn answered to the floor manager, who kowtowed to the casino manager (the CM), who in turn bowed directly to corporate headquarters. In Las Pegasus, that translated to some faceless monster with a hundred million shareholders and almost as many lawyers. He knew that they had cameras, watchers, vaults, locks and timers on those vaults, and enough armed personnel to occupy Mareis, Prance.

He had seen many men, and women, succumb to an illness worse than any virus could ever produce; an inoperative and deadly life-shattering affliction known as “The Fever.” He stood by and watched people, old and young, smarter and a lot dumber than him cash check after check after check, hour after hour, and just throw their money away.

And it didn’t just stop at money. Some of them lost everything: their spouses, their homes, their children, even their pets.

But not him.

Not Spike.

Oh, he enjoyed a good gamble as much as the next person, but only if the odds were in his favor. And nothing disgusted him more than slot machines. Often described as one-armed bandits, they mocked and teased like no other device on Earth. Quick, addictive, and somehow satisfying, those devices ate money faster than a Manehattan rental agent. It was inhuman the way they let the player win a little and then take it all back. It sucked them in, they got hooked, and they never won it back.

But not him.

Not Spike.

Like most twenty-somethings, he didn’t know where he was going; but he also knew where he didn’t want to end up. At the moment, he didn’t want to think about his future. He just wanted to enjoy one last summer vacation before the real world hit him in the face.

Spike was broken from his thoughts by Celestia’s voice.

“Spike, what’s the matter?” she asked. “Aren’t you excited?”

“Sure,” he answered sarcastically. “I’m fresh out of college. I have no job, no money, no girlfriend... Things are really looking up.”

“First of all, you don’t need a job; because second, you’re as rich as I am; so three, you can do anything you want!” Celestia replied. “Except mope, you’re not allowed to mope. Stop moping! We’re spending the summer in Las Pegasus!”

“You know, your addiction isn’t healthy,” he commented. “You do know that, right?”

“I’m sorry, Spike,” she said. “But I can’t help it if the Resort keeps calling me back.”

As much as Spike hated to admit it, it was nice that the Flimflam Brothers invited them out for the summer.

Spike glanced at the brochure for the resort again, over pictures of the hotel’s atrium, aquarium and topless poolside lounge, and skimmed the not-so-brief history of the establishment to the second-to-last paragraph:

“With Gladmane no longer running the resort, Flim and Flam quickly stepped in to take over. And the first thing they did was tear down the solid gold statue of Gladmane that stood in the center of the hotel lobby. Then they melted it down, recast and remolded it into a likeness of themselves.”

With Flim’s showmanship and Flam’s business sense, they made the resort even bigger and more popular than it ever was under Gladmane’s control.

Unfortunately, the wealthy socialite Impossibly Rich and her son, Filthy Rich, showed up and took over the hotel right across the street from the Flimflam Brothers’ Resort... and cut in on their business!

Filthy Rich was first in his class at Pranceton, and he owned almost half of Las Pegasus. He was a fine businessman, but a bit of a bully. Fortunately, his bark was worse than his bite. Unfortunately, the Brothers had experienced both.

Spike then glanced at a picture of the Flimflam Resort’s star dealer: Twilight Sparkle, otherwise known as the Princess of Friendship.

“What makes her so special?” he thought.

According to the brochure, the rumor surrounding her was that “her very presence gave her the ability to soothe the customers’ tension and bring good luck throughout the entire casino.”

It was the main reason she’d been hired on as a dealer.

Celestia’s voice broke Spike from his thoughts again.

“Why do you want to work in a casino, anyway?” she asked.

“Because last week I graduated from wasting four years of my life learning how to deal cards, and I’m sick of cold-decking Canterlot Beat cover boys,” Spike replied. “I’m sorry, Mom,” he added. “I know I should be happy, but I guess I always thought by this point in my life I’d have somebody special to share my success with.”

“You’ve got me,” she told him.

“Thanks, Mom. But that’s not really what I’m talking about,”

“Oh, I see,” Celestia said with a smile. “Well, I wouldn’t worry about it, Spike. You’re still young, you’ll meet someone. One morning, you’re going to wake up with a wife and kids, and you’ll be like, ‘Where did they come from? They weren’t here the last time I looked.’ It’s like the old saying, ‘most things in life, good and bad, happen when you least expect them.’”

“That’s where you’re wrong! I believe we create our own opportunities. We have to make things happen. It’s not like something’s just going to fall out of the sky, land right at your feet, and change your life forever. I’m going to make things happen for me,”

“Well, at least we can agree on one thing,” Celestia said. “This summer, everything’s going to change.”

Spike glanced out the window and when he did, he saw the iconic neon “Welcome to Fabulous Las Pegasus” sign in the distance. It was off because it was daytime, but Spike had seen it, and the city, many times after dark. And both were always spectacular.

They were almost there.

Celestia leaned forward in her seat and placed a hand on Spike’s knee.

“Try to enjoy yourself, okay?” she asked.

Spike tried to smile as he looked back at his adoptive mother.

Before Celestia took him in, Spike was always very careful to protect what little was his. He had a hard enough time enjoying himself when he was spending someone else’s money.

But now he didn’t. He had amassed a small fortune of his own, which he kept in neat stacks in a suitcase under his bed, each two inches thick bundled together by strips of colored tape, all of it legal. He was rich, he was handsome, and he was successful. He could have anything he wanted.

He could take in the sites, relax in luxury accommodations, and enjoy the upcoming concert gala by Countess Coloratura.

He sighed and said, “Okay, Mom. I will.”

A young man and two women stood outside the Las Pegasus International Airport, waiting on a bus. They were a diverse trio, but they all were 25-years-old and at least three years out of college. The first was a kind-faced girl with long hair, pale skin and blue eyes, dressed in a white tank top, green skirt and white sneakers. The guy was tall and lean, clothed in blue, and had dark windswept hair and green eyes. The other girl, in a white T-shirt, blue hoodie, tight track pants and running shoes, recognized them as Fluttershy and Soarin; the former her best friend since childhood, the latter a fellow graduate of the Equestrian Air Force Academy.

As she looked at Fluttershy she couldn’t help but think, “Why Las Pegasus?” Fluttershy had never been there herself, the other girl knew this. And what little she did know was from those cheap novels she read and stuff she saw on TV. But when she looked at Soarin, she knew that he’d had the same idea she did. They both had some time off after graduation before they would be given their first real assignments, so they figured why not spend the summer in Las Pegasus.

Soarin might have changed a lot since high school, but the Academy drill sergeant sure didn’t beat the wise guy out of him. Not a chance of that.

She was holding her cell phone to her ear and talking to her older brother as she looked Soarin over.

“Okay, the Las Pegasus Poker Tournament is in twelve weeks and three days, and I am so going to be dealing for it,” she said.

“You’re gonna dominate, Sis!” her brother told her.

“Thanks. And until then, I get paid to hang out at a hotel and mix drinks for the tourists. I think I can handle that. How are things with you down at the Hay Burger?”

“So lame!” he replied.

“Are they making you wear that ugly uniform?”

“Yeah,”

“Oh, you should be here, you dork!”

“No promises, but I’ll see if I can come out for the Tournament,”

“All right, bro,” she said. “Until then, have fun flipping burgers! Oh, and please take care of Tank while I’m gone.”

“You got it, Dash,”

“What the Tartarus is that?!” she asked.

She looked down the road and saw a vehicle coming her way.

“Hold on, you have to see this!” Dash chuckled into her phone. “The lamest tour bus just pulled up.”

The brakes hissed as the multicolored shuttle bus slowed to a halt and the door opened to reveal its driver: a tall, slender man with brilliant green eyes, wavy, dark brown hair, and dressed in a tacky yellow Hawaiian shirt and brown shorts.

“All aboard for the Flimflam Brothers’ Resort!” he announced.

“Oh, my gosh!” Dash exclaimed. “I think that’s my bus!”

Fluttershy and Soarin loaded their luggage into the compartments beneath the bus windows and quickly boarded. Rainbow Dash followed suit. Despite its paintjob, the bus was almost new, and it was luxurious. The twelve passenger seats were wide and soft; they reclined and had padded footrests.

“What’s up, people?” the driver asked them. “I’m Cheese Sandwich. I drive the shuttle for the hotel, so anytime you need a ride, you just look for me. You just look for El Queso Grande! So, you guys here to ride the Wild Blue Yonder?”

“You know it!” Soarin replied.

“Is it as epic as they say?” Dash asked.

“Best in the country,” Cheese Sandwich answered. “The hotel’s totally booked most days. Hope you’re looking to get worked.”

Soarin and Rainbow Dash groaned a bit. They were looking forward to gambling and riding the best rollercoaster ever, not working their butts off. But that’s what they had signed up for when they applied for summer jobs at the Flimflam Brothers Resort.

As Cheese Sandwich looked at the three kids in the rearview mirror, he couldn’t help but think about how much money they were going to lose during their stay. The average visitor to Las Pegasus lost no less than three hundred dollars during a single weekend. They were mostly middle-aged men, visiting for three nights; spending another $300 on food, rooms and entertainment, in addition to the $300 flight home.

Weekend flights to Las Pegasus were the funniest thing. On the way out, everyone was smiling and laughing, thinking about the great time they were going to have and how much they were going to win. The flight home was the exact opposite. Everyone went home a loser. But Cheese Sandwich had a feeling that things were going to be different for these three.

The sofa was only half as warm as Starlight Glimmer had known it to be, but it was warm enough to ease her chill. She lay face down, exhausted, totally spent.

She was very tired.

Not dying. Just tired. Weak. Hung over. And she knew it.

The images in her mind showed things swirling all around her. A Jeep caught in a whirlpool, slowly sinking. Her viewpoint was that of a young woman who’d had way too much to drink, and staring helplessly at the pool as the car disappeared beneath the water.

There was also a blond guy swinging from a tree. That was before he took control of the vehicle. Slowly, the guy inside the car saw figures around the pool’s edge, waving, staring. Their faces tilted every direction in laughter.

Then the images faded into darkness, because now words seemed more important than pictures. Starlight twisted and turned as the voice of Sunburst (her best friend since they were kids) coaxed her from her slumber.

“Starlight?” he said. “Starlight!”

She groaned in reply.

“It’s amazing,” he told her. “I leave for not even one evening and you manage to totally trash the place.”

He walked over to the window, threw open the blinds, and she hissed as she pulled a blanket over her head to block out the light.

“It was just a little party,” she continued to groan. “It’ll all be cleaned up by the time they get here.”

“I think you better see this,” he said as he picked up the remote control.

“See what?” she asked.

Sunburst turned on the TV and the morning news appeared on the screen.

“The Las Pegasus Strip was turned upside-down last night at what has been described as an end-of-the-school-year party gone wild.”

“Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!” Starlight protested. “Is there any chance your Mom and my Dad won’t find out about this?” she asked Sunburst.

“What do you think?” he asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Just then, the hotel room phone started ringing.

“No -- don’t answer it! Please!” she begged.

“You’re going to have to face him sooner or later,” Sunburst said. “You might as well get it over with.”

He pushed a button on the phone’s console, and it violently shook almost immediately.

“What in Tartarus is going on there?!” came an angry voice over the speaker.

“Nothing, Dad,” Starlight lied, “I just had a few friends over, no big deal.”

“Well, all of the news reports are saying that over a hundred teenagers were running wild and disturbing the guests!” Firelight continued to shout.

“Dad, you know how the camera adds ten pounds?” Starlight asked. “Well, it also adds ten people for everyone who was actually there.”

Firelight must have been watching TV somewhere (wherever he was), and watching the exact same channel that Sunburst and Starlight were watching, because footage of a vehicle disappearing beneath water appeared on the screen—the same images from Starlight’s dream.

“Is that one of the pools?” Firelight asked.

“Is that my Jeep?” Starlight asked herself.

It was then that Starlight finally, and completely, realized that it wasn’t just a dream. The events of last night really did happen.

And it was going to cost her dearly.

“That! Is! It!” Firelight yelled. “When I get there, you and I are going to have a serious talk! AND YOU CAN KISS YOUR SUMMER VACATION GOOD-BYE!!!!”

“I’d say your party girl days are officially over,” Sunburst commented after Firelight hung up.

“Puh-lease!” Starlight replied. “I’ll clean up the penthouse, and by the time they get here, everything will be just fine. And besides, Dad never stays mad at me for very long, so this is a moot discussion.”

Both youths’ eyes shot open in shock when they looked at the TV again.

“The Las Pegasus Police Department was here last night?” Sunburst asked.

“They were?” Starlight replied. “Ooh, he’s cute.”

Sunburst finally clicked the TV off.

“Hey!” Starlight exclaimed. “I was watching that!”

“Who’s going to clean the rest of the hotel?” Sunburst asked. “Replace all the broken furniture? Have you even seen the hot tub?”

“Uh, that’s what the rest of the hotel staff is for,” Starlight answered.

“It can’t be done!”

“If I can single-handedly organize the city’s Poker Tournament, I can clean up a little mess,”

“Single-handedly my foot, you stood around and smiled all day while I ran the registration booth!”

“Sunburst, you know you’re better with numbers than I am. Anyway, I’m already on it,”

Starlight reached into her pocket, pulled out her cell phone, and made several phone calls.

“See? All taken care of,” she told him after she was done. “Do you know how to get a Jeep out of a pool?”

“That’s your problem,” he said as he headed for the door.

“You’re still going to help me, right?”

“I have to make the rounds while the others train the new staff. You know, the people who actually work for their money,”

“What? You’re leaving me? That’s so selfish!”

“It’s my job,”

“Fine, go then!”

“You have about six hours. Good. Luck,”

The bus ride from Las Pegasus International Airport went down the Strip, past all the mammoth hotels and megaresorts, including a six-hundred-fifty-million-dollar trip into fantasy, a massive black glass pyramid that would have made Somnambula feel right at home (at night it was the most powerful spotlight in the world), the emerald-green Maretro-Goldwhinnyn-Mareyer (MGM) Grand, its main building stretching the width of four football fields; a sex-charged rock club, a bright red volcano that spat lava into the sky after dark, and Manehattan if it had been reimagined by Dalton Whinny, with buxom cocktail waitresses instead of college kids in Wilhelm Wombat and Elmer Eagle costumes—the results of Las Pegasus being in an almost constant state of boom for the past four decades.

A white limousine pulled in front of Cheese Sandwich’s shuttle bus as both vehicles peeled away from traffic.

“This is it, compadres -- The Flimflam Brothers’ Casino and Resort,” Cheese said as the bus screeched to a halt.

Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Soarin stared in awe at the huge, 31-story casino hotel. With its colossal water fountain, extravagant double doors and revolving doors, and flashy neon signs, the exterior alone was impressive.

The trio spilled out of the bus and retrieved their suitcases from the luggage hold while a handsome young man dressed in a crisp white collared shirt, tucked in, under a sharp mulberry vest, black slacks and a tie, and carrying a briefcase, exited the limo, accompanied by a woman in a white business suit.

Cheese Sandwich honked the horn and a blond college kid in torn jeans and an open vest sprung up from the fountain.

It was Fluttershy’s younger brother, Zephyr Breeze. Her parents had told her that she would be seeing him in Las Pegasus. She just didn’t expect it to be like this—climbing out of a public fountain, half-clothed, and smelling like a bar rag.

“Zeph, wake up!” Cheese Sandwich shouted out the window to him.

“What time is it?” Zephyr Breeze asked with a yawn, his shoulders drooped with fatigue as he pulled himself out of the water.

“Almost noon,” Soarin said.

“Oh, man, I slept iiiin!” Zephyr yawned again.

His eyes shot open at the sight of his older sister and her best friend.

“Big sis! Rainbow Dash! What’s up?”

“Rough night, Zeph?” Rainbow Dash inquired.

“Oh yeah,” he replied.

The hotel lobby’s main doors (a pair of tall, golden double doors) were flanked by a pair of doormen like two proud sentinels. Spike peered through the windows and saw a multitude of people, everyone from a janitor mopping the floor to a young woman behind the front desk.

Suddenly, a blue limousine eased past Cheese Sandwich’s shuttle bus, slowed and slid to a stop in the passenger pickup lane in front of Celestia’s limo. Spike had to shield his eyes as the bright sunlight flashed off its sleek blue curves.

“Le gasp!” the doormen exclaimed.

Spike watched as the blue limo’s rear passenger door swung open. A couple in lavish foreign clothing uncoiled onto the sidewalk and walked toward them, followed by a man in a brown cloak and turban.

“Welcome, Your Majesties!” the doormen greeted them as they hauled on the handles of the double doors.

“Who are they?” Spike asked.

“They are the delegates from Saddle Arabia,” Celestia told him, “Haakim and Amira, and their advisor Hoo’Far.”

“Good luck, dudes,” Cheese told his former passengers as the bus door closed and he drove away.

The interior of the resort was modern and stylish, decorated in the fashion of a tropical jungle; with palm trees, rainforest flora, rumbling brooks, and even the odd waterfall. The air seemed misty, unlike the dry desert air outside, and the entire place smelled authentic. A giant gold statue of the owners dominated the center of the lobby; a 53 foot by eight foot aquarium stretched behind the registration desk, and out front, by the coat check room, stood a beautiful blonde; the resort’s head of security.

Applejack was her name—according to the shiny, golden nametag on her left breast—and she was Spike’s fantasy. A gorgeous woman with soft lips, beautiful green eyes that rivaled his own, and a smoking hot body underneath a black pants suit (which he was sure her bosses made her wear). The way her legs filled out those tight pants, the curve of her ass, she looked more like a V.I.P. than an enforcer.

“So this is the gal who brought down Gladmane,” Spike thought.

He smiled at the blonde who averted her eyes before smiling back.

“For a fancy hotel, it’s not very clean,” Rainbow Dash commented.

“We haven’t gotten to the outside yet!” a maid whose nametag read ‘Suri Polomare’ grumbled.

The group looked out the massive post-modern window at the back of the building and surveyed the remains of an equally massive party. Streamers and toilet paper hung from the trees and lampposts surrounding the now drained swimming pools, cardboard pizza boxes, paper plates and plastic cups littered the entire patio area, and several tables and chairs were overturned.

“Whoa!” was all Dash could manage.

“Oh, my gosh,” Fluttershy whispered.

“Is that a Jeep in that pool?” Spike asked.

“Yeah, that’s from the party last night,” Zephyr said. “It was so sick!”

“I like this place already!” Soarin exclaimed.

“Check you guys in a minute,” Zephyr told them as he walked off to the men’s room.

“Should we be checking in with someone?” Fluttershy asked Rainbow Dash.

“Yeah,” Dash replied. “I’ve got to find out where to dump my bags so I can hit the casino.”

A couple with two children and four singles (two men and two women) were standing at the front desk and yelling at the concierge—a prim, beautiful woman just short of thirty.

She was dressed in a white cotton blouse and tight black pants with matching Stiletto heels. She wore a pair of tiny reading glasses and her hair was done up in a high curl. Her face was a pale oval out of which peered luminous moderate azure eyes. Her nose was pert, her lips full, and her breasts swelled provocatively against the buttons of her blouse.

“We were up all night with that racket!” one of the guests complained.

“I demand to speak to a manager!” shouted another as he slammed his fist onto the counter.

“Right away, sir,” the concierge said as she picked up a walkie-talkie and spoke into it. “We have a Code Red at the front desk. I repeat, Code Red.”

The upset guests stormed off as Soarin, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Spike and Celestia approached the counter.

“Welcome to the Flimflam Brothers’ Casino and Resort,” the concierge greeted them. “We are gambling.”

“‘We are gambling’?” Rainbow Dash echoed.

“Yes, we are. It’s company policy; I have to say it,” she replied.

“We’re the new summer staff. I’m Fluttershy,”

“I’m Rainbow Dash. And that’s Soarin,”

“We’re all checking in,” Celestia put in. “Not all together, though.”

“And whomsoever art thou?” Spike asked the concierge.

“I’m Rarity. So, what do you think so far?”

“It’s a little different than I thought it would be,” Fluttershy said hesitantly.

“Try, it blows!” Dash exclaimed. “It’s all fake!”

“Oh, you must have seen last year’s brochure,” Rarity said. “Last fall, the Mayor of Las Pegasus decided to rebrand the city as a family vacation destination and make all the casino-hotels more ‘family friendly,’” she explained, complete with air quotes. “He also had a variety of new resorts with theme-park style rides built, and voilà: every true gambler’s worst nightmare!”

She handed Spike an up-to-date brochure for the resort, and it was very different from the one he had read in the limo. It was brightly colored, and covered in words that included (but were not limited to) “Adventure!”, “Challenge!”, “Fantasy!”, “Mystery!”, “Rides!”, “Shows!”, “Splash!”, “Thrills!” and “Wonders!”

“I guess that means no topless pool lounge,” Spike thought.

“Man, we got super-lucky seeing the Princess of Friendship before hitting the casino,” a young man behind him said as he passed through the lobby.

“Maybe we’ll hit the jackpot,” the guy’s girlfriend replied.

“Dare I ask?” Spike directed at the concierge.

“They’re talking about Twilight Sparkle,” Rarity replied. “She’s incredibly popular. Even Applewood starlets are overlooked when she’s around--Zephyr Breeze! What did I tell you about taking sink showers in the lobby bathroom?”

The group turned and saw that Zephyr had returned from his trip to the men’s room. And his hair was dripping wet.

“Uh... don’t?” he answered after he shook his hair dry.

“Right! So, what are you doing here?” Rarity asked.

“I’m the new bellhop,” he replied.

“Back up! You’re working here?” Rainbow Dash asked in complete shock.

“What happened to hair therapy school?” Fluttershy added.

“I needed a change of scenery,” Zeph said as he kicked back on one of the lobby sofas, “and the fastest-growing city in the world seemed like a good pick.”

“And the last place on earth where a bum with no skills can make a decent living,” Rainbow Dash commented.

They made an interesting point, Spike thought. The phenomenon of Las Pegasus was very unique. The town’s growth, financial influx, architectural fluidity... Where else in the world would a cocktail waitress afford a mortgage on a house and a lease on a car? Where else could a college dropout who parked cars for a living earn enough to send his kids to private school?

“My kind of town,” Zeph said. “That was a sick party last night.”

“Who threw the shindig, anyway?” Spike inquired.

“One of the investor’s daughters, Starlight Glimmer,” Rarity answered.

“If her old man finds out, she’s dead meat,” Zephyr said.

Just then, a man holding a cell phone to his ear approached the front desk.

He looked to be in his late forties, dark-skinned, and his teeth were horrible; it was impossible to tell if he was smiling or snarling (maybe both). His clothes were almost as bad as his teeth. He wore a brown suit coat, a white opera glove on his left hand, a brown leather glove on his right hand, slacks (the left leg of which was tan while the right leg was green), and leather shoes (a brown one on his left and a white one on his right foot respectively).

“Right... Yes... Golf carts need repainting, chairs repaired, and the pools need to be cleaned. Absolutely no problem,” he said into the phone. “IF I HAD ALL ETERNITY!!!!” he added after he hung up.

“Ahem!” Rarity cleared her throat. “Sir, you know Mr. and Mrs. Paradise.”

The man in the multicolored suit ran his mismatched gloved hands through his very dark gray hair, smoothing it out, and turned to the group of angry guests.

“What a charming family,” he said, a fake smile plastered across his face. “I understand the party last night was a little loud. How about I take twenty percent off your total bill?”

“Make it thirty!” the father, Mister Paradise, demanded.

“Done, and just to further prove how much we value your patronage,” the manager continued to lie through his crooked teeth, “how about I throw in free passes to the amusement park for the whole family?”

“Hear that kids?” Mr. Paradise told his twin sons excitedly.

“We hate amusement parks!” one of them shouted.

“We demand souvenirs!” added the other.

And they stomped away, followed by their parents.

The man in the mismatched suit turned his attention to Spike, Celestia, Rainbow Dash, Soarin and Fluttershy.

“Welcome!” he said with a little more sincerity. “Just checking in, I see. Excellent! I’m John de Prancie, the day manager at the hotel, but you can call me Discord. If there is anything I can do to make your stay even a little bit more comfortable, you just let me know.”

“Sir, they’re not guests,” Rarity interjected. “At least they are not.” She pointed to everyone except Spike and Celestia. “They’re the new staff.”

“What’s up?” Zephyr Breeze asked.

“Then why are you standing in the lobby?” Discord shouted. “Why are they standing in the lobby?” he asked Rarity. “And you, off the couch!” he shouted at Zephyr Breeze. “I just cleaned that myself!”

“It’s cool, dude,” Zeph said. “It’s cool.”

“We just got here. I’m Fluttershy--”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. No time for introductions!” Discord said. “Follow me. You too!” he told Rarity. “I need every hand I can get!”

“Yes, sir!” Rarity replied. “Coco, take over for me.”

A pretty young woman with a blue two-toned bob haircut, wearing a pleated lavender skirt, an off-white blouse with a lavender collar, and a scarlet tie (who had been silently standing by Rarity the entire time) nodded and stepped up to the front desk’s computer.

“Reservations under Drake and Soleil,” Spike told her.

“Ah, yes, here you are,” she said softly. “Two Resort Tower Kings with Unobstructed Views Overlooking the Strip... Should I put the balance on the same credit card?”

“Uh, no,” Spike said. “I will be paying in cash.”

“Very well,” Coco replied. “And may I arrange for some refreshments to be sent up to your suite, Mr. Drake?”

“Absolutely,” Spike answered. “Champagne, caviar, lobster, a shoe shine, an in-room massage, and my own private maid please.”

“Excellent,” Coco said. “Here are your room keys, your spa card, some complimentary casino chips, and Bulk Biceps will see to your luggage.”

She motioned to an enormous guy with a blond crew cut and arms thicker than his legs standing just behind her. He tipped his bellboy hat to Spike and Celestia, picked up all their suitcases (except for Spike’s briefcase) in both arms and pranced (yes pranced, like a giddy schoolboy) to the staff elevator.

Spike and Celestia stood dumbfounded for a moment at the display.

“Now, in order to get to your rooms, you’ll have to take the gold elevators,” Miss Pommel told them. “To get to them, you’re going to have to go through the casino, and veer to the left. Then take a right at the first palm tree. You’ll see the blackjack tables. Not baccarat, not craps, blackjack. Take another right and wind around left. If you get to the indoor pools, you’ve gone too far.”

“Gold elevators, through the casino, left, right at the first palm, past the blackjack tables, right again, and then left, pool, too far, got it!” Spike replied.

Coco smiled and said, “Enjoy your stay.”

Spike’s stomach growled and he looked across the lobby for a place to eat. His eyes picked out two suitable targets.

The first was the Sweet Snacks Café, which was a Rockin’ ‘50’s-themed diner that served burgers and milkshakes (complete with a soda fountain and waitresses in carhop uniforms). The other was an oriental restaurant that had an aquarium filled with many exotic fish, dubbed “X Sushi.”

Spike, for one, couldn’t stand the thought of eating raw fish. Especially since the mercury that was used to kill any potential parasites in them was more than enough to make his stomach turn. But he knew that his mother was always up to try something new and exciting, and sushi fit the bill.

Celestia could tell exactly what Spike was thinking so, in order to avoid an argument, she reached into her pocket and said, “We’ll flip a coin. Heads you win and we’ll go to the diner. Tails you lose and we eat sushi.”

Spike had played “Heads or Tails” many times before. So much, in fact, that it was how he had managed to score several free taxi rides over the years. Normally he would wager his ride be free of charge against him washing the cab driver’s vehicle... by hand.

It was a form of sortition that inherently had only two possible (and equally likely) outcomes. There were only two ways the coin could land—heads or tails. And heads came up just as often as tails. So, half the time one party would win, and half the time the other party would win. The odds and chances were a solid 50/50, and a game of chance didn’t come much fairer than that.

Unless, of course, the tosser used a two-headed coin.

Coin tossing was a simple practice of throwing a coin into the air and checking which side was showing when it landed, in order to choose between two alternatives, and sometimes used to resolve a dispute between two groups.

In this case, it was where to eat: the café or the sushi bar.

The diner or the restaurant.

A well-done burger or uncooked seafood.

“Come on, Spike,” Celestia said playfully. “Take a chance.”

She gave Spike the coin she planned to use and he looked at both sides of it to make sure that his mother wouldn’t cheat (even though she never did), and he handed it back to her.

“Okay,” he said.

Celestia flipped the coin into the air and it landed in her open palm.

“Tails it is,” she said.

Spike sighed for a brief moment, but smiled, accepting his defeat with some grace, and escorted his mother to X Sushi.

“First casino I’ve seen with a sushi bar in it,” he commented.

“Table for two, please,” Celestia told the hostess.

“Right this way,” she replied and she led them to a table near the center of the room. “Make yourselves comfortable, and Sunset will be with you in a moment to take your order.”

Spike and Celestia took their seats and looked at their menus. Spike skimmed over various Nigiri and Sashimi platters. They had everything from Sake (Salmon) and Maguro (Tuna) to Ebi (Shrimp), Saba (Mackerel) to Unagi (Smoked Eel), and Ika (Squid) to Tako (Octopus). They also offered traditional sushi rolls from avocado to cucumber and asparagus, as well as the Califoalnia and the Fillydelphia. There was even a Las Pegasus roll!

Celestia glanced over at Spike, smiled, and decided to tease her son a little about the conversation they had in the limo earlier.

“I’ve got a feeling today could be your lucky day,” she told him as she put her menu down. “I’m telling you, you could turn around right now and meet the girl of your dreams!”

Spike didn’t believe her, especially since he had already “met” her when he saw her standing by the coat room on the way in. Then he turned his head and saw a cute redhead with stunning golden streaks standing next to him.

She was dressed in a sleeveless blue-and-white tunic with a matching skirt and sash, a white apron that held her notepad, and a pair of wooden sandals. Her skin was the color of honey with the remnant of a great summer tan, her eyes were a vivid blue, and her legs were long and shapely.

“I’m Sunset Shimmer. I’ll be your waitress,” she introduced herself. “The fish is fresh. But be careful, so are the geisha girls.” She giggled. “So, what’ll it be handsome?”

Spike’s mouth hung open.

“Hamana-hamana-hamana...” he muttered. He quickly composed himself and said, “Well, I’ve never eaten here before. What do you recommend?”

“Oh, gosh, I could hardly say,” Sunset replied. “We have good Teriyaki...”

“I’ll try it,” Spike said quickly.

“And I will have the Califoalnia roll,” said Celestia.

Sunset wrote down their orders and smiled, “I’ll be right back.”

She disappeared into the kitchen as Spike sipped his water. Applejack was beautiful, but Sunset was just as stunning; maybe even more so. Spike glared at his mother and said, “Not a word!” and Celestia just smiled again.

Sunset came back with Spike’s Teriyaki and Celestia’s Califoalnia roll. Spike’s dish consisted of cooked beef, carrots, broccoli and squash. Spike took a bite and his eyebrows shot up.

“Oh, my Faust!” he breathed.

“What?” Celestia asked.

“It’s like I’ve never eaten squash before,” he replied.

“You have,” she said.

“Not like this,”

It was fresh, just like Sunset had said, but to Spike it was amazing. The vegetables had been cooked in such a way that they were warm, but they retained their shape and still had a bit of crunch to them. To Spike, there was nothing worse than vegetables that had been overcooked to the point that they were mush.

He preferred his squash sautéed in butter or a little oil, but he had never come close to matching this, and he was soon shoveling into his mouth.

“Now THAT’S how you cook a squash!” he thought.

And the sauce it was marinating in was actual Teriyaki sauce, made in-house, not something one bought at the store. The taste of ginger was strong. It was incredible, and Spike ate every bite.

Celestia paid for both of their meals and told Spike that she was headed for a meeting with the resort’s owners. That meant Spike was free to wander around and see what the hotel had to offer.

As he clutched his briefcase, he thought about going on one of the rollercoasters, hanging by one of the indoor pools or taking in a show. Then suddenly, a big, brown owl swooped into the restaurant and landed on the bar, right next to Sunset Shimmer.

It was difficult for Spike to tell exactly what kind of owl it was, for it had the dark eyes of a barn owl, but the plumicorns (those tufts of feathers that look like big eyebrows) of a great horned owl.

“Oh, hello, Owlowiscious, perfect timing as usual,” Sunset said. “Be a dear and bring this handsome gentleman to see your mistress, will you?”

The owl hooted in reply, which Spike found quite annoying, and it flew back out the way it came in.

“Take me where?” Spike wondered.

“You’d better hurry if you don’t want to lose him,” she advised.

“Thank you,” Spike told her.

With a last glance at Sunset, Spike took off after the owl.

“Such a handsome guy,” she sighed. “Why does he look so familiar?”

The Princess of Friendship

It was two in the afternoon when Spike stepped over the threshold of the casino floor.

It was densely packed, equal parts tourists wandering in from off the Strip and weekend warriors from Manehattan (some in suits and ties). Its atmosphere was luxurious and the décor was colorful. Huge crystal chandeliers hung from the cavernous ceiling. Gaming tables, widely spaced, were scattered around the huge room, slot machines fanned out on all sides. Poker games were in progress at three, a spirited game of Pedro at the fourth, a quiet game of whist at one isolated in the corner; and near the center of the room stood a Roulette table with a solid platinum Roulette wheel and half a dozen players watching the croupier as he dexterously set the ball clinking onto the spinning wheel’s cone.

Crowds three people deep were gathered around each of the tables; most of the men played cards, laughing hard at many points during their games, while many others just talked with one another, sipping drinks at the bar, with scantily clad women hanging on their elbows.

It was unreal.

“Look at these people,” Spike thought, “blinded by glitter and the almighty dollar.”

As he moved through the crowd, Spike’s experienced eye picked out the over-sized bouncers, real plug-uglies with narrow eyes that Spike knew were quite dexterous with sheath knives, rabbit punches, and groin kicks. The buxom showgirls that brushed past him undoubtedly had concealed carries tucked into their garters or worn as belt ornaments in beaded leather holsters. Spike didn’t blame any of them for this added precaution; he knew from personal experience just how valuable those small but lethal surprises could be in a pinch. As Owlowiscious led him across the casino floor, Spike absently patted the derringer resting in his fob pocket, thankful that no one had found him secretly packing.

“Did you see the Princess walk by?” one of the patrons asked. “Maybe we’ll win big now!”

“She touched my hand!” another exclaimed. “She really touched me! Now, I’ll win the jackpot for sure!”

“I want her to touch me, too!”

“Twilight, s’up?”

“Hi, Twilight!”

“It’s Twilight!”

“Hey, Twilight!”

“Hi, there!”

Owlowiscious led Spike to a group that had gathered around a woman with long sapphire hair, wearing a low cut violet vest, matching miniskirt and heels.

“Is she the one everyone’s been talking about?” Spike thought.

She had been walking toward the Blackjack tables when a coin rolled across the floor and stopped at her feet. She picked it up and spoke to a man sitting at one of the slot machines.

“Excuse me, did you drop this?” she asked him.

“Yeah, I did. Thanks a lot,”

She inserted the coin into the machine for him. He pulled the handle, got a match, and coins spilled out of the machine.

“Unbelievable,” Spike whispered.

“Everyone loves it when Twilight shows up,” one woman said.

“Loves it,” another added.

Spike continued to follow Twilight until she took her position behind the horseshoe-shaped table. Two people, a prim, beautiful woman dressed in red, with high, platinum blonde hair and green eyes; and a tall, strongly built man, with green eyes, wearing an amber suit coat, a bolo tie and a white ten-gallon hat, were already seated at it.

These two were big spenders, Spike could tell.

If they were betting twenty-five dollars a hand at Blackjack—or a roll of the dice, a pull on the slots, a spin of the Roulette wheel—(and they were) they got a special room rate and a smile from the desk clerks. Seventy-five bucks a hand, they might get a free room. A hundred and fifty or higher—that was room, food, and beverages. But if they were High Rollers—betting five, ten, twenty thousand a stay—they were going to get the full treatment: a ride from the airport, a bucket of Champagne waiting for them next to the Jacuzzi, and a host to always offer them something—a free room, a free flight, tickets to shows, fights and private parties—and make sure everything ran smoothly.

The man in the bolo tie and cowboy hat played smoothly; making small talk with the dealer, barely looking at his cards, and making some of the strangest plays Spike had ever seen. He kept hitting like a madman, for the most part, taking as many cards as he could—even busting with four cards after hitting on a seventeen. He never celebrated when he won, and never complained when he lost. In fact, he didn’t seem that interested in the game at all.

Spike watched him and the lady in red for a few more minutes before he approached, taking note of the sign that said that the table’s minimum bet was ten dollars and the maximum was five thousand.

The dealer looked at Spike and asked, “Try your luck, friend?”

Spike shrugged and said, “Why not?”

“After all, all work and no play makes Spike a dull boy,” he added in thought.

The cowboy turned to Spike and smiled at him.

“You’re new around here, aren’t ya?” he asked.

“Yes,” Spike answered.

“My name’s Bushel. Come on, sit down,”

“The Princess of Friendship, I presume?” Spike addressed the dealer as he took the stool next to Bushel and placed his briefcase beneath it.

“Yes, I am Twilight Sparkle,” she replied. “How’s your stay been?”

“Just checked in,” he said. “I’m Spike, by the way.”

“It’s nice to meet you. Good luck,”

“Thank you,”

Blackjack, also known as 21 (the number which defined the object of the game), was the most widely played banking game in the world—a card game where the players played against the dealer rather than each other.

It was also the only card game where a smart player had a mathematical advantage over the house, which always had an edge at the table.

But that was the nature of the game—and it was no different than any other business. One didn’t open a theater and let people in for free. They were charged for admission, the entertainment. That’s what Las Pegasus did. And the house’s edge was like the price of the ticket. Whenever people sat down to play a game, or pull a lever, the casino was providing them with an entertainment service. They paid for that service by losing more than winning. But the house didn’t always have an edge (except with the cheaters and the card counters); card counters did not alter the natural outcome of the game, nor did proficient counters employ devices to help them beat the house. But Spike Drake was different. He knew how to get his entertainment for free—and then some.

Spike knew how Blackjack was played. The dealer dealt each player two cards, they added them together and tried to get closest to twenty-one without going over. If a player wanted another card, they pointed to the table (or said “Hit me”); and if they wanted to stand, they waved their hand (or said “I’ll stay”).

The object of the game was to beat the dealer one of three ways: get 21 points on the first two cards, reach a final score higher than the dealer without going over 21, or let the dealer draw additional cards until their hand exceeded 21. And if the player hit twenty-one on their first two cards, the casino paid them one and a half times their bet.

The rules were fairly simple, as card games went; but the strategy was tricky, and Spike was by no means an expert. The players went first, the dealer second. The dealer’s play depended on the casino, but usually they would hit until their cards added up to seventeen—or until they busted. If a player got pairs of the same card, they could split them and have two bets going on separate hands, and (depending on the casino) they could double their bet—double down—on the first two cards, taking a single card (a Face Card) in the hopes of beating the dealer for more money. That gave people a chance to increase their odds, but it also doubled the risk. The only proper time to split pairs was when the dealer’s hand would be weaker than each of the players’ two new hands.

Picture Cards, also known as Face Cards (Kings, Queens and Jacks), were worth ten points, while Aces were worth either one or eleven (depending on the rules of the house), and all the other cards (2-10) were worth their pip value.

“Run ‘em, Twilight,” Bushel said. “Make ‘em nice and friendly, ‘cause ain’t no bread in the house.”

“Place your bets,” Twilight told them.

The lady in red placed a single green chip, worth $25, on the betting circle; Bushel wagered two black chips, each worth $100; and Spike bet one of the complimentary chips that Miss Pommel had given him at the front desk; a yellow chip worth $1,000.

Twilight’s hands moved gracefully as she dealt each of them two cards face down, then two for herself. Then she flipped over one of her cards, revealing the Queen of Clubs.

Contrary to what many novices believed, the goal of blackjack was not to get the best hand possible; it was to beat the dealer’s hand. The key was to understand that the dealer’s advantage was based entirely on the fact that they drew after the players. The dealers were constrained by the house rules, which meant they were usually forced to hit until they either reached seventeen or busted. Therefore, the players’ strategy was to try to calculate what the dealer’s most likely hand was going to be, and then draw until their own hands were higher. If the dealer was most likely to bust (and they did about 28 percent of the time), the players simply needed to stand on any two cards over eleven.

The players’ calculations were based on what the dealer was showing. If the dealer had a strong card—like a ten or an ace (which Twilight did)—then the odds were high the dealer had a good hand and wouldn’t need to take a third card from the deck. That meant the players had to keep hitting until they had a strong hand for themselves. If the dealer showed a weak card—like a five or a six—they would most likely take that third card, and the players could usually stick with their first two cards. Therefore, the odds of busting were high, and it made sense to stand.

The lady in red looked at her cards. She had the Ten of Diamonds and the Five of Clubs. She paused, trying to decide whether to stand or take the next card.

“Now, Silver Waves, you’ve got fifteen and the dealer’s showing ten,” Bushel said to her.

“Do I hit, Bushel, or do I stand?” she asked.

“If you wannna win, you’ve gotta hit,”

Spike was actually surprised that the cowboy was so quick to offer advice... and that the lady was so quick to ask for it. Then again, they were both playing against the house and (in a way) had a common foe in Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight didn’t seem to mind.

“Hit me,” she told Twilight.

Twilight gave her another card: the King of Clubs. That put her at 25.

“Player busts,” Twilight said.

“Damn!” Silver Waves cursed.

Bushel looked at his cards: the Three of Spades and the Nine of Spades. He smiled at Twilight and said, “Hit me.”

She dealt him another card—the Nine of Clubs.

“Twenty-one,” Twilight said.

Spike looked at his cards and said, “Hit me.”

The Three of Clubs.

“Hit me,”

The Two of Hearts.

“One more,”

“Boy, you’ve got brass!” Bushel stated. “Do you know what the odds are on a five-card Charlie? Tartarus, you’re just throwing your money away!”

“If the object of the game is to get a total of 21, I will definitely need another card,” Spike replied. He looked at Twilight again and said, “Hit me.”

Twilight dealt him one more card—the Nine of Hearts—that, plus the previous two, put Spike at fourteen. Then he revealed the first two cards Twilight had dealt him: the Two of Clubs and the Five of Hearts.

“Twenty-one,” Twilight said.

Even with the final Nine, the two Twos, the Three and the Five prevented Spike from going bust.

“How’d you--?” Bushel began. “Well, shut my mouth!”

Twilight flipped over her second card, revealing the Nine of Diamonds.

“Dealer has nineteen. Good start,” she told them as she collected their cards and shuffled them back into the deck.

“Say, you’re not one of them card counters, are ya?” Bushel asked.

Twilight fumbled with the deck as she shuffled, but quickly recovered. She thought Bushel had directed the question at her, but she saw that he had been talking to Spike.

“The number of the cards and their values remain quite constant,” he told Bushel. “What would be the purpose of counting them?”

Bushel and Silver Waves nodded before Spike said, “Deal ‘em up.”

Twilight finished shuffling as they placed their bets. Silver Waves put down four greens chips ($100), Bushel wagered two black chips ($200) as he had before, and Spike bet two yellow chips ($2,000).

Twilight dealt them each two cards, and then two for herself. Then she flipped over one of hers, and it showed the Queen of Spades.

Silver Waves had the Ten of Hearts and the Two of Diamonds. She needed Nine to make 21.

“Hit me,” she said.

Twilight dealt her the King of Clubs, putting her over at 22.

Bushel had the Six of Clubs and the Seven of Spades—Thirteen.

“Hit me,” he said.

Twilight dealt him the Six of Hearts. That put him at nineteen and he stayed.

Spike glanced at Silver Waves and asked, “Weren’t you over at the Roulette table before?”

“I was,” she replied. “I like Roulette. Do you like Roulette?”

“Roulette’s for lonely widows and Frenchmen,” Spike said. “I also believe that slots attract an undesirable element.”

He looked at his cards, the Eight of Clubs and the Eight of Spades. He said, “Hit me”, and got the Five of Spades—Twenty-One.

Twilight flipped over her other card: the Jack of Spades. That put her at twenty. Everyone made the same bets again. Then Twilight dealt the cards and flipped over one of hers, showing the Ten of Spades.

Silver Waves glanced at her cards. She had the Queen of Diamonds and the Six of Spades (Sixteen), now she needed a Five to make 21.

“Hit me,” she said.

The Six of Diamonds—that put her at 22.

“Shoot!” she exclaimed.

Bushel looked at his cards, the King of Spades and the Five of Diamonds, and said, “Hit me.”

The Six of Clubs.

“Twenty-one,” Twilight said.

Spike got the Ten of Hearts and the Five of Clubs. He hit twice, getting the Two of Diamonds and the Four of Spades—Twenty-one. Twilight turned over her second card, revealing the Ten of Diamonds—twenty again.

As Twilight changed decks, Spike reached into his vest. He pulled out four stacks of orange chips, each worth ten thousand dollars—well beyond the table limit—placed them on the table, and pushed them into the betting circle.

“I was thinking of betting fifty chips this time. Is that all right?” he asked.

Bushel and Silver Waves went dead silent while everyone else within 15 feet of the table gasped and crowded around them.

“Fifty?” someone asked. “That’s half a million!”

“Big bet for a big man!” said another.

“What do you think that sign’s there for, to hold down the table?”

“How can he just--?” Silver Waves thought.

“I like your spirit,” Bushel told Spike, “but don’t you think you’ve won enough already?”

Twilight opened her mouth to speak and the pit boss, a tall, thin, auburn-haired beauty named Sassy Saddles, approached the table.

“Sure you don’t want to save a few bucks for the buffet?” Sassy asked.

“I want to see how well I do against three hands,” Spike replied.

“Whoa, dude! You’ve already established that you’re a risk-taker,” Bushel said, “but I didn’t think you’d live on the edge!”

“Oh?” Spike replied.

Sassy nodded to Twilight.

“Let him play,” she said.

“Another rich kid doing something stupid,” she thought. “This’ll be sweet.”

Silver Waves and Bushel decided to sit this one out. Spike looked at his cards (being careful not to show them to anyone) and said, “I’ll stay.”

Twilight flipped over the second cards for her three hands.

Her first pair was the Nine of Clubs and the Ten of Diamonds.

Her second pair was the Queen of Hearts and the Jack of Spades.

And the third pair was the King of Clubs and the King of Diamonds.

A nineteen and two twenties.

Spike smirked as he showed the King of Hearts and the Ace of Spades.

“Blackjack,” he said.

He won against all three of her hands.

“Boy, you are on fire!” Bushel exclaimed.

“He’s good,” one of the patrons said. “He is good.”

“Are you a professional?” Silver Waves asked.

Spike told them that he wasn’t, but they were beginning to suspect, at least from the way he played, that he was a serious gambler.

Up in the security office, Applejack and two of the enforcers, Caramel and Lucky Clover, were watching Spike on the monitor through a fisheye camera hanging from the ceiling in the casino pit.

“Can you believe this guy?” Caramel asked. “He’s taking the house to the cleaners.”

“More like he’s killing it,” Lucky Clover added. “Most of these people play like morons.”

“He workin’ a system?” Applejack asked.

“Nothin’ I ever seen,” Caramel replied. “He just rakes it in.”

“A high roller?” Lucky Clover asked. “Somebody we’ve seen before?”

“He’s nobody,” Caramel said.

“How much you want to bet now?” Twilight asked.

Spike organized and restacked the pile of orange chips in front of him. He reached for 120 of them—1.2 million—and shoved them toward Twilight.

“That’s it, Spike, show them who’s boss,” Bushel said. “It’s people who come here and blow the family nest egg that built this town. Not this pretty boy.”

Twilight had the Queen of Spades and the Ten of Hearts.

Spike got the Jack of Spades and the Ace of Diamonds.

“Blackjack again,” he said. “I think I’ll cash out before you run out.”

“Is something wrong?” Twilight asked. “Don’t tell me you’re getting cold feet all of a sudden.”

“Not really,” Spike replied. “In fact, it was just starting to get interesting.”

Even half the money Spike had just won was more than enough to make any man’s hands tremble, but it wasn’t something that would impress the people who really knew him.

They would be much more interested in the briefcase beneath his stool.

Spike paused. Then he took his seat again after a moment of thought.

“How would you feel about letting me play one more game?” he asked.

Silver Waves gasped and said, “No! Don’t do it!”

“What an idiot!” Twilight thought.

“How much you want to bet?” she asked.

Spike placed his briefcase on the table, unlocked the catches, and opened the lid to reveal it stuffed with polished coins.

“I was thinking ten million... In silver,” he said with a smile.

“S-seriously?” Twilight asked. “That’s crazy!”

“Don’t tell me you’re getting cold feet all of a sudden,” Spike echoed. “Then again, after losing to me that many times in a row, I don’t blame you.”

“You stupid, arrogant rich son of some heiress!” Twilight cursed in thought. “How dare you underestimate me! Damn you, acting like this is nothing! Not that it matters. I’m going to win anyway!”

After Twilight shuffled the deck, Spike cut it with one hand. Silver Waves couldn’t help but whistle at Spike’s skill and Bushel said, “Pretty smooth.”

“What the Tartarus is he doing?” Silver Waves thought. “And yet, he’s so calm... How can he be so calm?”

Twilight was wondering the same thing.

“How the Tartarus is he so calm? He doesn’t think he can actually beat me, does he? No! There’s no way! It’s impossible! He doesn’t know what cards I’m going to draw! There’s no way he can best me! I’m going to deal myself 20, then I’m going to win, and he’ll end up with no way to win it back!”

Twilight dealt the cards and flipped over one of her own: the Ten of Spades.

Spike looked at his cards, the Three of Hearts and the Nine of Diamonds, and placed them, face down, on the table.

He looked at Twilight and smiled again.

“Why I ought to--” she thought furiously.

“Hit me,” Spike told her.

“That’s it!” Twilight thought. “You are dead!!”

And she dealt him another card: the King of Diamonds.

That, plus the Nine and the Three, put Spike over at 22.

Twilight flipped over her second card, the Queen of Spades; that put her at 20. She smiled.

Spike flipped his own cards over, revealing the Three of Hearts and the Eight of Diamonds. Those two, plus the King, put him at...

“Twenty-one,” he said. “Lucky me.”

Twilight’s jaw dropped as Spike swept up his winnings. He stuffed the yellow and orange chips into his briefcase with the silver. Then he tossed Twilight a single red poker chip (worth only $5) as a tip as he walked away, and she crushed it between her fingers in anger.

“Well, I’ve already found one of the cheaters in this building,” he whispered to himself as he walked.

“I’ll be sure to let the owners know,”

Spike spun around and came face to face with the pretty blonde that was standing next to the coat checkroom when he walked into the lobby; the resort’s head of security—Applejack.

“Don’t worry,” she told him. “I’ve been keeping my eye on Twilight ever since she started work. I always knew she was countin’ cards, I just couldn’t prove it... until now. Come on.”

As Spike followed Applejack, they passed a handsome dandy seated at one of the Poker tables with a lady on each arm.

One had dark skin, a white and gray Mohawk, and wore a short, strapless, zebra-print dress and black heels. The other was pale and dressed in loose shorts, a simple T-shirt, an open purple jacket and cute shoes with high pink socks.

The dandy smiled as he placed his cards on the table.

Two Pair: Twos and Fours.

The dealer showed his own hand: Four Aces.

“I can’t seem to win!” the dandy exclaimed.

“Fancy, you’ve got to know when to bluff, and when you have played enough,” the woman in the zebra dress said.

“I’m too upset to play!” Fancy Pants said exasperatedly. “No, you’re right, Zecora. I should take it easy,” he added. “Winning is a matter of time and losing is part of the fun, in its own way.”

Fancy’s other escort wasn’t paying any attention. She was looking around the casino, daydreaming.

“I know my true love is out there,” she thought. “Somewhere.”

Her eyes stopped on a young man following the head of security to the bar.

“Ooh la la! Mon petite hunk!” she whispered with a gasp.

She reached into her purse, pulled out her trusty hand mirror, looked at her reflection, and then popped a peppermint into her mouth.

“If looks could kill, you would not be feeling so well,” she said to herself. “Beware my little chocolate croissant! I am going to gobble you up!”

Spike followed Applejack to the huge mahogany bar, which ran an equally long mirror with shelves of bottled liquor, imported wines, and an assortment of fine whiskeys. Spike caught sight of the bartender, who was cleaning a shot glass. He glanced up to meet Spike’s gaze as Spike found himself a stool and sat down.

“Set this one up, Joe,” Applejack said, “on me.”

“Sure thing, AJ,” the bartender replied. “What’s your poison?”

“Scotch on the rocks,” Spike answered. “And I mean ice,” he added. “Thanks,” he said to Applejack.

“My pleasure,” she replied. “I’ll be honest I haven’t seen a beating like that since somebody stuck a banana down my brother’s pants and turned a monkey loose. I’d stay and have a drink with ya, but I’ve got to help clean the pool. Staff’s spread thin mopping up last night’s party, and they need me.”

Spike nodded as Applejack left and he saw another beautiful woman standing a few feet away and waving at him.

She had an unbelievable body. Her flawless white skin glowed. She had high cheekbones under large brown eyes, and her light gray, almost pink, hair fell down past her shoulders. Her hips were wide and her derrière firmly voluptuous. And a quick glance at her generous, upthrust breasts that the wrinkled shirt she wore failed to hide, told Spike that this woman was very well-endowed. Her breasts were large but firm, so firm that they bobbled only a little as she moved.

“Bonjour, mon amour,” she said.

“Moi?” he asked.

“Oui,” she replied. “Vous.”

Spike turned away to avoid her gaze, exhaled into his hand to check his breath, then faced her again.

“I apologize, that was a bit forward,” she said as she held her left hand out to him. “My name is de Lis. Fleur de Lis.”

“Spike Drake,” he replied.

His eyes dropped to her hand as he shook it, and he noted that she wasn’t wearing a ring.

“Enchanté et ravi to meet you,” she said. “Oh, I feel such a fool, forgive me, but I must say it. You are handsome. Is this your first time in Las Pegasus?”

“Is it that obvious?” he replied.

“Well, you are going to absolutely adore it,” she told him. “It is a wonderful, decadent city. We must get together sometime—all night parties, dancing, and, if you’re into it... midnight skinny dipping. Well, I must get back to my game. Au revoir!”

Spike’s heart pounded in his chest.

“At last, I have found you, my totally awesome beau!” Fleur said as she returned to Fancy Pants and Zecora.

She had felt like butter in his hand.

Spike turned around again to find his Scotch sitting on the bar, waiting for him. He downed it all and grinned from ear to ear.

“Sick parties... awesome rides... beautiful women -- I love this place!”

“I hate this place!” Rainbow Dash shouted.

While Spike was having a great time wandering around the resort, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Soarin and Zephyr Breeze had been scrubbing the drained pools off the outside patio.

They were joined by Applejack and one of the waitresses from the Sweet Snacks Café. A sweet, raspberry-haired girl named Pinkie Pie.

“This bites!” Zephyr exclaimed.

“That’s resort life for you,” Pinkie said.

“What do you mean?” Dash asked.

“Well, usually we get the afternoons off. Then some kid has a diaper malfunction in the pool, and bam! We’re on scrubbing duty,” Pinkie explained.

“Eeyup,” Applejack added. “We all pitch in where we have to, whether it includes mopping up vomit or hosing down the sidewalks.”

“Okay, people, listen up,” Discord said as he walked along the pool’s edge. “Do I need to remind you what will happen if the investors return and see this? I will be fired, which means all of you will be too! Comprendez-vous?”

They all nodded in understanding.

“Okay, here’s a list of things I need done by this afternoon,” he told them as he handed a piece of paper to Rarity. “Tick-Tock, on the clock, the remains of that party aren’t going to clean themselves up!”

Suri Polomare, who was standing on a second-story balcony overlooking the pool, shouted down to them, “Anyone know how to get ketchup out of carpeting?”

Discord hung his head and mumbled, “I hate my life.”

As he walked off, the gang found themselves disliking Discord more and more. They didn’t care for him or his attitude towards them. He was just like the manager in every hotel-based sitcom they’d ever had: sweet with the customers (albeit begrudgingly), and a petty tyrant with the help.

But he had to be.

It was his job to make the guests’ stay as pleasant as possible. He sought out the big players, the high rollers, and gave them free stuff to keep them at the resort. He brought them to the casino—and he made sure that they kept coming back. Whatever it took, he kept them happy.

Once Discord was gone, Fluttershy asked, “So, where are you all working? I’m bussing drinks on the casino floor.”

“A Bunny Girl -- nice,” said Rarity. “Decent tip potential, except you have to wear those embarrassing outfits.”

“You are looking at the Midnight Lounge’s newest bartender and operator of the Wild Blue Yonder,” Soarin said proudly.

“What?!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “That’s my job!”

“Is your name Soarin?” he asked her.

“No,” she replied curtly.

“Then it’s not your job,” he said as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a letter of confirmation. “I got this in the mail two weeks ago.”

Rainbow Dash yanked the letter from Soarin’s hand and she skimmed it.

“Okay, there has to be a mistake!” she said. “They said it was practically guaranteed!”

Rarity took her reading glasses out of her blouse’s breast pocket and examined the letter herself.

“It’s legitimate,” she stated. “They do this all the time -- move staff around wherever they need to. It’s something you’ll have to get used to.”

“That is so unfair!” Dash exclaimed. “So what am I supposed to do?”

“Let me check,” Rarity replied as she pulled her walkie-talkie out of her own back pocket. “Coco, darling, could you be a dear and check an employee posting for me under Rainbow Dash?”

“Hold on,” Miss Pommel replied. “Rainbow Dash... That’s housekeeping.”

“A maid?!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “No! Oh, no! I don’t even clean my own room!”

“Maybe it won’t be that bad,” Fluttershy said.

“Cheer up,” Soarin told her. “I might even give you free drinks.”

“Have you forgotten who I am?” Dash asked.

“No, you’re the new maid!” he replied.

“I am a three-time International Blackjack Champion,” she boasted. “I’m ranked number 56 in the world!”

“Yeah, 56 in the girls’ category!”

Fluttershy gasped as Applejack’s jaw dropped. Rarity said, “Oh, no, he didn’t!” and Pinkie added, “Oh, he did.”

“Well, I won’t be playing with girls at the city’s Poker Tournament this year!” Dash stated. “So if you’re man enough to enter, I’ll be happy to show you just how much butt I can kick!”

“Bring it on, Crash!”

“I will! And don’t call me ‘Crash,’ Clipper!”

“That’s enough, both of you!” Rarity shouted, stepping between them. “We still have to clean the hot tub filters and put together new deck chairs. You can kill each other after, not before.”

“What happened to the old ones?” Fluttershy asked.

“They had a huge bonfire in the parking lot last night and ran out of wood to burn,” Rarity explained.

“Those were some good hotdogs,” Zephyr said.

“Damn it!” Soarin shouted. “Why couldn’t we have arrived yesterday? I love a good weenie roast!”

“Ugh!” Dash exclaimed. “You are so annoying!”

After they finished scrubbing the pools and hot tub (filters included), they got to work on building the new chairs. As the guys worked on one, Zephyr Breeze leaned over to Soarin and whispered, “Hey, you think Rainbow Dash is into me?”

They both looked over at her, and she glared back at them.

“She is definitely not into you, man,” Soarin replied. “This is not the look of a woman who is ‘into you.’”

“Maybe you’re right,” Zephyr said.

Celestia sat on a couch, on the 31st floor of the resort, in the owners’ office. It was a blue room raucous with old photographs and even older carny posters.

They had told her to make herself at home, which she did. They offered her coffee and a smoke after introductions, but she politely refused both. She did, however, take a piece of cake. Celestia never turned down sweets.

The Flimflam Brothers, the owners, stood tall, and everything they did from the way they moved to how they spoke seemed to charm and confuse people, dazzle and disorient. Their vests were blue with white stripes, their hair red, their eyes the color of pistachios, their skin olive, and they both smiled big and wide.

“How are you enjoying our resort?” Flim asked.

“Everything is splendid as usual,” Celestia replied.

“Glad to hear it,” said Flam.

“We hope you continue to enjoy yourself,” Flim added.

“I always do,” Celestia said.

“And don’t worry,” Flim reassured her. “Our staff and we will take care of Spike and make sure he has everything he needs.”

“Everything within reason, that is,” added Flam.

There was a knock at the door and Flim called out, “Come in!”

It was Spike, flanked by Applejack and Rarity.

After they had finished washing the resort’s golf carts, the gang found Spike checking out the putting green close by. Then they offered to show him to his room... after a stop at the bosses’ office.

“Spike, this is Flim and Flam, the owners of the resort,” Celestia introduced their hosts.

“Nice to meet you,” Spike said cordially.

“We see you’ve already become acquainted with some of our employees,” Flim observed.

“Oh, yes,” Spike replied, smiling.

“We were just explaining to Spike that the summer season runs from the first of June to the end of August,” Rarity told the Brothers.

“I’m also here to report that I can confirm that our star dealer has been cheating at cards,” Applejack added. “And you have this guy to thank.”

“We know,” Flim replied.

He motioned to a wall of security monitors behind his desk, next to the colossal window overlooking the city. Footage of Spike and Twilight at the Blackjack table appeared on the largest screen.

“That was quite the display,” Flam added. “No one has ever been able to beat Twilight Sparkle at Blackjack. No one except us, of course.”

“She doesn’t let anyone win that she doesn’t want to,” Flim went on. “You’re not on any list, and we don’t have your picture in our card counter file.”

Spike exhaled unsurprised.

“I don’t count cards,” he stated. “Card counting is time-consuming, and it takes nearly 18 hours to show a profit. And those who do count cards end up losing more than those who don’t. It takes discipline, dedication, and good math skills. I calculate odds. I view the table and remember past hands and combinations and use that to determine my wager. When the odds are too high I simply sit out a hand. I just use my head to take advantage of an opportunity. I also can’t stand people who refuse to let others win.”

“I can vouch for that,” Celestia confirmed. “And from your description of her, Miss Sparkle seems to fall into that category.”

The Brothers were fairly sure that was as innocent, and honest, of an answer as they were going to get, so they didn’t press it any further.

Flam did, however, say, “Miss Sparkle can be ruthless at times, but that doesn’t change the fact that she is our most valuable employee. In her eyes, you’ve got two strikes against you: you’re handsome and you’ve been educated beyond Miss Soleil’s School for Gifted Youths.”

Spike didn’t like what he was hearing. He wasn’t easily intimidated, and he hated being bullied by thugs. But he kept his mouth shut.

“Thank you for bringing this to our attention, Applejack,” said Flim. “We will continue to monitor Twilight’s dealings. If this happens again, we will take drastic action.”

“And Spike,” Flam added, “if Miss Sparkle gives you any trouble, tell us and we will get her to back off. But be careful,” he warned. “From now on, we’re keeping our eye on you too.”

Spike nodded.

“If there is nothing else, sirs, we will show Mr. Drake, Miss Soleil, and the new staff to their rooms,” Rarity offered.

“Thank you,” Celestia said as she, Spike, Rarity, and Applejack left.

After the doors closed behind them, the Brothers’ returned their attention to the wall of monitors and zoomed in on the footage of Spike. As Spike cut the deck one-handed on the last game, one of the cards slipped down his sleeve before he handed them back to Twilight. Then, when his hand was still covering his cards (when he placed them back on the table), he subtly swapped one of them out for the one that was up his sleeve.

“The hand is quicker than the eye,” the Brothers quoted.

Normally they would have a cheater taken to the meat plant. By the next morning they would be served with eggs and toast in diners across the city. But Spike intrigued them. They figured he would be more valuable to them alive. And they started wondering how they could use him to their advantage...

“Impressive security system,” Spike commented as he, his mother, Rarity and Applejack crammed into the elevator with Fluttershy, Soarin, Rainbow Dash and Zephyr Breeze... and their luggage.

“Best there is,” Applejack said. “And I should know; I helped build it. Nothing happens in this place without me, and Flim and Flam, knowing about it. We catch everything.”

Spike looked up and noticed the camera right there in the elevator, watching them as they spoke. He had spotted several of them in the restaurants, the hotel hallways, everywhere but the restrooms. There were people who spent all day and night staring at TV monitors linked to every single one of those cameras, trying to see faces that they recognized, and Applejack was the one in charge of them.

“So, you all live in the hotel?” Spike asked.

“That’s right,” Applejack replied.

Spike figured the staff had their own living quarters, but he didn’t think that they would actually be on the premises. Most vacation spots, at least the ones he’d visited, had staff houses in a second location. But then he thought it was probably more convenient for the bosses and the employees that they stayed close by in case they were needed. That made more sense.

He noticed back in the owners’ office that they had the floor plans for the third floor, the staff quarters, sprawled on one of their tables. Ten in the west wing, ten in the center, and ten more in the east wing. Half of them singles, half of them doubles, all had magnificent views. Spike had wondered what it would be like to actually live in a hotel.

The elevator slowed to a smooth stop and the doors opened to the staff floor, which started with an open sitting area with a hallway at both ends (leading to the east and west wings). Spike and the girls exited the elevator (Celestia had gotten off on the twenty-seventh floor) and they saw one of the chairs and one of the sofas occupied by three young women in brightly colored outfits.

One of the two on the couch had luminous orange hair with brilliant yellow streaks, which was done up in a very high poof. She wore a purple and gold ensemble that consisted of a low-cut top, pale fingerless gloves, matching stockings, platform boots with a belt (both gold and decorated with numerous spikes), and tight shorts.

The second woman had twin purple pigtails with streaks of aquamarine mixed into them, and was wearing a sleeveless jacket, a crop top, dark jeans with matching boots, and a purple belt with a star-shaped buckle. And the third had a long arctic blue ponytail with Persian blue stripes. She was sitting on the couch with the first woman, and she was wearing a purple halter top, a loose necktie, a blue belt, and pink shoes with a matching miniskirt.

They were all tall, buxom, and as beautiful as sirens.

“Sonata, what’s happening?” Zephyr said as he fist-bumped the girl with the blue ponytail.

“What’s up?” she replied.

“So you’re the guy who just rolled into town and bested the star dealer at Blackjack?” the one with the orange poof asked Spike.

“I see news travels fast around here. I’m Spike,”

“Nice to meet you,” she replied.

“This is Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk,” Rarity introduced the trio. “They’re returning staff.”

“Which means we’re like goddesses around here, and should be treated as such,” Adagio (the one with the orange poof) said.

“Don’t listen to her,” Aria told them. “She’s just full of hot air.”

Their voices were low and attractive, with a touch of authority.

“The firing rate currently stands at forty-two percent,” Adagio said. “So one of you is not going to last the week.”

“My money’s on him,” Rainbow Dash said, pointing at Soarin.

“Dare I ask why?” he replied.

“I don’t know. You just have that going-to-get-fired look about you,”

“Says the woman who’s clearly jealous that I got the most awesome job here,” Soarin countered.

“All right, boys’ rooms are in the east wing, girls’ are in the west,” Rarity told them. “Zephyr Breeze, you’re in 301. Soarin, you’re in 303. Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, mi casa es su casa.”

They both gave Rarity perplexed looks.

“You’re rooming with me,” she added as Applejack and Spike returned to the elevator and rode it up to his floor.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy followed Rarity down the hall, which was comfortably wide. The wallpaper was silk, and electric lights ten feet apart from each other, and about seven feet off the ground, were masked behind cloudy, cream-hued glass that was fashioned to look like gas lamps.

Rarity unlocked her room and ushered her new roommates in. It was a two-bedroom suite (one of which was already taken by Rarity). There were several comfortable, inexpensive chairs and a couch, a coffee table and a TV. It wasn’t anything special, but it had a sweeping view of the city and a luxurious living room space, and they hadn’t expected much.

Rainbow Dash told Fluttershy that she would take the couch. Fluttershy thanked her and hauled her bags into the other bedroom. Then Dash checked her cell phone and saw that she got a text message from her brother Rainbow Blaze.

“How’s it going so far?” it said. “Get a chance to ride the Wild Blue Yonder yet?”

“Not yet,” she texted him back. “So far, it sucks.”

Dash sat on the couch, took a breath, and remembered why she was there.

“I’m not here for the job or the room,” she told herself. “I’m here for the gambling and the rides.”

Up on the 26th floor, Spike twisted his key in the lock of the mahogany double doors to his suite and swung them wide.

“This is it,” Applejack told him, “home sweet home for the summer.”

The doors opened to living room with leather couches and armchairs, an antique coffee table, plush cream carpeting, and a large hearth with a fire already burning. It was adorned by magnificent paintings and other artworks, and the balcony window ran nearly the length of the room. And beyond it the Sun was poised directly between two mountains, casting golden light across their peaks.

Spike could barely believe that he was standing in a suite. It was bigger than any hotel room he had ever seen. It seemed too big for just one guest; too big for even a king.

“This is where I’ll be staying?” he asked.

“Eeyup,” AJ replied.

He walked through the living room to the bedroom, where his luggage was. There was a large dresser to the left, a small closet just to the right of the doorway, and a bookcase stood just beyond the king sized bed. But Spike was quickly taken by the object that hung on the wall across from the bed.

“That’s a 92-inch flat-panel HD plasma screen,” he said. “I didn’t think they really existed!”

Spike placed his briefcase (still full of silver coins and casino chips) on the dresser. Then he picked up another object and a black duffel bag from the pile of luggage by his bed and placed them on either side of the briefcase.

He placed both hands on the duffel bag, feeling the stacks of bills inside: a little over one million dollars, all in hundreds, all of it his own money.

“And through there,” Applejack pointed to a door beyond the bed, “is the bathroom.”

Spike entered it, then closed the door behind him and let out a gasp at what she was seeing. The bathroom was grand; it seemed almost as big as the living room. The wall tiles were the most pristine white that he had ever seen. It had a large marble counter with the sink taking up at least a quarter of its length, in the middle. It had both a marble Jacuzzi big enough for ten, maybe eleven people, and a shower for four or five (not a combo shower-bath) and, of course, a toilet. All the fixtures and taps looked golden, though they weren’t made of actual gold.

“This is great,” he said.

“Oh! How elegant!” someone cried out suddenly.

Spike had started loosening his tie when he exited the bathroom to find Applejack standing by the window. Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had joined her, and they were staring at the second object Spike had placed on the dresser before he checked out the bathroom. It was a clear, crystal egg as big as Spike’s head, studded with diamonds, rubies and gold.

“It’s simply exquisite,” Rarity gushed. “A real treasure.”

“That’s a Fabergé egg. They were made expressly for the Czars of Russia,” Spike explained to the group. “It’s priceless. I know several people who are eager to get their hands on it.”

The girls were more taken by the objects that were inside the egg: a gold necklace with a heart-shaped ruby at its center, and a single playing card with a sapphire blue number seven on one side and a golden Sun on the other.

“That’s got to be at least 20 karats!” Rarity said, admiring the necklace. “Precision cut, flawless clarity, no inclusions, pristine facets, great color...”

“It was my Mother’s,” Spike told her.

“It’s beautiful, darling,” said Rarity. “I’ve never seen anything so stunning.”

“And that’s a Gate, isn’t it?” Rainbow Dash inquired about the card.

Spiken nodded.

“That is so awesome! I’ve never seen a Gate in real life before. I knew you were cool, but I had no idea you were a Gate Holder,” Dash added.

“What are you talking about?” Fluttershy asked.

“You mean you don’t know?” asked Rarity.

“Duh, that’s why she asked!” Dash replied.

“The Gates are a group of thirteen cards issued by a really famous organization known as the International Casino Dealers’ Guild,” Rarity explained. “These special cards were distributed throughout Equestria and the surrounding regions, and the people who possess them are known as Gate Holders.

“Well, that makes sense,” Fluttershy said.

“It’s common for extremely skilled dealers to challenge each other in Grand Gate Battles and earn the others’ Gates as a prize,” Rarity went on. “And whoever collects all thirteen Gates will be named the Guild’s top dealer, complete with all the fame and fortune that comes with it! Their name will be known across the entire world!”

“I can’t believe you have such a rare card,” Dash told Spike.

“I’m really not all that special,” he replied modestly. “I only got the card as a gift.”

“What?” Rarity asked. “You mean someone just gave it to you?”

“Yeah, some guy asked me to take his place in a game a long time ago,” Spike recalled.

Spike thought back to when he was still in college. The game was a single match of Closed Poker and his opponent lost after trading in his cards. The guy had nothing – the Six of Clubs, the Eight and Ten of Diamonds, the Queen of Hearts, and the Three of Spades – and Spike won with a full house: three Kings (Hearts, Spades and Clubs) and two Aces (Spades and Clubs).

The gentleman who had asked Spike to play for him stepped out of the crowd and said, “That was an incredible game. Please, take this. You’re far more worthy of holding it than I am.”

Spike could barely remember the gentleman’s face, but he promised that he would honor the man’s wish.

“I didn’t even really do anything,” Spike said softly. “I just got lucky.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Fluttershy replied. “Clearly you have what it takes to become the top dealer.”

Spike thought about it for a moment.

“I guess,” he said. “But it might just be a dream.”

Suddenly, they heard screaming coming all the way from the staff quarters. A scream from over 20 stories below, someone must have been in trouble—serious trouble. Spike and Applejack ran down the stairwell while Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy took the elevator.

Applejack exited the stairwell with Spike right behind her. They ran to AJ’s room and saw Sunset Shimmer standing in front of the door, a mixed look of terror, anger and disgust on her face. She was no longer wearing her sushi waitress uniform. She had changed into an orange halter top, blue jeans, black boots and a black leather jacket.

“Toilet backed up again?” Applejack asked after she caught her breath.

“Uh-huh,” Sunset confirmed. “Can you call maintenance?”

“Oh, I can call ‘em,” AJ replied. “They won’t come, but I can call ‘em.”

“Did you try telling Discord?” Spike inquired.

“It didn’t do any good,” Sunset answered.

“Word of advice, don’t get buddy-buddy with Discord, or the Flimflam Brothers,” Adagio advised him. “They’re all creeps and they’ll try to make you do all kinds of weird stuff.”

“They can be a pain, but they’re old-time showbiz,” Applejack added. “They’ve seen it all, most of it twice.”

“So you know how to win at Blackjack,” Aria said. “What else can you do?”

“Well, I play Poker and I shoot dice... I know the rules, anyway,” Spike replied. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, when we’re not working, you can find us gambling just about anywhere,” Sonata explained. “A lot of us are pretty rich, so the stakes can get pretty high.”

“And after seeing how you played against Twilight today, I’m sure you’ll get challenged sooner or later, so watch your back,” Aria warned.

“Challenged, huh?” Spike chuckled warmly. “And I thought my summer vacation was going to be boring.”

“So, do you have any other hobbies?” Sonata asked.

“Do you have a girlfriend?” Fluttershy added.

“Tell us everything!” Rarity said.

“I enjoy ballroom dancing, training horses, and running with wolves,” he replied, “as far as girlfriends go, not at present.”

“Did you make all that cash you bet against Twilight by playing casino games?” Applejack inquired.

“No, I actually got it from working as a model,” he answered Applejack.

From the way Spike dressed, Rainbow Dash guessed, “Scotch ads?”

“No, actually, it was a bunch of commercials for cologne and body wash,”

“I knew it!” Sunset exclaimed. “I knew I recognized you from somewhere! You’re the spokesman for Dragon Spice!”

She reached into her jacket, pulled out a magazine, and turned it to a spot she had marked.

On one page was a picture of herself in a black bikini and posing with a bottle of nail polish called “Shimmering Sunset”, and on the other page was Spike, shirtless, riding a white horse bareback (on a beach, no less) and holding a bottle of the body wash she had mentioned.

“Could you please do a bit for us?” Fluttershy asked.

Spike smiled, cleared his throat, put on a charming face, planted one of his feet onto one of the couches, and posed like a swashbuckler.

“Do you feel that?” he asked in a rugged, manly voice. “That’s the feeling of every woman wanting you and every man wanting to be you. If you switch to Dragon Spice, you can be the man that men want to be, and women want to be with. Look at me, I’m on a horse! Dragon Spice also available in Alpha Dragon and Dragon Wolf.”

The girls stared at Spike awestruck, seeing him in a whole new light. Not only was he handsome, he had parlayed that into serious money.

“If you worked here, I think you’d rake in some serious cash,” said Sunset. “Who knows, this place might even be your future.”

“Maybe,” Spike replied.

“You don’t seem to have a high opinion of gambling,” Applejack observed, “but you gamble anyway. What’s the draw?”

“The very risk, I guess,” Spike said, taking his foot off the couch. “The nature of gambling is terrifying. You remember the thrill that comes from the fear of risking it all. That’s what fascinates me. But I always seem to win.”

“And what if you lose?”

The group turned and saw Twilight Sparkle standing in front of the bank of elevators.

“I do not lose, Miss Sparkle,” Spike said. “I always set out to do what I plan to do, and what I want is mine. I get what I want, and I get what I like.”

“Not every time, I’m sure,”

“I do,”

“There will come a time when you can’t,”

“I’m not worried,”

“Then tell me something,” Twilight said. “Who walks around with ten million dollars in silver coins?! You don’t just stake something like that on a single casual game of Blackjack! You just don’t! You don’t!!”

“But isn’t that what makes it fun?” Spike replied.

Spike’s words stunned Twilight so completely that she stared at him, unable to speak, and the white of his eyes went killer red.

“People love to gamble,” he said. “And Blackjack is so simple to the point that it seems almost fair. It’s really the only game that people believe they have a chance of winning. Now let me ask something: five rounds, seven hands, and you dealt yourself 20 all but twice, even when the stakes weren’t high... Did you really think that I wouldn’t notice? I don’t count cards, and my memory isn’t photographic like some people, but I saw you deal no less than a dozen faces; kings, queens, jacks, and a lot of tens... Way too frequently for a single-decked shoe. Sure, you threw in a few random cards, but camouflage is a poor tactic.”

Twilight kept staring at Spike. She hadn’t thought that he would be paying such close attention to the cards. Her strategy was crude, and her method flawed.

The red began to fade and the white slowly returned to Spike’s eyes as he reached into his sleeve and pulled out a Nine of Diamonds.

The card she had originally dealt for him on that last hand.

“You play your games, Twilight Sparkle, and I will play mine,” he told her as he handed the card back to her. “And if I don’t know the rules, all the better, for it will be much easier to ignore them. Like you, I play to win, and I will win!”

They locked eyes for five seconds before being interrupted by Discord’s loud voice over the intercom system.

“All new staff are to report to training immediately!” he shouted.

“Wait! We have to train today?” Fluttershy asked.

“This blows!” Dash exclaimed.

“Get used to it,” Aria told them. “Management owns your butt, my butt, all of our butts.”

“No one owns this butt except me!” Dash shouted as she pointed to her own rear end.

“This isn’t exactly how I thought it would be,” Fluttershy said.

“Me neither,” Soarin added.

“If I don’t see your faces in 20 seconds, I will fire the whole lot of you!” Discord yelled. “This is not a threat, it’s a promise, and I don’t tolerate slackers! Move it, people! Move it! Fifteen... fourteen... thirteen... twelve... eleven... ten... nine... eight...”

Author's Note

Well, I hope you all enjoyed that. Join us next time when the new employees report for duty at the Flimflam Brothers’ resort, and are faced with their first big challenge after being warned that Discord likes to celebrate the first day of summer by firing at least one junior staffer. Who will be the unlucky one sent packing? Meanwhile, Starlight Glimmer she gets some unpleasant news of her own...

Another One Bites the Dust

Author's Note

For those of you just now joining us and/or have forgotten what happened in the previous two chapters: Spike Drake is on vacation with his adoptive mother, Celestia Soleil, at the Flimflam Brothers’ Resort in Las Pegasus.

He explored the hotel, enjoyed the casino, and met several of the key members of staff, including the resort’s top dealer, Twilight Sparkle, whom he outcheated in a game of Blackjack.

Later, in Spike’s suite, Rarity and Rainbow Dash were quick to point out that Spike owned a “Gate”, one of thirteen rare cards that are wagered in battles with other “Gate Holders” to determine the strongest dealer in the world.

Now, you’re all caught up. You’re welcome.

Another One Bites the Dust

The entire crew of Flimflam Brothers’ Resort’s employees never saw each other, and they never would. There were almost 200 in all, from full-timers to college students working for peanuts, and Discord could never get them all to assemble for one big meeting, so he briefed them in small teams. He assigned them their tasks, and those tasks varied from week to week, sometimes day to day. They were expected to act as a team and work together as a team.

In the staff locker room, Fluttershy stepped out wearing her cocktail waitress uniform, which consisted of a white strapless corset teddy, black pantyhose, a white collar, a white bowtie, white cuffs, white high heels, white bunny ears, and a fluffy white cottontail.

“Oh, my gosh. That is so bad,” Rainbow Dash said.

“I really have to wear this?” Fluttershy asked.

“It’s an authentic bunny girl outfit inspired by the tuxedo-wearing rabbit mascot of the Playboy Clubs that operated between 1960 and 1988,” Discord explained as he handed Rainbow Dash a skimpy Applewood French maid outfit.

“Okay, this is so lame!” Dash exclaimed. “I’d rather wear the bunny suit!”

“Well, research has proven time and again that guests prefer their housekeepers to look neat and respectable,” Discord replied. “It makes them feel like you won’t actually try to steal their possessions.”

Rainbow Dash scoffed like he had insulted her... because (in a way) he had.

“Just put it on,” Fluttershy told her.

“You should consider yourself lucky,” Discord added. “It took me years of working here to be able to dress like this.”

Even before prostitution had been legalized in Las Pegasus, the Flimflam Brothers knew people liked a little bit of sex appeal to go with the games and the shrimp cocktails. There were always a dozen Bunny Girls working the casino when it was going full-blast. There was at least one Bunny Girl on each team, and everyone from the enforcers to the dealers and the bellboys were expected to keep a big-brotherly eye out in case anyone bothered them.

Rainbow Dash disappeared behind the curtain of one of the changing stalls as Soarin and Zephyr Breeze stepped out of two more, wearing their uniforms. Soarin’s consisted of a very light blue collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, a dark blue vest with matching slacks, and black Italian loafers. Zephyr’s was a pale aquamarine polo shirt, faded blue pants and beat up brown loafers that looked more like moccasins.

“This is really itchy,” Zephyr said as he scratched himself.

He quickly forgot about his itchiness when he saw his sister’s outfit.

“Who wants to play Pin the Tail on the Playboy Bunny?” he teased.

“Make all the jokes you want,” Fluttershy countered. “At least I don’t look like a deadbeat down to his last dollar who just walked in off the street.”

“She’s right, man,” Soarin confessed. “You do.”

Shortly after, Rainbow Dash stepped out wearing her maid uniform, complete with black stockings, a short, black, frilly skirt; a white apron, a very low-cut top... and black combat boots.

“Ohh! Yikes!” Zeph laughed as he got ready to take a picture with his phone. “Now, that is bad!”

“Do it and you lose it,” Dash growled. “This is so humiliating!”

“Yes, ‘life is unfair. Daddy doesn’t love me.’ Blah, blah, blah,” Discord mock-whined. “Here are your nametags. You are required to wear these at all times while on duty.”

The four of them took their respective nametags (which had magnets on the back instead of the traditional safety pins) and fastened them to their chests.

“All eyes on me,” Discord stated as he walked briskly down the line. “You may have heard a rumor that I have a tradition of firing one new employee on their first day. That rumor is completely false.”

They smiled in joy and relief.

“Oftentimes it’s more than one,” he added.

Their smiles quickly faded.

“Your performance in training today will be rated by your supervisors as well as the guests, so I suggest that you give them your full attention,” he advised. “Any questions?”

Soarin raised his hand.

“Okay then,” Discord said, ignoring it. “I’ll see you after training.”

“I hope I don’t mess up,” Fluttershy said.

“Relax,” Dash told her. “How hard can serving drinks be?”

“I hope she’ll be all right,” she added to herself in thought.

As they headed out, another employee stopped and spoke to Zephyr Breeze.

“Hey, aren’t you the dude who drove the Jeep into the pool last night? That was awesome.”

“I have no idea what that guy’s talking about, Sis,” Zephyr told Fluttershy.

Fluttershy underwent a strict and vigorous training. She struggled with balancing drinks on her serving tray as well as trying to get through the swinging doors from the kitchen to the dining rooms without spilling anything. But that wasn’t the worst of it. As a Bunny Girl, she had to be able to identify 143 different brands of liquor as well as how to garnish 20 variations of cocktails. She was also required to master three key maneuvers:

First the “Bunny Stance”, which was a posture that was mandatory in front of the patrons. She had to stand with her legs together, back arched and hips tucked under. Then, when she was resting, she had to do what was called the “Bunny Perch”, which was sitting on the back of a chair, sofa, or railing without sitting too close to the patrons. And finally, the most famous maneuver of all: the “Bunny Dip”, where she had to gracefully lean backwards while bending at the knees with her left knee lifted and tucked behind her right leg. This pose allowed her to serve the drinks while keeping her low-cut costume in place.

Mingling with the customers was forbidden, and they were not allowed to touch the Bunnies, which Fluttershy didn’t mind. But several times she dropped dishes and had to catch them with not just both hands, but the top of her head, her mouth, and one foot. She was very lucky she had a good sense of balance.

Soarin didn’t fare much better. Not only did he have to learn how to make everything from a Red-eye to a Vodka martini with a Pernod float, he also had to throw out a 400-pound drunk and a 100-pound ballerina who had been speeding for three days.

“Get your act together!” one of the servers yelled.

“Vodka and Rose’s, please!”

“Hey, come on, man, I got four people waiting for me! I’m not going back there with three drinks!”

“Absolut on the rocks, Gilbey’s and a tonic, a Velvet Hammer, a Molson and a Cuba Libre!”

“This isn’t what I ordered!”

“Where’s my Scotch on the rocks?”

“A Bloody Mary, an Angel Tit, a white wine, Pink Squirrel, a Friar Tuck, and a Ding-a-Ling!”

Flailing behind the bar, Soarin knelt behind the cash register, and when he did, the drawer shot out, whacking him in the head.

Zephyr Breeze literally threw suitcases onto his luggage cart and was so easily distracted by the sight of female guests walking through the lobby, on their way to and from the pools, that he crashed said cart into an open elevator. Rarity and Bulk Biceps were not impressed.

As for Rainbow Dash, she had to vacuum the suites, make beds and sanitize the bathrooms. And even though scrubbing toilets was the worst part of being a maid, she actually had a bit of fun making faces at people behind their backs while she washed the windows.

At the front desk, Rarity saw a black limousine pull up to the front door to the hotel. Firelight, Starlight Glimmer’s father, exited the vehicle; escorted by Sunburst’s mother, Stellar Flare, with the “Great and Powerful” Trixie, Starlight’s other best friend, bringing up the rear. Discord was standing on the curb, waiting to greet them.

“I want to apologize for things getting out of hand last night,” he began.

“Relax!” Firelight told him. “It’s not you I’m looking for.”

Discord looked up to the sky and whispered, “Thank you.”

Sunburst finished making the rounds and returned to the 25th floor just in time to find Starlight finishing cleaning up the penthouse shortly before Stellar Flare walked in. Stellar was a beautiful woman, just a few inches shorter than her son, thin and attractive, with scarlet hair, smooth tan skin, green eyes, and beautiful hips and thighs.

“Hi, honey,” she greeted Sunburst with a warm hug and a kiss on both cheeks. “How is my favorite son? Are you hungry? I could call room service.”

Trixie came in and flopped onto the sofa... and its throw pillows.

“Hey, I just fluffed those!” Starlight snapped at her.

“Nice video!” Trixie countered, showing a clip on her smart phone of Starlight crowd surfing... naked.

“Where did you get that?” Starlight gasped.

“Sweetie Belle sent it to me,” Trixie replied. “She pulled it off some guy’s MyStable page.”

“Has Dad seen it?”

“Duh,” Trixie answered. “And I thought I was in trouble when I accidently set the stage on fire.”

“Where is Dad?”

“Getting Discord fired, probably,”

“He’s not going to have Discord fired, Trixie,” Sunburst said.

“He should. The guy’s a total troll. I’m surprised he can even dress himself in the morning,”

“So, Dad’s not mad at me anymore, is he?” Starlight asked.

“I wouldn’t say that,” Stellar Flare replied uneasily.

“‘Enraged’ doesn’t even begin to describe his state,” Trixie said.

“What do you know?” Starlight asked her.

“Enough to stay out of the news,” Trixie responded, “which is a lot more than you do, apparently!”

It was then that Firelight marched through the door and past his daughter. He didn’t even look at her, he was so furious.

“I will be in my office,” he stated.

Then he slammed the door behind him.

“So, Dad’s just going to talk to me a bit and then let it go... right?” Starlight asked hesitantly.

“I don’t know, honey,” Stellar Flare replied, still uneasy. “When he saw that guy drive your new car into the pool--”

“Starlight, get in here now!” Firelight shouted.

Starlight held her head high as she entered her father’s office and closed the door behind herself.

“She is in so much trouble,” Sunburst said to Trixie.

“That’s the understatement of the year,” Trixie replied.

They both looked at the door to Firelight’s office, then at each other. Then they sprinted to the door and put their ears to it.

Inside, Starlight stepped further into the dimly lit room. As she approached her father, she felt like she was in the opening scene of The Godfather. He was seated behind his desk; the newspaper lay across it, open to the business section, as usual. She gulped as she watched him turn the pages, checking his stock portfolio.

Firelight was tall and fit, with light grayish aquamarine hair and a high forehead—a good opposite to Sunburst’s mother. He was more grounded in the past and the present, whereas she was looking toward the future. He was very affectionate toward his daughter, rarely ever angry, his brown eyes were kind, and he almost never raised his voice. But now, as Starlight stood across from him, she knew that her father was really upset with her. Truth be told, Firelight hated Las Pegasus. The only reason he was in town at all was to help its preservation societies, which were slowly losing their foothold.

“You wanted to see me, Sir?” she asked.

“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about how to handle that party you threw,” Firelight said. “You know, I wasn’t always a millionaire historian with money invested in stocks and a casino-hotel...”

“Oh no,” Sunburst whispered to Trixie. “It’s worse than we thought. He’s giving her the ‘apprentice in a book store’ speech.”

“I started as an apprentice in a book store,” Firelight went on. “I worked my way through college, saved everything I earned, and built my fortune with my bare hands!” He never looked up from the newspaper. “Well, now I realize that I failed at something very important along the way. My own daughter doesn’t know the value of a dollar. You want me to start treating you like an adult? Very well—you can work for your spending money from now on. And I mean real work, for a paycheck. Which means your spa privileges, your credit cards, and your room here in this penthouse are all off-limits until you can prove to me you have a solid work ethic! You are moving into the staff quarters tonight and that. Is. Final!”

Starlight couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“I can’t just leave!” she protested. “I need time to pack!”

Firelight pointed to the door, an order for her to get out, and Starlight didn’t argue with her father any further. The “conversation” was over.

When she left the office, she saw Sunburst standing by the door leading to the hall... with seven carryon suitcases.

“You packed my stuff?!” she cried. “You knew about this? Why did you let me run around, cleaning everything up?!”

“I don’t want to live in a pigsty,” Sunburst replied.

Just then, there was a knock at the door and Sunburst opened it to reveal Discord and Zephyr Breeze standing out in the hallway.

“Hey, I’m here to move some bags,” Zephyr told Starlight.

“And I am here to give you this,” Discord added, handing her a nametag.

He slapped it into her open palm, and then he made her wrap her fingers around it... tightly.

“You traitor!” Starlight growled at Sunburst. “Fine!” she whined. “I can handle this! How hard can it be?”

“See you at 7:00 A.M.,” Discord said as he walked back down the hall.

“A.M.?” Starlight asked. “As in ‘the morning’?”

“Yep, that’s when you clock in for breakfast service in the Sweet Snacks Café,” Discord replied as he hit the elevator call button. “Oh, and come in a bit earlier,” he added. “You’ll need to get fitted for your uniforms.”

“Wait. I have to wear those ugly uniforms, too? Aargh! This is so humiliating!”

Starlight and Zephyr Breeze took the next elevator down. The ride was awkward, quiet, and uneventful. But when they reached the staff floor, Zephyr tried to start a conversation with her.

“These are the staff quarters,” he began. “You realize that?”

“Uh-huh,” Starlight replied shortly.

“And you’re going to be living here now?” he asked.

“Apparently,” she said.

“So, does that mean that you’re working here too?”

“Not for long,”

“So, I’m not your staff, am I?”

“No,”

“Well, in that case, you want to give me a hand? Because all of your stuff is really heavy,”

She picked up her two smallest suitcases, leaving him to wheel the rest on his cart, and he led her to Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash’s room. He told her that he would talk with Discord about getting her moved to another one, so the four of them wouldn’t be packed together like canned sardines.

“This is the worst day of my life,” Starlight said.

“Welcome to the real world. It sucks. You’ll learn to love it,” Zeph said with a smile. “Wicked party last night, by the way, totally worth whatever punishment you got.”

And he left her to unpack.

He walked back to the sitting room in front of the elevator bank, and he saw Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy sprawled out on two of the couches and Soarin ringing out his socks, which were totally soaked through with alcohol.

“That was seriously the hardest day of my life!” Dash exclaimed.

“None of you could have done as badly as I did,” Fluttershy replied. “By the way, Soarin,” She dipped her thumb and forefinger into the top of her uniform, pulled out a small wad of cash from between her breasts, and handed it to him. “You’re supposed to get ten percent from the waitresses.”

“I don’t deserve it,” he said.

“Hey, schmuck,” Dash told him as she took the wad from Fluttershy and stuffed it into Soarin’s shirt pocket. “You get money from girls every day?”

“Isn’t this when we’re supposed to have fun and do whatever we want?” Zephyr asked them. “You know, our break time?”

“Too tired,” Soarin said.

“Way too tired,” Dash added.

“I’m exhausted,” Fluttershy breathed.

“Come on!” Zephyr exclaimed. “We made it all this way today! We have to get one quick gamble in! Who knows when we’ll have an hour off again?”

“Okay,” Dash said. “I’m in. You in?” she asked Soarin.

“Sorry, I got to head down to the Midnight Lounge before the Dazzlings go onstage,” he replied.

“Fluttershy?” Dash asked.

“No, you go on ahead,” she said. “I’m going to do a load of laundry.”

“Okay,” Dash replied.

“Meet you back here in five,” Zephyr told her.

They quickly changed and were about to enter the elevator when its doors opened and they saw Discord standing in it.

“Oh, good, you’re still here,” he said. “I need you two to hall-sit tonight.”

“To what?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Hall-sit,” Discord repeated.

“What’s that?” Zephyr asked.

“Come with me and I’ll explain it,” Discord said with a smile.

So, they followed him into the elevator.

Later, down in the Midnight Lounge, Spike was enjoying his third double bourbon at the bar while he watched and listened to the Dazzlings sing against an underwater-themed backdrop.

“Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh… You didn’t know that you fell… Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh… Now that you’re under our spell...”

From the high-backed, velvet-upholstered booths (each one designed to give a maximum of privacy to the people seated at them) that lined the walls of the room, to the red carpet and the beer dripping from the spigots of all three polished taps, it was beautiful. Several people were seated at tables, having wine and cocktails; gin fizzes and margaritas, and the occasional rum and tonic.

After his little staring contest with Twilight Sparkle, Spike returned to his suite, where he changed into his swim trunks. He checked out the topless pool lounge (thankful that it was still there), where he learned that the showgirls hit the pools early. After a quick swim, he returned to his suite, showered, and enjoyed the lobster and caviar dinner and bottle of Champagne that had been sent up.

Now Spike, back in his half-suit ensemble, was telling Soarin (who was working behind the bar) how he had won a car from a slot machine. He didn’t even want to play the damn thing; he was trying to prove to a group of patrons in the casino just how rigged slots were... and it backfired spectacularly.

He inserted a single quarter into the machine and pulled the lever. The display stopped on one car, then another, and another. The machine’s lights flashed, it started playing music, and the crowd cheered.

He had won a yellow-and-black 2010 Camaro SS for twenty-five cents!

Spike was having some difficulty relaying said story. He was so fixated on the Dazzlings’ performance that he found himself tapping his hand on the bar.

Adagio stood front and center while her sisters flanked her right and left; they may have appeared as equals, but it was abundantly clear that she was the first among them.

They finished their second song and sent one of the showgirls to bring Spike backstage. He found them, and Suri Polomare (who was reading a tabloid magazine), behind the curtain.

“Looks like your friend is going home tonight,” Adagio told him.

“What are you talking about?” Spike asked.

“The one who’s keen on dancing -- Fluttershy,” Aria replied. “Coco came by earlier, looking for her.”

“Rumor is that she had the lowest evaluation,” Sonata added. “I hate to say it, but I think she’s toast.”

“Aw, that’s a shame,” Suri said sarcastically as she started to leave.

“Nice!” Adagio snapped at her. “Real nice!”

“What? Better her than me,” Suri replied.

Spike glared daggers into Suri’s back as she left.

“Thanks, Adagio,” he said.

Then he went off to find Fluttershy.

It took a while, but he eventually found her sitting on the floor of the staff laundry room, her back against the door of one of the washing machines, crying.

“Fluttershy?” he began awkwardly. “You okay?”

“No,” she replied as she fought her tears.

“What’s wrong?” he attempted.

“What am I even doing here?!” she wailed. “I don’t belong and I can’t seem to do anything right! I only came out here to learn how to dance, but I don’t even have enough money for lessons!”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” he said. “So, you want to learn how to dance?”

“Uh-huh,” she replied, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand.

“Come on. I’ll teach you,”

And he helped her to her feet.

“This is stupid!” Zephyr Breeze exclaimed. “We’re babysitting a hallway!”

“No, we’re babysitting the kids in 441 while their parents pig out at the buffet and listen to the Dazzlings,” Dash corrected him.

They were sitting on a bench across the hall from the room of Mr. and Mrs. Paradise (the guests who had complained to Rarity earlier that day about Starlight’s party), while their twin sons were inside playing video games. Something that Dash wished she could be doing at that moment instead.

Suddenly, the shouting and video game noises stopped.

“Okay, it just got really quiet,” Rainbow Dash said.

She pulled out her master key (all the maids had them), slid it into the lock and creaked open the door, only to be greeted with a pudding cup to the face. She slammed the door shut and plopped down on the bench again.

She reached into her sweatshirt pocket, pulled out her cell phone, and called her brother Blaze.

“Yo, Hay Burger!” he answered.

“Hey, bro, it’s me,” she said.

“Oh, hey Sis, what’s up?”

“I’m starting to think that this was a huge mistake,”

“What do you mean? What happened?”

“I got a job in housekeeping,” she said evenly.

“You’re a chambermaid?” Rainbow Blaze tried his best to hold back his laughter. “I’m sorry to hear that,” he said. “Did you at least get a chance to ride the Wild Blue Yonder yet?”

“Nope,” she stated. “I went down to check it out; the whole amusement park’s been closed until further notice!”

Zephyr Breeze started to nod off and Rainbow Dash was so focused on talking to her brother that neither of them noticed as the Paradises’ kids came out of their room on a sugar high and started running up and down the hallway.

“What about you? They got you mopping the floors yet?” Dash asked.

“No, we’re just chilling,” Blaze answered. “Cloud Break got a job at the Weather Factory, so Cinnamon Swirl’s the new manager.”

“No way!”

“Yeah, it’s awesome! She threw out the dorky costumes and we get to pick our own hours! Gotta go, we’re having a staff party after closing tonight, but listen! Call me back a week from today. If you still don’t like the job, I will come down there, to Las Pegasus, and I will bring you home myself. Okay?”

“Thanks, bro,” Dash said. “Later.”

“Later!”

She hung up, closed her eyes for a moment, and then slumped forward.

“What’s up with you?” Zeph asked.

“My big bro’s lame job just got awesome, and my awesome job blows! That’s what’s up!”

The Paradise kids ran past them again, screaming, and Zephyr asked, “Uh, should we be doing anything?”

“I say let them tire themselves out,” Dash replied.

“Cool,” he said.

They gave the soon-to-crash twins one faint, final glance, and their minds turned to better things.

Spike told Fluttershy to go into the ballroom before he walked over to the front counter... and Coco Pommel. As he walked his thoughts kept going back to that maid, Suri Polomare.

His vacation was going to be very unpleasant if she was going to be working there all summer. She had been nothing but a bitch. Normally, Spike hated that word (except in the literal sense--describing a female dog), but after what he witnessed in the Midnight Lounge earlier, he started to think that the Dazzlings hated Suri even more than he did. And if the Dazzlings didn’t like her, then it must have been because of something seriously bad about her.

Spike cleared his throat, which caused Coco’s head to bolt up from her sketch book.

“May I help you, Mister Drake?” she asked.

“Yes. Is there a way you could get rid of one of your maids?”

“I don’t understand,”

Spike swatted at a fly that was buzzing around his head.

“Are you familiar with Suri Polomare?” he asked.

Coco seemed to go stiff at the mention of the name, which gave Spike the feeling that there was some kind of history between the two women.

“I know her,” Coco said uneasily.

“Do you know that she talks down to your coworkers?” he asked.

“Yes,” she shyly admitted.

“Do you like her?”

“No, I don’t,”

“Do you wish she didn’t work here?”

“Yes,”

“Well, all that could end if you helped me get her fired,”

“I can’t do that,” she said. “It would be wrong.”

“Then don’t think of it as ‘firing’,” he replied. “Think of it as a simple ‘reorganization of the corporate structure.’ Better yet, think of it as ‘downsizing’.”

“I can’t just get her fired because I don’t like her,”

“What about Fluttershy?” Spike asked.

“What about Fluttershy?” Coco echoed.

“You saw how red her eyes were before I came over here,” he said. “She was so excited to be working here.”

“I thought she would make the load more bearable,” Coco replied.

“She still can. Just because she’s a cute and a little shy doesn’t mean that she can’t learn. Help me keep her on and I will help her so she can reach her full potential,”

“Please, leave me out of this,” she said. “I don’t want to get involved.”

“I am trying to save her from being sent home!” he told her. “Isn’t there anything I can do to prevent that?”

“Well, there is one thing,” Coco said hesitantly.

“What? Name it! Anything!” he said.

“Well, you could... take me out for coffee sometime,” she mumbled.

“What did you say?”

“Spike, I really like you and was wondering if maybe you’d like to go on a date with me!” Coco blurted.

“Whoa. Did not see that coming,” he thought.

“But doesn’t the company policy say that coworkers can’t date?” he asked.

“You’re not an employee,” she told him.

“Not yet,” he replied. “But I plan to be.”

“Well, I might be able to make sure that Suri would be let go instead of Fluttershy,” Coco said, “if you went out with me. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, and it doesn’t have to be more than once.”

“She’s blackmailing me?” Spike thought. “I’m impressed.”

Spike glanced up to the ceiling behind Coco, and the camera that was staring back, watching him.

He knew from his talk with Applejack in the elevator that she (and the Flimflam Brothers) would be watching him from above—the Eyes in the Sky—and after his little game with Twilight he knew he would have to be more careful.

Spike had heard the stories: back rooms, intimidation tactics, sometimes even violence. Spike was extremely lucky. They let him stay without incident. Neither of them had made a scene, they didn’t make a big fuss about it. They just gave him a single warning.

“From now on, we’re keeping our eye on you, too.”

They didn’t have him arrested, but they could have. In Las Pegasus, the absolute least security would have done was kicked him out of the casino. But at the Flimflam Brothers’ Resort, the “law” was a bit different: they let their customers play, but the dealers could screw around with the decks, shuffle at will, change betting limits—in short, make it impossible for people to win.

It was not what the players won that made casino owners nervous, it was the simple fact that they could win. Over time, nobody beat the house—that was the cardinal rule of Las Pegasus.

You screwed with the cardinal rule and you screwed with Las Pegasus itself. And sooner or later, Las Pegasus would find a way to screw you back.

They were just trying to protect their money, Spike understood that, and because he walked around with so much, they wanted to keep him there for as long as they could... so that they could “win” some of his and keep it for their own.

Smart.

On the exterior, Las Pegasus changed. But no matter how many makeovers the town got, deep down it was still the same—the flashy, modernized shell concealing a dark core. At its heart, it was all about greed. And by the early nineties, greed had reached new heights, and smart kids—the math majors and the engineers—wanted a piece of the action. People built casinos because they wanted to take other people’s money, and people came because they wanted to take the casino’s money. The rest was just window dressing. And the casinos made sure the system was rigged in their favor.

As the fly buzzed around by his hair, Spike got an idea. If he could maneuver the little beast to land on the front of the camera, on the lense, and stay for a spell, Applejack and the Brothers would temporarily be unable to see what was going on, and Coco might be able to do what she needed to so that Suri would be the one sent away and not Fluttershy.

It was a gamble, but Spike was willing to take it.

“All right, you’ve got a deal,” he told Coco.

And he aggressively swung his open palm at the fly, forcing it to hover over the counter and onto the camera’s lense. Coco immediately got to work, pulling up the employee files on her computer.

Suri Polomare, twenty-three, helped Sunset Shimmer and Pinkie Pie wait tables in the theme restaurants when things were slow. She gossiped with the other chambermaids, and worse, to some of the guests. And not only was she a gossip, she was lazy and the other senior members of staff resented her.

She would sit in the linen closets, reading gossip magazines, but whenever Discord went on one of his unscheduled prowls (and woe to the employees he caught resting their feet) he found her actively working, her gossip rags hidden under the sheets on a high shelf or tucked safely into her uniform pocket.

Nothing Spike didn’t already know (or hadn’t guessed).

Then he saw the evaluations: Fluttershy had a zero out of ten on hers while Suri scored an eight. Spike said a little prayer before Coco attacked the keyboard. A little fancy typing and she managed to swap the results so that Fluttershy had the 8/10 and Suri got the zero. Spike thanked Coco for her service, and continued on to the ballroom.

The ballroom was massive; large enough it could hold up to 300 people. The dance floor was polished hardwood, and aside from two people (excluding Spike and Fluttershy), it was empty.

The first was a tall, thin blonde lady in a black leotard, pink tights and matching legwarmers, who spoke with a heavy accent so that “w” sounded almost like “v”. She was talking to a young woman with wild cyan hair that was frosted cobalt at the tips, impossibly pale skin, dressed in blue sneakers, a purple crop top with matching shorts, a long white coat and rose-tinted sunglasses.

The tall blonde saw Spike enter, and Spike gasped and fell in formation.

“Who is that?” Fluttershy asked.

“You’re joking, right?” Spike replied. “That’s Hoofer Steps, the greatest ballet mistress of all time! The most talented and famous choreographer in the world, the universe, and beyond! She is beautiful. She is elegant. She is strong. She is powerful!”

“First position, second, third, fourth, and rest in fifth!” she commanded.

Spike put his heels together, toes pointed outward; then he pointed his feet in opposite directions, with his heels spaced roughly a foot apart. After that, he placed his right foot in front of his left so that the heel of his right foot was near the arch. And finally, he moved his right foot twelve inches in front of his left foot and formed two parallel lines with them, the heel of his right foot in contact with the big toe of his left and the heel of his left in contact with the last toe of his right.

The positions of the feet in ballet were the fundamental part of the dance.

Hoofer Steps clapped her hands.

“It is good to see that my greatest student has not forgotten what I taught him,” she said.

“Thank you, Miss Steps,” Spike said with a bow.

The other woman joined them and she handed Spike a business card.

Vinyl “DJ-Pon3” Scratch, Professional Disc Jockey.

“Let’s see what you can do,” Spike told Fluttershy. “Start stretching. Lesson number one: if you warm up properly, you’re not going to get hurt. And if you warm down properly, you’re not going to get hurt.”

“Very good,” said Hoofer Steps as he and Fluttershy stretched.

“And now for some music,” Spike said. “Vinyl, you got any jazz?”

The pro DJ nodded as she returned to her turntables and selected a record from her collection. The music began to play and the smooth, mellow sounds inspired Spike to bend back like a noodle.

“I admit, I do things a little differently than my mentor,” he said as he touched his toes. “Want to give it a try?”

Fluttershy nodded and she bent back and forth with him.

“Now, try flying,” he said. “Float through the air like a little butterfly.”

Fluttershy started flapping her arms like they were wings and she swooped around on the dance floor before she jumped through the air and did a flawless grand jeté.

“Brava!” Hoofer Steps said.

Suddenly, the music changed from jazzy brass to a fast-paced fiddle.

“What kind of music is that?” Fluttershy asked.

“You’ve never heard Celtic music?” Spike replied.

Fluttershy shook her head as Spike started doing a mixed soft shoe/tap dancing routine, then an Irish step dance.

“This is called a jig,” he told her. “It’s cool because you can do it in a really small space, even on a tabletop.”

After that, he did a graceful pirouette, then a little break dancing, and finished by lying on his side on the floor.

“I wish I could move like that,” Fluttershy said.

“With a little practice, and my help, you will,” he replied.

As they stretched again, Hoofer Steps spoke to Spike.

“You know, I am leaving in a few days, which means the dance instructor position will be open,” she told her former pupil. “If you want, I could put in a good word for you with the Brothers before I go.”

“You would do that for me?” he asked.

“Always,” she said. “You were the best I’ve ever had,” she added huskily.

Spike thanked his former teacher and followed Fluttershy out of the ballroom, smiling.

Applejack, Sunset Shimmer, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Soarin, Rarity, Coco, Zephyr Breeze, the Dazzlings, Twilight and Suri Polomare were all lounging around the sitting room in front of the elevators when Spike and Fluttershy returned to the staff floor.

“Can we go out again tomorrow before work?” Fluttershy asked Spike.

“Look at you. You’re a natural,” he said. “Definitely—Five a.m.”

“Heads up, ya’ll,” Applejack said.

They turned and saw Discord exit one of the elevators. He marched toward them, dressed in a full army uniform, complete with boots, a helmet with four stars, aviator sunglasses and blowing bubbles out of a corncob pipe.

“Listen up, maggots,” he began. “As you may have guessed, I have the unfortunate duty of sending one of you home today. And yes, I know I said the word ‘duty’.”

“Is he really gonna fire someone now?” Dash asked.

“Eeyup,” Applejack said with a nod.

“That is cold,” Zephyr added.

“The employee with the lowest evaluation today was...”

“Please don’t be me!” Fluttershy whispered. “Please don’t be me!”

“Suri Polomare,” Discord stated.

“What?!” she shouted.

She stomped past Discord and punched the elevator call button.

“Smell ya later, loser!” Aria said as the elevator’s doors opened.

“Aw, that’s such a shame,” Spike commented. “I hate to see that happen to such a nice girl.”

“Whatever!” Suri shouted. “I’ll send for my stuff later. Enjoy the lack of respect and even less free time!”

The elevator doors closed and Discord faced the rest of his employees.

“As of right now, you are all on six weeks’ probation,” he warned them. “If you’re late to work by one minute, that’s a strike. If you get anything less than a seven out of ten on a guest evaluation, that’s a strike. If you steal a half-eaten brownie that looks like it’s more than half instead of less than half, that’s a strike! Three strikes and you’re out. Do I make myself clear?”

They all nodded.

“The summer season starts tomorrow, people,” he added. “Punch-in is at 7:00 A.M. sharp. Don’t be late. And do not test me.”

He turned and marched back to the elevator. As soon as the doors closed behind him, Rainbow Dash let out a yawn.

“Well, I’ve had enough of being bossed around for one day,” she said. “I’m going to bed.”

“Yay, I didn’t get fired!” Fluttershy cried.

Rainbow Dash unlocked the door to hers, Fluttershy’s and Rarity’s room and saw a young woman in a ripped jacket, black jeans, and a purple beanie kicked back on the couch (Dash’s bed).

“Who are you?”

“Your new roommate -- Starlight Glimmer,”

“That’s a lot of stuff,” Dash observed the seven suitcases. “You lugged it all here with you?”

“I only had to come from the twenty-fifth floor,” she replied.

“Wait. You’re the Starlight Glimmer whose huge party we spent all day cleaning up! We didn’t get any breaks today because of you!”

“That’s your job, isn’t it?”

There was a moment of silence before Dash asked, “How long did you say you’re staying here?”

“Not very long,” she answered. “My Dad went overboard about my party and is ‘trying to teach me a lesson’. I’m totally cut off. He’s actually making me work in the theme restaurants.”

“Wow. He’s hardcore,” Dash replied.

“So, is it cool if I stay here?” Starlight asked.

“Sure,” Dash smiled. “Knowing you’re being punished for trashing the place makes me feel better about having to clean it.”

Suddenly, Pinkie Pie popped her head in through the open door.

“Hey, girls, official welcome for new employees! Come on!”

They returned to the sitting area, where the Dazzlings had set up over a dozen Champagne flutes on the table. They each opened a bottle and poured everyone a glass. Rainbow Dash brightened.

“Is that French ginger ale I spy?”

“Champagne it is,” Rarity confirmed, “although, Miss Dash, if you’re expecting Moet et Chandon, you’re in for a disappointment. This isn’t Cold Duck, but it’s not the high-priced spread, either.”

“We always mark the beginning of summer this way for good luck,” Sunset explained. “It seems to work.”

They each took a glass and Rainbow Dash raised hers.

“I have a toast!” she declared. “Maybe our jobs kind of stink -- and our boss is a total troll -- but the casino is awesome and the city is beautiful. And this summer is seriously gonna be fun. Viva Las Pegasus!”

“Viva Las Pegasus!” they chorused as they clinked glasses and drank.

The King Killer

Spike awoke in his suite from the best sleep of his life. It took him a full minute just to open his eyes.

He reached over to the nightstand next to his bed and picked up the framed picture of his birthmother. Her name was Barbara, and she was as beautiful as she was kind. Growing up, Spike never understood why anyone would want to hurt her. She was killed when Spike was only four-years-old and he was placed in the custody of Dragon Lord Torch, his godfather, until Celestia adopted him.

He had attended Celestia’s School for Gifted Youths, but he didn’t come from money and his classmates never let him forget it. He only attended there by the grace of Celestia’s charity, which contributed to the chip on his shoulder.

Now, at the tables he felt himself healing from the wounds of the troubled time before Torch took him off the streets. In the ballroom, on the dance floor, he felt at peace, and those years began to feel like a distant nightmare.

Suddenly, he heard Pinkie Pie knocking on the double doors to the hall.

“Hey, sleepyhead!” she called. “Get up and come grab breakfast with us!”

Spike wearily opened his eyes as he pulled his head from his pillows. He went into the bathroom and splashed cold water on his face before starting his morning ritual of combing his hair while listening to a song on the radio.

Spike joined Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Sunset Shimmer and Soarin for breakfast in the Sweet Snacks Café.

“I’ll have the chocolate chip pancakes with chocolate sprinkles, whipped cream, and extra butter,” Pinkie told Sugar Belle.

“Ham and cheese omelet, side of bacon,” Soarin said.

“Scrambled eggs with wheat toast,” said Sunset.

“I’ll have a double-vanilla latte to go, darling,” said Rarity.

“Just a hot chocolate to go,” Spike said.

“Do you want whipped cream on that?” Sugar Belle asked.

“Always,” he replied.

Sugar Belle wrote down their orders and skated off to the kitchen. Spike bid them all a good day and he and Rarity went to the register to pay. Sugar Belle brought them their to-go cups just as Zephyr Breeze walked in.

“Hey, what’s up, Godzilla?” he asked Spike.

“Whatever it is that makes you feel comfortable enough to call me names like that... shouldn’t,” he replied as he left.

“Nice outfit, Front Desk,” Zeph directed at Rarity. “You’re certainly dressed to make seventy percent of what a man in your position would make.”

“You should know,” she quickly countered. “You’re seventy percent of a man... if that.”

“Well, that backfired magnificently,” he said.

“Especially since Flim and Flam are equal opportunity employers,” Rarity added as she walked away.

She relieved Coco at the front desk and Discord dumped more work on her almost immediately.

“Have you made up the bill for Room 1212, Rarity?” he asked.

“No, I haven’t,” she replied.

“Well, they’re in a hurry,” he told her. “They said they didn’t get their wakeup call. Why didn’t they get their wakeup call?”

“Because I forgot to give it!” she snapped. “I am so sorry that I am not perfect! I’m sorry it’s not all done by magic...”

Spike was teaching Fluttershy swing dancing when a mousy woman, who worked as the Brothers’ secretary, entered the ballroom.

Her name was Moon Dancer. She stood five-six, had red hair, wore glasses, and had a model’s body hidden beneath a black suit coat and matching skirt. She came from a grounded family, had a healthy, preppy upbringing, was a triple major (science, history and economics), and would fit wonderfully at his mother’s table next Hearth’s Warming. But Spike had already set his sights on Applejack.

The sides of her mouth turned up into a smile as she spotted Spike across the ballroom. He noticed her enter and approached her.

“Welcome to my most humble, dishonorable establishment,” he said. “My worthless, useless services are at your disposal.”

“Well, thank you,” she replied.

Spike returned to Fluttershy in a twirl.

“And to finish, the splits,” he told her.

He and Fluttershy both did the splits and he could hear her joints cracking as she went down.

“Now, rise,” he said.

She grunted as she pulled herself off the floor.

“That’s it for today. Until tomorrow, why don’t you try to channel some anger into your dancing?” Spike suggested.

“But I’m not angry,” Fluttershy replied. “I don’t get angry.”

“It’s one thing to know the steps, but to express raw emotion while doing them is something else entirely,” he told her. “I do it all the time.”

Suddenly, Discord poked his head into the ballroom.

“Fluttershy, emergency lunch shift in the Café, now!” he shouted.

“Lunch shift on your afternoon off, angry now?” Spike asked Fluttershy.

“Not at all,” she said through her teeth.

After his dance lesson with Fluttershy, Spike joined Rainbow Dash on a brisk jog up and down the Strip, which eventually turned into a full-blown run.

“That was good,” she said as she took out her earbuds when they returned to the hotel. “Too bad you couldn’t keep up with me.”

“It wasn’t that I couldn’t keep up; I was just enjoying the view,”

“You couldn’t keep up. You didn’t even know I stopped for gelato,”

Spike smiled as he took a swig from his water bottle. Applejack came over from the front desk, carrying a big brown envelope under her arm.

“This just came for you,” she told Spike.

He asked her to open it for him. She did, and pulled out the latest issue of Mistress Marvelous, his favorite comic.

“Thanks, Applejack,” he said.

“You’re welcome, Sugah. Hey, do you want to grab lunch this afternoon?” she asked.

“I’d love to, but I volunteered to help Pinkie in the Café then,” Spike said as he took the comic in his free hand and headed for the elevator, “maybe next time.”

“But-but-but-I-I-I--” Applejack attempted.

Rainbow Dash stood beside Applejack and put an arm around her shoulders.

“Applejack Smith, you have just been branded with the mark of friendship,” she said. “Not a bad idea though, using food as an excuse to get close to him.”

Dash followed Spike and they almost ran into Zephyr Breeze, who was pulling his luggage cart through the lobby, when he saw a woman in a bandana and a dress the same color as Spike’s eyes walk by.

“Hey, did you see that girl that just got on the elevator?” Zeph asked Spike.

“No, I didn’t,” Spike replied.

“You don’t have to pretend you don’t see other women,” Dash told him, “at least when I’m around.”

“Okay, red dreadlocks, grayish-violet eyes, big, bushy eyebrows, probably shaves nothing?” Spike inquired.

Zephyr Breeze nodded energetically.

“What, you didn’t get her bra size?” Dash asked.

“Stupid question,” Spike replied. “She’s a hippie; they don’t wear bras, they burn them.”

“It’s no stupider than your little white magic gloves,” she retorted.

“Dash, the gloves are not magic. I am magic when I’m wearing the gloves,”

“Regardless, you wear them every time you play cards,” she said. “Why do you do that?”

“Because the one time I didn’t, I lost,” he answered.

“She’s an angel,” Zephyr said.

“Well, I don’t know who she is,” Spike told him, “but I think she’s staying here at the hotel.”

Zephyr Breeze kept watching the elevator bank, hoping to see the woman with the red dreadlocks again. He was so focused on them that he didn’t even notice Rainbow Dash drop her headphones. She bent over to pick them up and when she did, her bike shorts split and Spike saw everything! Spike was so hypnotized by the gaping hole between her legs that he didn’t watch where he was going and he walked right into one of the potted palm trees.

“I’m okay!” he shouted to no one in particular. “I’m okay!”

“Why can’t I be the girl that splits her pants and makes guys walk into things?” Applejack thought.

The elevator doors opened and Spike came face to face with the Dazzlings. Aria was leaning against the wall, Sonata was holding a box of tacos, and Adagio was carrying a basket of laundry.

“Hello there, Spike,” Adagio said huskily.

“Hi, Spike!” Sonata added chipperly.

Aria didn’t say anything, although she did manage a smile.

“Ladies,” he replied.

He stepped into the elevator with them and they rode it all the way to the 26th floor—Spike’s floor.

“Oh, look, Spike, you made me drop my panties,” Adagio flirted as he stepped out of the elevator. “Can you hand those back to me, please?”

Forgetting that he was holding his bottle of water in one hand and the comic book in the other, Spike attempted to do so, but eventually managed to slide his foot through one of the holes. It wasn’t difficult since the pair that Adagio dropped was barely even a thong. He lifted his foot to her and she took back her panties.

“Thank you,” she said with a smile.

As the elevator doors closed, Adagio puckered her lips at Spike. After they closed, Spike went into his suite, took off his running shoes and proceeded to throw them into the fireplace. He went into his bedroom and found a black T-shirt, a pair of dark blue jeans, a pair of black Chuck All-Star shoes, and a black Perfecto 613 leather jacket sitting on his bed.

After he changed into them, he went into the bathroom, greased his hair with a generous amount of pomade and combed it into a pompadour. Then he headed back down to the Café.

In the casino, Celestia and Fancy Pants were playing Blackjack against Twilight, who seemed to be in a rather glum mood.

Ever since Spike bested her the other day, Twilight’s aura seemed darker and the customers were always weary whenever she was around. Her mood lightened more and more with each win against the tourists, but inside, she was still cursing Spike for outcheating her.

Normally, the screams of the riders of the Wild Blue Yonder would make her head throb as they whizzed around the upper part of the casino. But since the roller coaster had been shut down (at least temporarily), everything had been moderately calm. At that moment, she was showing the Jack of Hearts.

Celestia hit on eleven—the Six of Diamonds, the Five of Hearts—and got the Two of Spades, for thirteen, and decided to stay. Twilight’s second card was the Six of Clubs. She drew a third card: the Four of Diamonds.

“Dealer shows 20. You lose,” she told Celestia.

Fancy Pants turned his attention to the Sweet Snacks Café and saw Spike (dressed as a greaser) and Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Starlight Glimmer, and Sugar Belle (in their carhop uniforms and roller skates, standing on either side of him) all swinging, jiving, swaying, and thrusting their hips to “Rock This Town!” on the jukebox. He smiled at them, wishing he could join in the fun.

“What a difference,” he thought. “Well, I suppose it’s a matter of taste.”

After the lunch rush was over, Spike congratulated the girls on their routine.

“That was exactly what I was talking about!” he told Fluttershy.

“Wow! Channeling your anger into your dancing really does make it better,” she said. “Who knew?”

“Me!” Pinkie replied.

“I did,” Sugar Belle said.

“Ditto that,” Starlight added.

“Well done!” Moon Dancer told them. “Spike, Applejack wants to see you.”

Pinkie, Starlight and Fluttershy all followed Spike to the front desk, where Applejack was talking to Rarity.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t able to have lunch with you,” he apologized.

“Well, what are you doing later tonight?” Applejack asked. “Maybe you’d like to play a little Poker with us?”

“‘Us’?” he replied.

“Yeah, a few of us try to get together at least once a week,” Pinkie said. “What do you say?”

“Sure,”

“And Fluttershy, you and Starlight are more than welcome to join too,” Rarity put in.

“Thanks, but I think I’m just gonna soak in the tub and then turn in early,” Starlight said.

“And I don’t know how to play,” Fluttershy added.

“Don’t worry, we’ll teach you,” Applejack told her.

“I’d like to come, if that’s all right,” Moon Dancer put in.

“The more the merrier,” said Pinkie. “Seven o’clock, the board room overlooking the dolphin pool.”

“See you then,” Spike replied.

And they all went separate ways.

If Moon Dancer had glanced back over her shoulder, she might have seen the tall woman in a black pants suit, with dark cerulean hair and narrow harlequin eyes, watching her from the balcony overlooking the casino.

“Now I’ve got you,” she hissed.

Spike stood in front of the mirror in his bedroom, admiring the wads of cash attached to his body.

Twenty-five thousand dollars in hundreds, strapped to each thigh. Another fifty thousand in a Velcro bag taped to his chest. Fifty thousand more stuffed into the pockets of his suit jacket. And another hundred thousand nestled against the small of his back—Two hundred and fifty thousand altogether. And he stuffed the pockets of his pants with orange chips.

It was a staggering amount, but it all belonged to him.

He dressed in his usual vest and slacks ensemble, and as he pulled on his white gloves, he glanced down at his concealead carry (a little single shot derringer that was on the end of a chain he usually draped across his vest) and decided to leave it. He hadn’t seen any “No Weapons Allowed” signs on the entrance doors the day he checked in, and he already knew that several of the staff had concealed carrys and hidden blades, but he wouldn’t need his. Not tonight.

Spike put on his jacket, exited his suite, and hit the elevator call button. When the doors opened, he saw Zephyr Breeze standing in it, sans luggage cart.

“Were you coming to see me?” Spike asked.

“Come on, you think I have nothing better to do than to hang out with you?” Zephyr replied.

“Basically, yeah,” Spike answered.

“Well, you’re wrong. I’m riding up and down the elevators in hopes of running into my dream girl again,” he said.

“You know Discord’s gonna kick you out when he eventually finds out you’re not working, right?” Spike inquired.

“No, he’s not. I explained my situation to him. Turns out he’s a real romantic,” Zeph said as Spike got on the elevator. “I don’t know, there’s something special about this girl, she could be the one.”

“Well, best of luck to you,” Spike told him.

The board room Pinkie had mentioned was located halfway down a hall in the most recently renovated part of the hotel.

There were no weekends per se for the Resort; most of the employees got a day and a half every nine, which meant they were never the same days. There were sign-up sheets in the staff locker room, so Spike and the girls tried to get the same downtime, and that’s why they were together on a Wednesday night in early June.

Just as he reached the door, it opened from the inside. Spike recognized Applejack (who pulled the door open), as well as Sunset Shimmer, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Moon Dancer (who was wearing a peach colored dress and holding a stuffed bear in her arms. She looked more like she was ready for bed than a game of cards).

The next thing Spike noticed was that the window shades were pulled, the yellow fluorescent ceiling lights bathed the walls in stragely shaped shadows, and seven chairs were arranged around a round table in the center of the room.

The women had finished sharing a dinner that could nourish only the very young: beer, hard cider, burgers, potato chips, and coleslaw.

Rarity stood up from the table as Spike entered.

“Welcome to Draw Poker, Mister Drake,” she said. “We’re all thrilled you could make it.”

Spike thanked her. He took off his jacket and draped it over the back of the chair between Rainbow Dash and Applejack. He sat down and rolled up his sleeves so that he would not be able to hide any cards up them.

They sat around the table so that (going clockwise, starting at six o’clock) it went Rarity (who wouldn’t play, but act as dealer), Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Sunset Shimmer, Rainbow Dash, Spike and Applejack. Moon Dancer stood off to the side, saying she was just going to watch.

“We’ll begin with Five-Card Draw,” Rarity said as she shuffled a deck of cards. “Everyone remember Five-Fard Draw?”

They all nodded.

Also known as the Cantrell draw, it was the simplest variant of poker (as well as the basis for video poker) and often the first learned by new players. Although, it was not as popular as Seven-Card Stud or Texas Hold ‘Em and was commonly played in home games and rarely (if ever) in a casino or tournament.

“Jacks or better, nothing wild, everybody ante,” Rarity said.

They all tossed one black chip ($100) each into the center of the table as Rarity dealt each of them five cards, one at a time, all face down, and placed the remaining deck aside. Spike and the girls picked up their cards, being careful to keep them concealed from each other, and Pinkie, being the player first to Rarity’s left, opened the betting round by wagering another $100.

Fluttershy looked at her cards—the King of Hearts, the King of Clubs, the Two of Spades, the Three of Hearts, and the Four of Spades—and said, “I’m in.”

“In,” Sunset added.

“In,” said Dash.

“I will see your one hundred, and raise you two,” Spike said to Pinkie.

“Call,” Applejack said, betting two hundred more.

That concluded the first round of betting. Then they started dumping cards from their hands. Pinkie discarded three cards, Fluttershy discarded two, Sunset discarded three, Rainbow Dash took one, Spike took two, and Applejack one. The second round began with Pinkie, who folded, and Fluttershy and Sunset checked. Rainbow Dash bet $100, then Spike raised her $500, causing Applejack to fold, and Fluttershy called Spike’s raise.

Then they started showing hands: Fluttershy and Sunset both had Two Pair (Kings and Twos, and Kings and Threes, respectively), Dash had Three of a Kind (Sixes), and Spike had a Full House.

“Queens, full of nines,” he said as he showed them his cards.

Rarity gathered their cards, shuffled, and dealt again. They played five more games, and Spike won the last one with a Straight against both Applejack and Rainbow Dash’s Two Pairs—Tens and Aces, and Jacks and Twos.

“Are you kidding?” Dash exclaimed.

“What else would you expect from the guy that whipped Twilight?” AJ asked her. “He’s a juggernaut!”

“I didn’t even bring my A-game,” he smiled as he collected his winnings.

“What the Tartarus is going on here!?!”

They all turned and saw Twilight standing in the doorway. She must have just come off her shift, Spike thought, because she was still in her dealer’s uniform.

“You said ‘Tartarus’, throw a hundred in the pot!” he commanded.

“What?” she asked.

“Twi, we all had to,” Dash told her.

“You started without me?” Twilight asked Rarity. “And you are in my seat!” she told Spike.

Spike craned his neck and bent several ways to look at his chair from all sides, but he never got up from it.

“Sorry, I must have missed the brass plaque with your name on it,” he retorted with a smile.

“Deal me in,” Twilight said to Rarity as she approached the table.

“Darling, we already have six--” Rarity began.

“I’ll tap out,” Fluttershy said, and offered her seat to Twilight.

Pinkie said, “You can be on my team, Fluttershy.”

She scooted closer to Pinkie as Twilight pulled up a chair and took a seat between Fluttershy and Sunset.

As Rarity dealt the cards, Spike couldn’t help but gaze at Twilight. She had that prep school aura about her; studious, awkward, but also superior, as if she was used to being the smartest one in the room. A mathematical genius, and liked to prove it by playing cards. Now, she was acting like all that was being threatened. The next game began and Pinkie, Twilight, Sunset and Rainbow Dash all checked.

“Five hundred,” Spike said.

“What’s the first lesson in Poker?” Twilight quizzed her coworkers.

“Leave emotion at the door,” Rainbow Dash answered.

“That’s right,” Twilight replied. “Today’s lesson: How to draw out the bluff. That much money this early in the game, I’d say he’s holding nothing better than a pair of face cards.”

“I fold,” Applejack sighed.

“Two cards,” Spike said to Rarity after Pinkie folded.

Twilight took three cards and Sunset decided to up the ante.

“I will see your $500,” she told Spike, “and I will raise you another $500 of my own.”

“That is a very handsome bet, Sunset,” Twilight said. “But be careful. You don’t want to push him too high too fast. You want to keep him on his leash.”

“Call,” Rainbow Dash added.

“I see your five hundred,” Spike told Sunset, “and raise you two thousand.”

How they betted was their business. The challenge in Poker was to make everyone else think you were betting for a reason. The others were free to do what they liked, but Twilight was staying in. She thought Spike was trying to buy his way out of a bluff.

“A Flush,” she said.

“Four Sixes,” Sunset replied.

Rainbow Dash showed a full house.

“What have you got?” she asked Spike.

“Read ‘em and weep: four lovely ladies,” he replied.

Four Queens and an Ace—he won again.

As Rarity shuffled, Twilight reached into her vest and pulled out several golden chips, each worth one million dollars.

“Table stakes,” Rarity said. “I’m sorry, darling.”

“No,” Spike told her. “Give her a chance to win her money back.”

Spike fished around the inside of his shirt with both hands, and the girls wondered what he was doing. Then they heard the distinct rip of Velcro, and Spike’s hands reappeared.

The girls’ hearts thumped as they saw the rolls of bills at least four inches thick, all hundreds. As much as twenty grand was taped inside his shirt. Then he pulled the orange chips out from his pants pockets.

“Check,” Pinkie said after Rarity dealt.

“Check,” Twilight repeated.

Sunset and Rainbow Dash also checked.

“I’m in for fifty grand,” Spike betted.

“I’m out,” Applejack said.

“Me too,” Pinkie added.

“I see your fifty thousand... and I raise you five million,” Twilight said.

“Out,” Sunset told Rarity.

“Okay, Rainbow Dash, your bet,” Rarity said.

“I fold,” she replied.

“Spike, are you in or out?” Rarity asked.

“I’m in,” he answered.

Twilight stayed in as well.

“How many cards do you want, darling?” Rarity asked Spike.

“One,”

Twilight took two and asked, “What do you bet?”

“I bet two million,” he said.

“Okay. I see your two, and I raise you twenty more,” Twilight replied.

Pinkie’s jaw dropped as Applejack’s gaze shifted to Spike.

“I see your 20, raise you 25,” he told her.

Sunset tugged at the collar of her shirt while Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy’s eyes kept going back and forth between Spike and Twilight.

“See your 25, and I raise you 100,”

“I think she’s got ya, partner,” Applejack whispered to Spike.

“She’s bluffing,” Spike whispered back.

Applejack didn’t bother to ask Spike how he knew, but he knew. The girls all had their Poker tells: Applejack bit her bottom lip, Fluttershy played with her hair, Sunset cleared her throat, Rainbow Dash tugged on her ear, Pinkie blinked twice in a row, and Twilight’s eyes twitched.

Every. Single. Time. They bluffed.

“How about it, Drake?” Twilight asked impatiently. “You in?”

Her eye twitched.

Spike’s gaze shifted to Applejack, who met him with a smile.

“Take her down!” she told him.

Spike promptly shoved the last of his pile into the center of the table and said, “Call! Showdown! What do you have?”

“I really should have kept my other hand,” Twilight thought. “Oh, well.”

She showed her hand: the Three of Spades, the Three of Diamonds, the Three of Hearts, the Eight of Spades, and the Eight of Hearts.

“Full house,” she said.

Spike grinned as he revealed his own hand: a King, a Queen, a Jack, a Ten, and an Ace—All Hearts—A Royal Flush.

“I hate you!” she thought.

“Well, tallying up what you bet, I’d say that you owe me no less than... one hundred fifty-two million and fifty thousand dollars,” Spike said to Twilight. “I would appreciate it now, if you don’t mind. You will be kind enough to pay up, won’t you?”

“I... can’t,” Twilight said.

“What was that?” Spike asked quietly.

“I... I don’t have it right now,” she said. “Please, could you wait a few days? I swear I only need a few days.”

Spike rose from the table and moved to the door. He paused against the frame and wondered why Twilight would be walking around with chips worth a million dollar apiece if she didn’t even have the money to back up her bets.

“I had fun, so fine by me,” he said finally. “Have a nice evening.”

And Moon Dancer followed him out.

Later that night, Spike and Moon Dancer walked down the sidewalk, through the garden behind the resort.

A full moon had risen in the sky and it shone a beautiful glow down upon them. They didn’t say much until halfway back to the hotel, when she turned to look at him.

“That was a pretty cool stunt you pulled back there,” she said.

“What, that circus act?” he replied. “Shuffle tracking and cuts give you a nice advantage, but they can’t be used too often. I only pull that stuff when the stakes are really high, more consistent—and a lot more lucrative.”

Spike watched her brush her red hair out of her eyes. She was both intrigued and disturbed.

“You know as well as I do that there are two major problems with card counting: one, your percentage over the house is too damn low. Even the most complex systems have an overall edge of two percent, if that. To make any money at all, you need an enormous stake, and that’s too easy a technique to spot. To take advantage of the highs and lows, you have to drastically raise and lower your bet, and moving that kind of money draws too much attention. Which leads to problem number two, it’s too easy for the casinos to figure out what you’re doing—and stop you from doing it. They catch you by watching your bet.”

Moon Dancer looked impressed.

“The whole idea of card counting makes me nauseous,” he continued. “The casinos like people to think that they can be beat—it gets them to the tables. But they don’t want people to know that they can be beat because then they would have to admit to all the things they have to do to keep the games in their favor.”

“Well, I’ve developed a system that takes care of all those problems,” she said. “I am going to hit Las Pegasus—hard—and I want you to help me.”

Now it was Spike’s turn to feel uneasy. Even if there was nothing illegal about making Blackjack beatable—it still seemed wrong. But it also thrilled him—deep down, in that part of his personality he tried to keep buried.

“The Flimflam Brothers have been scamming people for years,” she went on. “Their games are set up to give the house a hefty advantage. Anyone stupid enough to sit down and play is paying for all this neon and all those ‘free’ drinks. If anybody’s cheating, it’s the people that own the casinos. They set up the rules so that they almost always win. But if you’re smart, you can put the odds in your favor. Mowed Green proved that over seventy-five years ago, and many have been following his example for decades.”

Spike knew the story of Mowed “Bugsy” Green. He was a gangster who had an idea to build a city out of a desert stopover for GIs on their way to the West Coast... and the city he invented was Las Pegasus. He was a great man. A man of vision and guts... and there wasn’t even a plaque or a signpost or a single statue of him in the whole city. He got the back of his head blown off because he wanted too much of the take from his operations in Las Pegasus.

Gambling was the single biggest industry in Equestria, bigger than Carneighie Steel, bigger than automobiles, and the guys running it took great care to keep it running smoothly. Las Pegasus had gone through no less than five distinct periods since gambling was legalized in 1933. First there was the Mobster Era. Inspired by their success in illegal gambling parlors, infamous figures such as “Bugs” Green moved into town. Funded in part by two hundred and fifty million dollars, he built the first major casinos.

In the sixties, a moderately insane tycoon took over where the mobsters left off: adding an element of corporate legitimacy to the town through his business and political connections, while funding another building boom. Then, in the seventies, an architectural monarch gave birth to the first of the huge resorts with the construction of the first Maretro-Goldwhinnyn-Mareyer Grand in 1973. At a hundred and twenty million dollars, with twenty-one hundred rooms, the casino was the draw of the true Las Pegasus-styled entertainment complex and precursor of things to come.

Now, they were flirting with the idea of “family entertainment”, with gaudy amusement-park-styled attractions and décor. Las Pegasus had already decimated the competition and emerged from the recession in part by reinventing itself as the world’s foremost adult amusement park, luring millions of conventioneers with a lax attitude toward the sex industry, and a new focus on the consumption-oriented middle class.

The city built by gangsters became Equestria’s premier vacation and corporate conference destination; an over-the-top world of excess and imagination.

“You don’t seem the Las Pegasus type,” Spike commented.

Moon Dancer blinked.

“What, you don’t think I’d look good in a rubber tube top?”

“No, I just never would have thought a straitlaced, hard-nosed business girl would be running around a city full of overeducated anarchists,” he replied.

“I found the thrill of gambling almost as addictive as consulting,” she said. “The idea of going up against huge corporations, finding ways to beat them in their own arena—it was a real high.”

Her eyes were bright as she spoke, but Spike shot her a look that conveyed he wasn’t convinced.

“Seriously, I found the atmosphere stimulating and I liked being able to play a different role—especially while I was going through Celestia’s School for Gifted Youths,” she said.

Spike didn’t get a chance to respond because he saw a tall lady, dressed in black, with narrow harlequin eyes and dark cerulean hair standing a few yards ahead of them, blocking the path.

She was flanked by two thin, young men dressed in black suits. Two more identical men approached Spike and Moon Dancer from behind. They all looked pale and malnourished. They were all grimy, with dirt ingrained into their skin. Spike recognized the pair in front of him as Thorax, his roommate from college, and his older brother, Pharynx.

“May I help you?” Spike asked.

“Nothing you can do,” the lady in black replied. “I have business with her!”

She pointed at Moon Dancer and one of the two men behind Spike tried to grab her. Spike grabbed him by the wrist, catapulted him over his shoulder, and slammed him into the pavement.

“Thorax, Pharynx, Cornicle, get her stuffed bear!” the lady in black shouted.

Spike backwards kicked the other guy that was behind him (the one called Cornicle), and then Thorax and Pharynx came at him together, shoulder-to-shoulder. Spike roundhouse kicked Pharynx and then, using an open palm, struck Thorax in the chest, sending him skidding back.

The fortune under Spike’s clothes (the heavy money belt around his waist and the bulging plastic bags strapped to each of his thighs) did nothing to help. One of the bags around his thighs was slipping down his leg, and the belt twisted around to his back.

“Why did I pack on so much?” Spike thought.

But the fight was over almost as quickly as it had started.

“Come on! Let’s beat it!” the lady in black told her minions.

The five scattered and ran and Spike asked Moon Dancer if she was okay.

She stared at him for the longest time. Then Spike caught something out of the corner of his eye. He turned and saw Applejack, Sunset Shimmer, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Twilight standing a few yards away.

They had seen all that had happened.

“That. Was. Awesome!” Dash exclaimed.

Zephyr Breeze dragged himself from the elevator the following morning.

He spent the whole night riding it, up and down, but he never saw the woman with the red dreadlocks.

“Any luck?” Bulk Biceps asked him.

“No,” Zephyr groaned. “Maybe I should give up.”

“No! You said this girl could be your destiny! There’s nothing more important than finding true love!” Bulk said.

Moon Dancer brought her teddy bear down to breakfast and to lunch, and she carried it with her wherever she went. After what happened last night, she didn’t feel safe leaving it in her suite upstairs.

“Let’s hit the tables,” Spike said.

“After we attack the buffet,” Pinkie said, “can’t play on an empty stomach.”

As they went through the line, Spike spoke to Moon Dancer about what happened the previous night.

“Do you have any idea why that strange woman was after your bear?”

“I don’t,” she replied.

“You’re not keeping anything from me, are you?” Spike inquired.

“I promise, if I knew, I would tell you,”

They ate their lunches and they saw neither hide nor hair of the lady in black, or any of her henchmen. The rest of the morning went by peacefully, until they hit the casino. Everyone from Flim and Flam to Fancy Pants and his escorts were there. And that’s when the lady in black reappeared, with Thorax and Pharynx by her side.

“You’ll have to forgive me for last night,” she said.

“What do you want?” Twilight asked them. “The dealer’s area is off-limits to non-personnel.”

“I admit that when I saw her, I couldn’t control myself,” she confessed. “I’d really prefer not to cause a scene, but given the location, we could settle this.”

“You’re looking to play a game?” Twilight asked her.

“Now you’re picking up what I’m putting down. My name is Chrysalis Queen,” she introduced herself. “I’ve earned the reputation as ‘The King Killer.’ I show no mercy, not even to young children.”

“My, my, this seems like quite a predicament here,” one of Fancy Pants’ escorts said. “You really should give Moon Dancer a hand,” she told Twilight.

“I can’t believe it,” Chrysalis thought. “It’s Fleur de Lis!”

“Flimflam Resort must truly be prestigious to have Applewood actresses wandering around,” she said aloud.

“Miss de Lis is right, Twilight,” Rarity added. “You remember the house’s motto?”

“‘The customer is always right,’” Twilight gritted through her teeth.

“But I won’t be playing against you,” Chrysalis told her. “I will be playing against him!” She pointed at Spike. “And just to show you that I’m not completely heartless, why don’t you name the stakes?”

“All right,” Spike replied. “If I lose, I will invite you to my suite, where I will strip down butt naked, and you can do whatever you want to me.”

“What?!” Twilight exclaimed.

“Three conditions, huh?” Chrysalis asked. “If that’s how you roll, then you must want something pretty good in return should you win.”

Spike smiled and said, “If I win, you have to strip down, after you tell us why you’re after Moon Dancer’s bear, and I get a job here at the resort!”

“Now, wait a minute!” Twilight shouted. “You can’t--!”

“We accept these terms!” Flim stated.

“Call a film crew!” Flam shouted at Moon Dancer. “Let’s record this...”

“And Spike,” said Rarity, “I’ve prepared a ceremonial outfit for you for such a grand occasion—Time for a costume change!”

“Doesn’t anybody care what I think!?!” Twilight screamed.

“NO!!” the whole resort shouted in reply.

Fifteen minutes later, several of the resort’s staff and guests assembled around a poker table in the center of the casino and Spike returned wearing a black suit and bowtie.

“He’s handsome,” Applejack said.

“So handsome,” Sunset repeated.

“Is that a tuxedo?” Fluttershy asked.

“Not just any tuxedo, a groom’s tuxedo,” Rarity said.

“Why’s he wearing that?” asked Dash.

“Oh, you’ll find out,” Rarity replied.

“This should be fun,” Pinkie commented.

“Even if Spike loses, we’ll have some epic footage to use in a commercial,” Flim said.

“Yes, but he’s going to have to win if we want to see Chrysalis naked,” Flam reminded his brother.

Spike approached the table and sat directly across from Chrysalis.

“Sorry I’m late... darling,” he told her.

Chrysalis erupted with laughter.

“I can’t believe this,” she said. “Life is one Tartarus of a sick, twisted joke!”

“Hmm?” Spike asked.

“A few years ago, just seconds before our wedding, my husband left me at the altar,” Chrysalis explained. “Ever since then, I’ve had terrible luck with men and been forced to live the life of a lonely bachelorette.”

“That’s sad,” Fluttershy said.

“Telling us this probably isn’t helping your prospects in that area,” Spike commented.

“You’ve pissed me off for the last time!” Chrysalis shouted. “I’ll tear your clothes off and make sure that you’ll never be able to get married! You are nothing! You’re nothing but a toy to me!”

“Well, now that we’ve got that out of the way, I will be your dealer,” Rarity said. “The game is a simple, single match of closed poker. You may exchange cards only once. Let’s get started.”

“I’ll show you exactly how I earned my reputation as ‘The King Killer,’” Chrysalis hissed. “Let’s do this!”

Rarity dealt Spike and Chrysalis each five cards and Chrysalis displayed her hand: the Eight of Clubs, the Ten of Hearts, the Jack of Hearts, the Queen of Hearts, and the King of Hearts.

“I’ll be trading in my cards,” she said.

She kept the King of Hearts and traded in the rest of her hand.

If Chrysalis had tossed the Eight of Clubs and gotten the Nine of Hearts, she would have a Straight Flush. Or, if she got the Ace of Hearts, she would have a Royal Straight Flush. But instead, she kept only one card.

“Wow,” Dash breathed. “That’s risky.”

“I’m gunning for four delectable Kings,” Chrysalis said. “They’ll come to me. All the men will come to me! They belong to me!! They obey my every word and whim!!! They are my slaves and I am their only mistress!!!!”

While it may have been true that Chrysalis was horrible with men, her luck in gambling more than made up for it.

Spike kept his hand concealed and traded in two of his cards. Then Chrysalis showed her new hand: all four Kings and the Nine of Hearts.

“Spike,” said Rarity, “let’s see what you have.”

Spike smiled and revealed his new hand.

“Four aces,”

Chrysalis’s smile slowly faded.

“I guess even four Kings weren’t enough to save you,” he told her.

“And the winner is Spike!” Rarity declared.

“Behold, the power of our newest employee!” the Flimflam Brothers exclaimed.

The crowd cheered for Spike as Thorax and Pharynx consoled Chrysalis.

“Our Mother is a fanatic for collecting stuffed animals,” Thorax explained. “It’s how she’s coped with losing her fiancé all these years. It’s the only thing that helps.”

“That bear is precious to me,” Chrysalis sobbed. “It’s an out-of-print collector’s item imported all the way from Belgium. I just wanted to hold it... and forget.”

“Kind of impossible since the tag says ‘Made in China,’” Spike replied.

“What? There’s no way!” Chrysalis exclaimed. “How could I have been fooled so easily?”

Spike walked around the table to Chrysalis and wrapped his arms around her so that they were chest to chest, heart to heart.

“There, there, it’s all right,” he said soothingly. “You don’t need to be alone anymore.”

“Now you’re just rubbing it right in her face,” Twilight said.

Chrysalis hugged Spike back and said, “I can’t thank you enough.”

“No way!” the girls all exclaimed.

“Way,” Soarin said.

“Is this really happening?” Rarity asked in disbelief.

“Awesome!” Dash exclaimed.

“Seriously?” Twilight asked her.

“And don’t worry about our agreement,” Spike told Chrysalis. “I’ll contact you later, when I plan to collect. Until then, I hope you enjoy the rest of your stay.”

“Thank you again,” she said happily.

And she walked off with Thorax and Pharynx right behind her.

“Spike,” said a voice. “Over here.”

It was the Flimflam Brothers; Flam was holding the elevator doors open. He joined them and they took him to their office up on the 31st floor. They ushered him inside, closed the doors behind him, and told him to sit down.

“That was extraordinary what you did,” Flim began.

“Thanks,” Spike replied nervously.

“You really could have lost today,” said Flam.

“But you impressed us,” Flim went on. “And that’s why we want to offer you a job as our resort’s new dance instructor.”

Spike opened his mouth, but couldn’t find the words.

“Why?” he finally managed.

“Because you’re smart,” Flim said.

“You seem to have a good work ethic,” added Flam.

“You’re good with numbers,” Flim went on.

“And you’ve got the look,” Flam finished.

“‘The look’?” Spike asked.

“Polished, theatrical, and, with a little work, you could sit at a table of A-list celebrities and businessmen, betting twice as much as any of them and never appear out of place,” Flim explained.

The Brothers reached forward to shake Spike’s hand and a strange feeling came over Spike as he looked into the two pairs of pistachio eyes staring back at him. Obviously, they had been cooking this up for some time. They had been sizing him up for their team. The game against Chrysalis was a test of sorts—not to mention invigorating as Tartarus—and he had passed.

Spike shook hands with the Brothers and they welcomed him aboard.

“You’re in the casino resort business now, Mr. Drake,” Flim said, “not the hotel business, at least not the way we run it.”

“But not so far removed fom it, either,” added Flam. “We want you to work hard, but we don’t want you to work yourself to death. Just remember a few things: the guests have to be happy, because if they aren’t happy this place dries up and blows away; always know where your wallet is, and always show up.”

“And if anyone gives you a hard time, send them directly to us,” Flim stated. “Fail to do any of that and you’ll be out the revolving door so fast your head will spin along with it.”

Spike nodded.

“You’ll report to Discord tomorrow morning at 7:00 A.M. sharp,” Flim said.

“You’re dismissed,” said Flam.

Spike left their office and saw Moon Dancer standing by the elevator. And she was no longer holding her stuffed bear.

“What are you my shadow now?” he asked her.

“What can I say? I feel safer when I’m around you,” she replied. “I was just wondering if you had thought anymore about my offer.”

“I have,” he said. “I’m in.”

“Are you absolutely sure you want to get into this? I ask because I don’t want you sacrificing yourself for someone who may not be able to repay you,”

Spike was silent for a brief moment.

“This city is our, big, juicy oyster, and we are going to bleed it dry,”

Moon Dancer smiled at Spike and said, “Wonderful.”

They entered the elevator (Zephyr Breeze was leaning against the wall) and rode the elevator down to the lobby. When they got out, the woman with the red dreadlocks got on and Zephyr Breeze straightened up and dusted himself off.

“Hi, how’s it goin’?” he asked. “I’m Zephyr Breeze.”

“Tree Hugger,” she replied.

“Listen, this might sound a little crazy, but I saw you get on the elevator yesterday, and I thought we had a connection, so I’ve been riding it in the hopes of running into you again,”

“You’ve been riding the elevator for a day just to meet me?”

“Yeah, I’m sorry if I--”

She didn’t give him a chance to finish his sentence because she threw herself into his arms and started kissing him.

When the elevator doors opened again, she gave him a wink as she walked out. He could barely stand on his feet.

“Zephyr, are you all right?” Rarity asked.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” he said.

“Was that her?” Bulk inquired.

“Oh yeah,” he replied. “And I think we’re going steady, too.”

Later that night, Celestia found Spike tossing pennies into the water fountain out front.

“Spike! Flim and Flam just told me what happened,” she began. “Where have you been? I’ve been looking all over for you.”

“I just didn’t feel like celebrating,” he said as he skipped another coin across the water.

“Are you kidding?” she asked. “You get to spend the rest of your summer working in a casino resort. You got your wish!” She sighed and said, “Sit down.”

They both sat on the ledge of the water fountain.

“Spike... Remember when I first brought you here to Las Pegasus?”

“Yeah, it was shortly after you adopted me,” he fondly recalled. “We shared the bed in the suite, you wrapped me up in the blanket you quilted for me, and rolled me back and forth across the bed until I laughed so hard I cried.”

“Well, those days... they’re almost over,” she said. “I mean, how many more chances will we get to do something together as mother and son? I’m working more and more, and you’re growing up so fast that I hardly recognize you.”

Celestia seemed on the brink of tears as she spoke.

“Mom, you’re the headmistress of the most prestigious private school in the country,” he replied. “You’re important. I understand why you’ve been so busy.”

“I know. But that’s no excuse for me not spending time with my baby. That’s why I wanted you to come with me on this trip: for one more wonderful time together. What do you say?”

Spike smiled at her and said, “Okay.” They shared a hug. “Are you really all right with this?”

“Why? Did you want me to argue? Try to talk you out of it? If this is what you want, if it’s teaching people how to dance, I will support you. You’re old enough that you can make your own decisions, you don’t need my permission,”

“Thanks, Mom,”

And they hugged again.

Author's Note

Next time, the Resort hosts the Pillars of Equestria Tour (a of collection artifacts that belonged to Equestria’s greatest heroes) and Rainbow Dash challenges Spike to a game of pairs.

The Good Luck Magnet

The next morning, Spike and the girls reported to Discord in the staff locker room and he gave them their evaluations.

“Are you all zombies?! Did I accidently hire extras from The Trotting Dead?!” he yelled. “Pinkie Pie, six; Fluttershy, seven; Applejack, nine; Twilight, one; Rarity, three; Starlight, two; Sunset, eight; Spike, ten out of ten, very nice; and Rainbow Dash, five.”

“YEAAAAAAH!” Spike cried. “I beat you!” he told Dash.

“No fair!” she shouted. “There was a rock band on my floor! They had a pig roast in the room!”

“Ten out of ten! Oh, yeah! I am the King of the Staff Evaluations!”

“I have to say, it’s encouraging to see how seriously you’re taking guest feedback,” Discord told him.

“I’m not,” Spike replied. “I just like to kick her butt.”

“I have two other things to say, so let me be clear,” Discord went on. “This is not summer camp and I am not your counselor. And Twilight, what the Tartarus happened last night?”

“What?” she asked.

“On three separate occasions, you lost five grand to a bunch of whiz kids from Canterlot, but you kept dealing anyway,” he said. “You know what’s worse than a loser? Someone who won’t admit that she played the game wrong! I don’t care what happened, but I never want to see it happen again. All right, that’s enough. You’re already late! Come on! Out, out, out!”

“You know, Dash,” Spike said as they exited the staff locker room, “you act tough, but when the chips are down--”

“That’s it!” she shouted. “I challenge you to a game of pairs! Right now! Unless you’re scared of getting your butt kicked by a girl...”

“Two words: Bring! It!”

“You know you’ll get a strike,”

“Ha! I laugh in the face of strikes!”

“Then let’s do this!”

“Fine by me!”

“Oh, it is so on!”

Starlight Glimmer reported to the Café. Her father was having breakfast with Sunburst and Stellar Flare and Starlight immediately started kissing up to her dad.

“Do you think I’m ready to come back to the penthouse now?” she asked.

“I’m still not convinced,” Firelight replied.

“So, I take it you saw the evaluation I got?”

“Mm-hmm,”

“Even after I drove my customer to the hospital and stayed with her while she waited for the burn specialist?” she asked.

“I was too focused on the comment, ‘This is the worst service I have ever had!’” he said. “She had written that before you spilled the soup on her. I’m not letting you back into the penthouse until I’m sure you’ve learned your lesson. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have an Amateur Antiquers’ Convention to arrange.”

“Why?”

“To bring in more tourists,” he answered. “Why? You don’t think it’s a good idea?”

“No, I do not,” Starlight said. “That is not going to bring in extra guests -- at least, not cute ones.”

“Why don’t you let Starlight try to come up with something a bit more... fresh?” Stellar Flare suggested to Firelight. “I’ve got your back, honey,” she added to Starlight in a whisper.

“Fine,” Firelight answered. “You have until noon to think of something.”

“You won’t be sorry,” Starlight said.

In cards, Pairs (also known as Concentration), wasn’t hard to play.

Several of the V.I.P. guests had gathered in the High Rollers’ Lounge to watch Spike and Rainbow Dash play. They were going to use two decks of playing cards, and because they were, they had to match both number and suit. There were going to be twice as many cards than usual, but for each card there was only one that matched. And if there was only one matching pair, the odds of picking them by pure chance was 1 to 104, which meant their only hope was to memorize which cards had already been flipped. And if they got a match, they kept going.

Spike wanted to bet something like $20 million, but he knew Rainbow Dash didn’t have that kind of money so he let her bet whatever she had. She reached into her maid’s apron and pulled out a roll of twenties—only three hundred dollars—and if she lost, it would come out of her paycheck and she would help do dishes in the kitchen for the next week.

“Ladies first,” Spike offered.

Dash flipped over the Four of Hearts and the Four of Diamonds. They shared the same number, but under the aforementioned rules it didn’t count as a match. Spike didn’t find a match on his first try either.

After finding a King of Diamonds, an Ace of Spades, and a Two of Hearts, Spike found the first pair: Four of Diamonds. Then he flipped the Seven of Diamonds and the King of Clubs—not a match.

Rainbow Dash remembered seeing the King of Clubs earlier, and found the other one. She then matched up the Two of Spades, the Queen of Clubs and the Six of Diamonds. After ten minutes of playing, Spike had 18 pairs to Dash’s 22.

“Maybe it’s just my imagination,” Haakim commented, “but it seems neither of them has messed up once.”

“What do you mean?” Amira asked.

“After they flipped over a card, they’ve been able to find its partner every single time,” he explained.

Spike then matched up the Five of Hearts.

“See?” Haakim told his wife.

“How can they remember every card that’s been flipped?” Amira asked.

It was a very close game. In terms of memory, Spike and Dash were almost equal. At this point, it was a contest of luck: who would be the first to flip a card they’d already seen. Spike had 36 pairs and Dash had 40, only 28 cards left. It was still too close to call. But things were about to get intense—the fewer cards left, the easier it would be to match them. Dash got five more matches in a row, putting her up to a ten card lead over Spike.

“Your turn,” she said after she missed. “Go ahead, take your best shot!”

Spike flipped over the remaining 18 cards, putting him at 54—over half the deck—and he won.

“Looks like Lady Luck was on your side,” Dash said as she held out her hand. “Good game, Spike.”

They smiled as they shook hands.

“Don’t take off your blindfolds,” Starlight instructed the girls and the Flimflam Brothers, who were standing on the curb outside the front door of the hotel with scarves across their eyes.

Starlight moved down the line to make sure none of them were peeking.

“What you are about to see are some of the most valuable pieces of history on the face of this planet,” she told them.

“Are these blindfolds really necessary?” asked Applejack.

“Of course, they’re necessary,” Starlight replied.

“Couldn’t you have just asked us to close our eyes?” Rarity complained.

“How could I be sure that you wouldn’t peek?”

“You know I wouldn’t,” Sunset gave her word.

“I feel like Somnambula!” Pinkie said with a giggle.

“I’m starting to see spots,” Fluttershy added.

“Okay. You may now remove your blindfolds,” Starlight told them.

“Well, it’s about time,” Rarity huffed as she undid her scarf. “My mascara was starting to smear.”

One by one, they removed their blindfolds to discover an immense truck and trailer filled with incredibly rare—and extremely valuable—artifacts. The words “The Pillars of Equestria Tour” were painted on both sides of the trailer.

“Guess who just poached these from Impossibly Rich,” Starlight told them.

“A better event and we’re sticking it to our biggest rival!” Flam exclaimed.

“We are really impressed,” Flim added.

“Thank you, sirs,” Starlight said.

Just then, an unmarked government vehicle pulled up to the hotel. The driver’s door opened and a young man in a sharp black suit and tie stepped out.

“Shining? Shining Armor!” Twilight exclaimed.

“Surprised to see me, Twily?” he asked with a smile.

Twilight’s older brother, Shining Armor had started out doing freelance surveillance work for the Equestria Bureau of Investigation’s mob squad. Now, he was a high ranking agent in the Equestria Secret Service.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“The people in charge of the Pillars of Equestria Tour asked me to help escort the artifacts across the country,” he explained. “I was already on my way to the branch office here in town, so I thought I would stop by. I mean, I couldn’t come to Las Pegasus and not see my favorite sister! Hey, how would you like to unload the artifacts?” he asked.

“Really?” Twilight asked. “We get to touch them?”

“I don’t see why not,” Shining said. “Just take good care of them. After all, they’re irreplaceable.”

“Yes. Yes! We’ll be super careful!” Twilight promised.

“Great,” Shining said as he looked at his pager. “I’ve got to get back to the office—got a hot tip that someone plans to hit a bank in the city. I love you.”

He returned to his car as Applejack opened the back of the trailer to reveal numerous items protected by glass cases.

“Somnambula’s blindfold... Commander Hurricane’s armor... Flash Magnus’s shield... Mage Meadowbrook’s mask... Princess Platinum’s crown...” Rarity said as she walked past each one. “It’s so beautiful!”

The girls oohed and ahhed over the items, even Applejack, who found herself staring at a shovel that stood on a thick marble column.

It appeared to be an everyday shovel, but even without closer inspection, she knew who it once belonged to.

“Rockhoof,” she whispered. “Legend says that this shovel diverted a river of lava and saved an entire village,” she informed them.

They all gasped as a large glass display case rose up through an opening in the floor of the trailer. A small portion of the trailer’s back wall spun around to reveal another marble pillar. The glass case slid along the floor and was hoisted by mechanical hands to the top of the pillar. The motor hummed for a minute more as the metal arms retreated back into the metal floor and the wall spun back into place. The girls looked into the heavy glass case and saw a worn, black leather tome on a red velvet pillow.

“No way!” Twilight murmured appreciatively.

Rarity’s shoulders slumped in disappointment.

“It’s just an old book,” she said.

“‘Just an old book?’” Twilight asked. “That’s Starswirl the Bearded’s journal! He’s my idol!”

Starswirl the Bearded, the legendary wizard, whose books and tomes were over a thousand years old—each worth over five million dollars.

Twilight fell to her hands and knees in reverence.

“I am not worthy!”

Since Starlight posted the artifact show online, reservations had tripled.

“We’re booked solid until Friday,” Coco said.

“I am so back in the penthouse!” Starlight thought.

“High five, girl!” Stellar Flare said.

“I have to hand it to you, Pumpkin -- you pulled it off,” Firelight admitted.

The artifacts had been set up in the ballroom, which did hinder Spike’s dance classes, but he didn’t mind... mostly because he was nowhere to be found.

“Have you seen Spike and Rainbow Dash?” Pinkie asked Rarity. “They are going to flip when they see these.”

“No,” she replied as she rubbed her shoulder (she had pulled a muscle helping carry the artifacts in from the trailer). “But I do know they both missed their morning shift.”

“They’re skipping work together?” Pinkie asked. She gasped. “They’re totally hooking up!”

“Calm down,” Rarity said. “All we know is that they are both M.I.A.”

“And probably off smooching somewhere,” Pinkie added.

Twilight stood in front of the case holding Starswirl the Bearded’s journal. Firelight joined her.

“As a scholar, myself, I would like to study it,” she said.

“I’m sorry, Miss Sparkle,” Firelight replied. “But the journal is too fragile. It can’t be exposed to open air or dust of any kind.”

“Applejack, watch the show for me?” Starlight asked. “You’re the best.”

When night fell, Rarity said good night and went straight to her room. She planned to lie awake all night, plotting a way to steal Princess Platinum’s crown. Unfortunately for her, she fell asleep almost immediately. One by one, the girls bid good night as well.

Later, the ballroom door opened and a figure clad in a violet bathrobe shuffled quietly across the floor to one of the glass cases. Carefully, she took a bobby pin from her hair, inserted it into the case, and picked the lock.

“Gently,” she told herself in a whisper.

With a gleeful cry, the thief snatched the artifact out of its case and hurried out of the ballroom.

“AH-OO-GA! AH-OO-GA!”

The burglar alarm blared its warning into every room of the hotel. It was three in the morning, but the whole building was instantly ablaze with light.

Pinkie Pie, still asleep herself, shouted, “You’ll get your coffee! Quit buzzing me!”

“AH-OO-GA! AH-OO-GA!” the siren continued to blare.

“Turn that thing off!” Starlight shouted, covering her ears with her pillow to block out the noise.

Flim and Flam knew what that alarm meant, and it wasn’t good. Clad in their bedroom slippers and bathrobes, they followed the warning signal to the ballroom. The door to it was wide open!

Shards of glass lay strewn over the floor from a shattered display case. And worst of all... the most valuable piece in the whole collection was gone!

“There’s been a robbery!” they both shouted.

A half hour later, Shining Armor stood in the ballroom taking notes.

Several officers from the Las Pegasus Police Department were rolling out yellow caution tape and keeping the guests out of the ballroom, while others were laying out evidence numbers, taking crime scene photos, and questioning the staff.

Spike and several of the girls stood shaken (from the alarm) and bleary-eyed. Pinkie shuffled around the ballroom, passing out mugs of thick black coffee (as well as a cup of cocoa for Spike) and spoons to stir them with. The coffee began to revive everyone and little by little their memories returned.

“That alarm ruined my beauty sleep,” Rarity, clothed in a pink silk robe and pink satin slippers, pouted.

“Can we hurry this up?” Sunset asked as she wrapped her bright red bathrobe around her body more tightly. “I’m getting a draft up my nightie.”

“Starlight, would you care to explain what happened to the book that was on display here?” Firelight asked.

“Starswirl’s journal is gone?!” she exclaimed.

She ran past half a dozen uniformed officers and saw that the glass lid was open and the book was not there.

“It was here when I left,” Starlight said. “I left Applejack in charge, so it’s not my fault.”

“This was your job!” Applejack shouted. “I left them because I had to pee.”

“Well, at least the artifacts are insured,” Rarity said. “You did buy insurance when you booked the show, right?” she asked Starlight.

“No one told me I had to do that!” she sobbed.

“If you can all stop blaming each other for one minute,” Spike interjected, “I think I have a pretty good idea where the journal is.”

“You do?!” everyone asked.

“Notice anyone missing?” Spike asked. “Follow me,” he said casually.

He led them up to a room on the third floor. He told Rainbow Dash to use her master key to unlock the door, and when it wouldn’t open, Shining Armor kicked it in.

“There you are!”

Minutes later, Twilight Sparkle stood in the Flimflam Brothers’ office. The Brothers and Shining Armor shared expressions of heavy disappointment.

“Twilight, why did you steal the journal?” Shining asked.

“I really wanted to read it,” she replied.

“Was it worth it?” Discord asked.

“I read the writings of one of the greatest heroes ever known,” she said. “Today was the best day of my life.”

“Step outside, please,” Flim said.

She closed the door behind herself.

Discord and the Brothers watched Shining Armor as he pace the floor. They were all very disconcerted, especially Starlight, who believed that Twilight had ruined her chance of getting out of her job and back into her penthouse.

“Well, what is everyone thinking?” Shining Armor began.

“Well, are we upset about what Miss Sparkle did?” Flim asked. “Yes.”

“Have we thought about ways of punishing her for the theft besides sending her to jail?” Flam added. “Yes.”

“Did one of us go online and look up poisons that can’t be detected in an autopsy?” Starlight put in.

They all stared at her.

“Who wouldn’t?” she quickly tacked on.

“We could just force feed her Chef le Grand’s meatloaf,” Pinkie suggested. “Or Sugar Belle’s worst batch of bran muffins.”

“But despite what happened, she is still one of our most valuable employees,” Discord said. “Logically, that fact has not changed.”

“What do you think?” Shining Armor directed at Spike.

Spike blinked, surprised that Twilight’s own brother wanted to know where he stood.

“Why are you asking me?”

“You’re the one who solved this mystery,” Shining said. “I think you should have a say in this.”

The Brothers agreed with him, and so did Discord and the girls.

“Well, I’m not thrilled about what happened, either,” Spike told them. “So here’s what I’m thinking: you obviously don’t want to throw her out, and she obviously won’t quit... So, why don’t I knock her down a few pegs?”

The Brothers, Discord, and Shining Armor all looked intrigued.

“Bring Twilight back in,” Spike said to Discord.

Discord did so.

“I challenge you to a game of Blackjack,” Spike said.

“The stakes?” Twilight asked.

“Twenty million dollars against your title as the Princess of Friendship,” Spike stated. “If you win, I pay you the money and you don’t go to jail. But if you lose, then you will be relegated to the lowest level of the resort’s hierarchy. The janitors will have more authority than you. Well what do you say, Sparkle?”

Twilight thought he was insane, but she said, “I accept your terms.”

“It’s an honor to play against you, O Soon-To-Be-Former Princess of Friendship,” he sardonically replied.

It was an hour before dawn when Spike, Shining Armor, Discord, the Flimflam Brothers, the girls, and several of the guests gathered in the main casino.

Spike ordered a drink as he adjusted his white gloves.

“Vodka martini, shaken, not stirred,” he said to Soarin.

Twilight broke open six new decks of playing cards and inserted them all into the dealing shoe.

She dealt Spike his first two cards—the Eight of Spades and the Eight of Diamonds—sixteen, and she showed the Five of Diamonds. He split the eights, and got the Jack of Hearts on the first one and the Ten of Diamonds on the second, and stayed. Twilight’s second card was the King of Clubs, for fifteen, and she busted with the Nine of Diamonds.

The second hand came out and he won with the Jack of Spades and the Ace of Spades—Blackjack—against her Queen of Hearts and Jack of Clubs.

“I’ve seen this before,” Fancy Pants whispered to Fleur. “Twilight’s aggressively controlling the game now.”

Twilight hit twice on thirteen—the Six of Clubs and the Seven of Spades—and got the Three of Hearts and the Three of Clubs for nineteen. Spike hit on fifteen—the Ten of Spades and the Five of Spades—and got the Five of Hearts for a twenty. She hit on eight—the Six of Spades and a Two of Diamonds—and got the Ten of Hearts, for eighteen. Spike got the Ten of Diamonds and the Nine of Clubs—Nineteen.

“I’ve got this game in the bag,” she thought. “Because of all the six decks that make up this shoe, I already know where half of them are.”

Aside from the pattern on the back, at a glance, the cards Twilight played with were indistinguishable from any other deck. But hers were a special kind she had specially made for her own personal use. There was one more thing that set them apart from the others: above a certain temperature, the pattern stood out. And for about two minutes, until the cards cooled down, the pattern was visible. It was a teeny change that vanished so no one would catch on. And after she cut the deck, she remembered what card was where. So there was no way she could ever lose... except against another card counter. That was the whole reason Twilight played cards: to raise the level of difficulty and protect against lucky plays. As long as she knew each card, she was guaranteed to win, whether it was Poker or Old Maid.

The cards came out and Spike drew a solid twenty against Twilight’s eight. He stood, won, and adjusted his count, analyzing the depth of the shoe, calculating his index and his bet without even blinking.

“By the way, Sparkle, I was wondering how high the total market value of this resort must be,” Spike said. “A hundred billion... no, maybe closer to a trillion... But this game is only worth $20 million. It hardly seems worth it.”

“What are you talking about?” Twilight asked.

The white of Spike’s eyes started to darken.

“A word of advice: if you’re going to agree to put your very reputation on the line, you should insure that you’re sufficiently prepared,”

“What the Tartarus is he talking about? Is he threatening me? My reputation?” she thought. She gasped. “No! There’s no way he’s... He’s seen through my trick! If I were to be exposed for using trick decks, then... that scandal would run this place into the ground!”

Twilight started to think that Spike was a private investigator. If so, she was in bigger trouble than she thought; those guys worked for many casinos and they shared information on suspected cheaters and counters with pit bosses up and down the Strip.

Spike smiled at her.

“And almost everyone in this room has been helping you cheat,” he said. “Isn’t that right?”

Twilight gasped again.

As Spike looked around the room, he recognized the divisions of labor of a card counting team—and each team had three types of players: Spotters, Gorillas, and Big Players.

Everyone who joined a card counting team started off as a Spotter. The Spotters’ job was to find good tables with hot decks, then call in either a Gorilla or a Big Player. On most Blackjack teams, Spotters did that by back counting. They either stood around the casino, looking over players’ shoulders, counting the cards as they came out of the deck. Or they sat right at the tables, playing the minimum bet as they counted. They lost a bit, maybe got lucky—but they never varied their bets. When the count was good, the Spotter signaled a call-in. Then the Gorilla or the Big Player would sidle over, and the real game began.

Gorilla play was the next step after Spotting. Gorillas were just big, brain-dead betters—more like actors than anything else. They got called into a hot deck, stumbled over like drunken rich kids, and started throwing down big money. The Gorillas didn’t think for themselves—they let the Spotters tell them when the deck was about to go bad. But depending on how high the count was when they were signaled in their percentage advantage could be staggering. They didn’t count, they just bet and bet and waited for the Spotter to signal them that the run of good cards was over. Then they got up and wandered off in search of the next call-in.

Big Players did it all: they acted, counted, and betted at the same time, tracking the shuffle and cutting to aces. It was the toughest role but also the most important. They carried the money, got themselves known by the casino personnel, got called in by Spotters, but then they took over the play. They could do things the Gorillas couldn’t, like raising the bet as the deck got better—but they had to do it with style so that the casino didn’t nail them.

But at that moment, Spike wasn’t dealing with any Gorillas, just one Big Player (Twilight) and Faust knew how many Spotters.

“Judging by the way most of you reacted just now I wouldn’t accuse all of you, but... maybe around ten,” Spike went on, “to assure your position as the resort’s top dealer, maybe 20 or so.”

His anger was rising.

“Just how much does he know?” Twilight thought. “Did he spot the disappearing patterns? No, it’s all just a bluff! It has to be! No! No, no!”

Spike played perfectly for the rest of the six-deck shoe, including three blackjacks in a row—a Jack of Diamonds with an Ace of Clubs, a Queen and an Ace of Spades, and a Jack of Clubs with an Ace of Hearts.

“If you had been a little more careful, I would have lost,” he told her. “The patterns on the back are all the exact same, aren’t they? If you had used different decks that showed different patterns, I would have been unable to win... too bad.”

Twilight swallowed—her throat dry.

“He-he memorized them all?” she thought. “In that short amount of time, he memorized all of my patterns? If that’s true, then he must’ve been aware of them since the beginning! He just pretended not to notice and kept playing! How did this happen? How did I lose? Who-who the Tartarus is this guy?”

“Thanks. This game was really fun,” Spike said, rising from his stool. “Let’s move on to another one. What shall we play? Poker? Or how about baccarat?”

“N-No, I-I’m good,”

Spike glared down at her. Then he took it a sadistic step further.

“Ooh? Are you really in a position to decline me?” he snarled. “Oh, the shame you must feel after such a staggering defeat in this treacherous game that you worked so hard to rig with such confidence. Will you ever be able to redeem yourself? Let’s play! All you have to do is nod your head!! Now!!! COME ON!!!! COME ON!!!!! COME ON!!!!!!!”

Twilight fell to the floor and rubbed tears from her eyes.

“I-I can’t do it!” she bawled. “It’s just impossible! Forgive me! Please...”

The red from Spike’s eyes quickly faded and he recoiled at her sobs.

“Huh?”

“Forgive me, please...” she wept.

Applejack squeezed his shoulder.

“Spike, stop!” she said. “Can’t you see she’s pleading?”

“I--I...I’m sorry. I don’t know what--!”

Spike turned and fled to the elevator bank and everyone from the guests to the employees all shared frightened looks, everything from concerned to scared, to worried and afraid.

Spike splashed cold water on his face as dawn broke over Las Pegasus.

He had returned to his suite and tried to wash his hands clean. But no matter how many times he did, he felt that he would never be able to shake off what just happened. He looked in the mirror and saw one man and two women standing in the doorway behind him. He turned around to face them.

“Sunset, Applejack, Shining Armor, I--”

“What in Faust’s name did you think you were doing?” Applejack asked.

“I... don’t know,” he said softly.

“Spike, you didn’t just fly off the handle back there,” Sunset told him. “It was like you were a whole other person.”

Spike didn’t answer.

Shining Armor stepped forward and placed a hand on Spike’s shoulder.

“How did you know that Twily was rigging the game?” he asked.

“Shining, it’s obvious that she’s been manipulating people to keep herself at the top of the heap. All I had to do was figure out whom,”

“But how did you do that?” Applejack asked.

“Let me tell you something about card counters: they don’t alter any of the rules of the game, nor do they mess with the nature of the game,” Spike said. “But, for the moment, let’s just assume that there are no less than 20 people in league with Twilight. Unless they manipulated which way the shoe was going to go, it wouldn’t really be cheating. Even if Twilight hadn’t fixed the cards with a pattern, it wouldn’t have been too hard for her to calculate any winning hands ahead of time. Therefore, I could only deduce that she was playing on a hand-by-hand basis. But if that’s the case, then how did she decide when to hit or stand? I was watching her behavior very closely right up until the end, but I never saw her make any kind of signal. For a moment, I thought about an audio cue. But I didn’t hear her prompt anyone, either. So, that left only one possibility: someone was signaling in her place. That meant it had to have been someone specific, someone who would draw everybody’s attention. I kept watching the crowd, and that’s when it hit me. I figured all eyes would be on me because I was one of the players. But no, that’s where I went wrong. Their eyes weren’t on me, or Twilight; they were locked on the person who was standing right behind me.”

“So, you figured me out too?” asked Sunset.

“The rest was easy. I just had to discern your signals from what you did. The glass my martini came in was extra shiny... and reflective,” he said. “I should tell Soarin to keep up the good work.”

“That’s incredible,” Applejack breathed. “Would you explain one more thing? How were you able to draw the cards you needed to win? The odds were clearly stacked against you.”

“Oh, that was just pure luck of the draw,” he said simply.

“You’re kidding,” Shining Armor said. “You’re telling me that you risked twenty million dollars just to uncover Twilight’s cheating? And you bet it on a hunch? If you hadn’t said anything about her con, you could have saddled her with a little debt to you at the worst. But you were guaranteed to win. So you went out of your way to expose her because you relish taking risks?”

“Oh, please, even I don’t take risks just for risk’s sake,” Spike admitted. “I can’t stand contests where I’m guaranteed to lose, because that’s not true gambling... But having too much of an advantage is boring.”

“You really are something else,” Applejack said finally.

She and Sunset started to walk away.

“Where are you going?” Spike asked them.

“We’re leaving this place,” Sunset said. “We’re drowning in debt. We both owe the Brothers five million dollars, and when we tried to pay it off by gambling, it only got worse. It’s scarier than drowning because you never really die, and I’m exhausted. If I was even half as good as you, things might’ve been different.”

She turned around again and took Spike’s hand in hers.

“Spike, I’m really sorry. Can you ever forgive me?”

Spike smiled at her.

“I never really did thank you, did I?”

He dipped his free into his pocket and pulled out several stacks of hundred dollar bills.

“Here,”

“No! Spike, I helped Twilight cheat! I can’t take this!” Sunset protested.

“Please, consider this a token of my gratitude,” he told her. “Use it to pay off your debt to Flim and Flam. I got to expose a cheater to the world today and have fun doing it, so thank you.”

There was no malice in his words. No resentment, no pity; only honesty.

That’s when Shining Armor, Sunset and Applejack finally realized that Spike was not normal. What he was, what he had, was some small bit of authentic probability manipulation power wrapped up in a charismatic body.

Spike was a statistics manipulator; a human good luck magnet—a living lucky charm.

And Twilight Sparkle’s luck seemed to be running out...

Author's Note

Next time: After a guest tries to pick up Rarity, Spike vows to strike a savage blow by beating the player at his own games (plural)! Meanwhile, Starlight, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash “borrow” dresses from a guest’s room, and Applejack misinterprets a comment from Spike, thinking they’re going on a date.

Card Holder

Spike sat across from Applejack and Sunset Shimmer as they sipped cocoa in the Sweet Snacks Café the following morning. Sunset’s mind strayed to the money he had given her, which lay on the table in front of them.

“I guess I owe you even more, huh?” she asked.

“Why?” Spike replied.

“Well, first trusting me with your allergy shot and now this,” she said, looking at the stack of cash. “I can’t pay you back right now, but I promise I will.”

“That was a gift,” he told her. “Don’t give it another thought.”

Sunset and Applejack smiled at Spike as several people walked into the Café, saw him, and then walked right back out. Ever since Spike had made Twilight cry, the guests (and even several of the other employees) were giving him a wide berth. Spike knew that he would have to find a way to make it up to them. Whatever it was, it would have to be something big, and he would have to do it fast... before the Resort started losing customers.

As for Twilight, she had been relegated to the lowest level of the casino’s hierarchy after her loss to Spike. After falling so far, it was going to be impossible for her to climb back up. That day, she had been forced to dress as a showgirl and prance around like a circus pony. She walked by the Café wearing a skimpy outfit, complete with a feathered headdress and matching tail feathers.

“I’m sorry, Twilight,” Spike apologized to her.

“Shut up!” she shouted. “This happened because of you!”

“No, this happened because you’re a cheatin’ snake,” Applejack replied.

Twilight stormed into one of the elevators and punched the button for the 31st floor. She was going to give the Flimflam Brothers a piece of her mind!

Flim and Flam were looking out their giant window, overlooking the Strip, when Twilight marched into their office. Spike and Applejack had followed her up.

“I see,” said Flim. “So, you’re saying that since you’re just a dealer, you should only be doing the work of a dealer?”

“Is that what you’re telling us, Miss Sparkle?” Flam asked.

“Yes, that’s correct, Sirs,” Twilight replied.

“Well, that’s perfect then!” Flim said.

“Is it?” Twilight asked.

“Really?” Spike and Applejack added.

“Come in!” Flim shouted to the door behind them.

The doors opened and the Resort’s new favorite/top Bunny Girl entered.

“Fluttershy?” Spike and Twilight asked.

“Fluttershy has a lot of potential, but she’s still rough around the edges,” Flim began. “We want you to take her under your wing, polish her up, and make her shine like a diamond!”

“You want me to train new recruits?” Twilight asked.

“That’s right,” Flam replied.

Twilight seemed hesitant about the idea.

“What’s the matter?” Flam asked. “Didn’t you say that you would rather stick to dealers’ work? Training new dealers fits that description, does it not?”

“Well, I guess you’re not wrong,” Twilight replied.

Flim grabbed a rolled up poster that had been sitting on his desk.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” he said, “Cherry Blossom is having her grand debut at the MGM arena next month and I see our star cellist opposite her in the ring.”

He unrolled the poster to reveal a picture of Octavia Melody, one of the Resort’s musicians, dressed in a suggestive purple bikini in an advertisement for several sporting events, including Foxy Boxing.

“‘Mud, Oil, AND Jello Wrestling’?” Spike read the captions out loud.

“It’s what’s in now,” Flim explained.

“Octavia doesn’t strike me as the fighting type,” Spike commented.

“You haven’t seen her get into a catfight with Vinyl,” Applejack told him.

“Well, I’ve always wanted to train a new recruit,” Spike said to the Brothers.

“Very well,” Flim replied. “We’ll leave Fluttershy in your care.”

“You’re all dismissed,” Flam added.

Spike and Applejack left with Fluttershy as Twilight stood dumbfounded at what just happened.

“Why is this happening to me?” she thought. “Why to me? How did I fall so far? How did it come to this? What did I do? Why me? Why?”

Spike escorted Fluttershy to the High Rollers’ Lounge, which was empty, so she could show him her card skills.

“I am so excited to be out of the Café right now, you have no idea,” she said.

Spike did have an idea. In fact, he knew exactly what she was implying.

She was thinking about the Paradises’ out of control kids.

The junior staff had been plagued by them since the day they started work.

Yesterday alone they had made a baking soda and vinegar volcano in X Sushi, which covered the entire restaurant in bits of crab meat and other raw fish; made Starlight Glimmer drop her serving tray in the Café, pantsed Discord in the center of the lobby, crashed the Flimflam Brothers’ personal golf cart into a row of slot machines in the casino, which caused said machines to topple over like dominoes; used Zephyr Breeze as a piñata, ran a luggage cart full of suitcases into one of the outdoor swimming pools, and rigged the computer at the front desk to short circuit and blow up. And when Fluttershy went to their parents to suggest that they “keep a closer eye on them,” they just brushed her off saying, “They’re just boys being boys.” But it didn’t stop there. Chef le Grand personally came out of the kitchen after the waitresses relayed one too many complaints.

“Is everything to your satisfaction?” he asked.

“I don’t like the fries!” one of the boys stated.

“They’re awful!” added the other.

“Why are they ‘awful’?” Chef asked.

“They’re the wrong shape!” they complained.

“They get everything cooked the way they like it at home,” Mrs. Paradise told the Chef.

“Oh, do they now?” Chef retorted.

“Yes, and it’s better than this garbage!” one of them commented.

“These eggs look like you laid them!” the other added.

“They’re rather highly strung,” Mr. Paradise said.

“Yes, they should be,” Chef replied.

“They’re the wrong shape!” they complained again.

“Well, what shape do you usually have?” Chef inquired. “Wilhelm Wombat shape, unidentified flying object shape, smart-mouth shape, poke-in-the-eye shape?”

It escalated until the twins finally threw their food to the floor and called Chef le Grand stupid! It took the combined strength of Starlight, Pinkie and Sugar Belle to haul the Chef back through the swinging doors to the kitchen.

“Don’t worry, Chef,” Starlight told him. “Those brats will rue the day they came to Las Pegasus!”

“Is it wrong to say that you hate someone if they’re only eight years old?” Fluttershy asked Spike as he closed the doors behind them.

“Well, Applejack caught them peeing in all four of the swimming pools yesterday, so I’m going to say no,” he replied.

“Have you even met the parents? They actually think that we like babysitting their little monsters all day!”

“I hear ya. But we’re here now, so how about we run a quick exercise and you can show me what you’ve got?”

Fluttershy shuffled and reshuffled a deck of cards while Spike watched her. She started with a simple overhand shuffle, one of the easiest to accomplish after a little practice, gradually transferring the deck from one hand to the other. Then she smiled as she did a riffle before fanning the cards out on the table in front of her and flipped them over in one swift motion.

“Wow. I don’t think I have anything else I can teach you,” he told her.

“No!” Fluttershy yelped. “I still have a lot I need to work on!”

“Well, you passed on your shuffling skills,” Spike replied. “Now, I’ll show you how to work the Roulette.”

Spike and Fluttershy joined Sunset, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash at the bar in the casino. Spike ordered a Coke and rum while Fluttershy picked up her serving tray and prepared to bus drinks around the room.

Spike downed his drink and walked across the casino straight to the table with the platinum Roulette wheel. There was only a sprinkling of gamblers at it, playing small. Fancy Pants was one of them, and he smiled as Spike took his place behind the wheel.

An elderly balding man with dead eyes asked, “What’s the maximum here?”

“Five thousand,” Spike replied with a smile. “Let’s get started. I wish you all the best of luck.”

He picked up the wheel’s matching platinum ball as he noticed a young man with sandy-colored hair and wearing a sharkskin gray suit and glasses standing across the table. He held a stack of black casino chips in his right hand and a ring box in his left hand.

“What’s up with him?” Dash asked.

“Poor guy,” Sunset said, “looks like he’s too scared to propose to his girlfriend, so I guess he’s thinking about betting the engagement ring.”

“Betting the ring?” Fluttershy asked.

“Would you like to place a bet, sir?” Spike asked. “It’s your turn.”

“Oh, um, I can’t seem to make up my mind,” he stuttered. “It’s actually really important.”

“Oh, I see,” Spike smiled again. “Well, aren’t you the lucky one. It’s all riding on you, then.”

“Did he just talk to the ball?” Dash asked.

“Yup,” Sunset confirmed.

“Eeyup,” Applejack said.

“Eeyup!” Pinkie repeated.

“Mm-hmm,” Fluttershy added.

Spike blew on the Roulette ball and whispered to it, “Make our friend’s wish come true,” then he let it go.

There was a buzz of conversation around the table and several more people drifted up and stood watching. Spike felt their curious eyes upon him, but he only looked across the table into the eyes of the pit boss—Sassy Saddles. They were as friendly as they were intrepid. He smiled at her as the Roulette wheel whirred and the little ball set off on its journey.

“Excuse me, sir,” Spike said to the indecisive young man. “I don’t mean to be rude, but if you’re having trouble choosing a number, might I suggest that when looking at the table, you picture your loved one. If you trust your feelings, then I’m sure they’ll lead you to victory.”

The young man nodded and placed his stack of chips on Red 23.

Spike hardly looked at the wheel as it slowed down and the little platinum ball rattled into its slot.

“And the winner is Red 23!” he announced.

A pretty young woman with brown eyes and a brunette Pixie cut approached the Roulette table.

“What about 23?” she asked. “My birthday’s on the twenty-third. Sorry I made you wait so long.”

The young man wrapped his arms around her, kissed her on the cheek, and asked, “Comet, will you marry me?”

“Can we afford that?” she replied.

Spike raked in a few losing counters and casino chips and tossed some money down the table to the winners, before pushing 20 stacks of black chips (each worth $100), ten high, towards the young couple.

“I guess we can,” she said. “I do!”

“Yes, thank you!” he cried.

Fancy Pants, and everyone else around the table, clapped and Spike said, “Congratulations, you two.”

“It’s all thanks to you,” the young man replied. “Thank you for the advice.”

“Come again,” Spike told them.

Applejack, Sunset, Pinkie and Fluttershy smiled while Rainbow Dash stared, almost dumbfounded.

“What just happened?” Dash asked.

“Spike breathing on the ball must have inspired it to grant that guy’s wish,” Sunset said. “I guess he really is a living good luck charm.”

“Nice one, Spike,” Applejack added.

While this was happening, a suave, flirtatious young singer with brown hair, skin the color of light gold, and dressed in black slacks and a black vest with gold accents, checked in at the front desk with three lovely ladies in tow. One of them was a blue-eyed blonde dressed in green, one was a brunette with violet eyes and clad in red, and the third girl wore blue and had pale blue eyes and hair.

“Ah, summer in Las Pegasus. There’s nothing like it in the world,” the singer said. “Wouldn’t you agree, my beloved Dear Darling?” he asked the blonde.

“Oh, Feather Bangs, you’re so amazing!” she exclaimed.

“I knew you’d say that, sweetheart,” he replied. “It’s basic science and logic. There’s a purpose to everything and nothing in this world is coincidence, just as it was no coincidence that my path crossed with my lovely fan girls... It was fated!”

“You’re the best, Feather Bangs!” the three women cried.

“Now then, there’s no time to lose,” he said. “Can you feel Destiny calling us, babe?”

They entered the casino and approached a group of men in suits surrounding one of the Craps tables.

“Seven! Seven! Seven! Seven! Seven! Seven! Seven!” they chanted.

“Not very stylish to have such an unbecoming scowl on your face while you play,” Feather Bangs said as he grabbed the wrist of man who was about to throw. “Cast the dice like you’d cast a bottled love note out to sea. Like this.”

Feather Bangs let the man’s wrist go and sure enough, he rolled seven.

“Oh, Feather Bangs, you’re so amazing!” his fan girls cried.

“What can I say? The numbers on my side,”

Then he approached a woman sitting at a slot machine.

“Today is not my day,” she said.

“May I offer the lovely lady a little luck?” he asked.

She giggled as he inserted a coin into the machine and she hit the jackpot.

“I’m sensing a low Engel coefficient, so eat, drink and be merry!” he stated.

“Oh, Feather Bangs, you’re way too kind!” his groupies sighed.

Sunset, Pinkie and Rainbow Dash approached the platinum Roulette wheel.

“Check out Mr. Smooth,” Spike whispered to them as Feather Bangs stepped up to one of the billiard tables.

He picked up a cue stick and sent three balls into different pockets on the same shot.

“Find the coefficient of friction and factor in momentum, trace the angle of incident against the perpendicular plane,” he told them. “My equations are perfect, like me.”

“Oh, Feather Bangs, you’re so cool!”

“Time to stop showing off and get to work,” he thought. “Where are you?”

He heard a loud crash of glass and saw that Fluttershy had dropped her serving tray.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said as he bent down to help her. “I can clean this up, please don’t worry about it!”

“Oh, Feather Bangs, you’re so thoughtful!” his groupies cried.

“It’s fine,” he told Fluttershy. “I aim to please.” He winced as he cut a finger on one of the shards of broken glass. “Don’t you worry a single precious hair on your head; the wounds of love cut deep, but I would gladly suffer pain a thousand times greater if it meant keeping you out of harm’s way.”

“There! Good as new!” Fluttershy said.

Feather Bangs looked down at his hand and saw that she had wrapped the end of his middle finger with a Band-Aid. She apologized again and he thanked her for the bandage. That’s when he saw Rarity out of the corner of his eye, dealing at one of the Blackjack tables.

“There she is!” he thought with a smile.

“Ahem,” Feather Bangs cleared his throat as he strut up to the table. “Is this seat taken?”

“It is now,” Rarity replied. “Welcome, sir.”

“My name is Feather Bangs,” he introduced himself with a swish of his hair. “My two great loves are numbers and women.”

“Feather Bangs, you’re fantastic!” said Swoon Song.

“Your boyfriend is a pretty lucky guy,” he said to Rarity. “It’s not every day I meet a woman with such a warm and inviting personality. Now, give me a card and let’s go.”

Rarity smiled.

“Every girl I meet falls in love with me. It’s inevitable!” he went on. “You feel the same, don’t you?”

“I’m flattered, but--”

“It breaks my heart, but I have no choice,” He took her hands in his. “I could feel the hands of Fate pulling us together!”

“Ugh, he did not just say that!” Spike said. “He’s so cheesy I need crackers just to listen to him!”

“And why does everything he’s saying sound so familiar?” Sunset asked.

“‘Cause he’s using lines straight from that old movie ‘Rainbow Gate’,” Dash said. “What a doofus!”

“As my sister Maud’s boyfriend, Mud Briar, would say, ‘Technically, it wasn’t a movie, it was a TV show,’” Pinkie added.

“Okay, he can’t get away with using unoriginal lines to hit on Rarity,” Spike said. “That’s beyond wrong!

“It’s like trying to pass off a knockoff outfit as a designer,” Sunset told him. “Rarity hates it when people do that.”

“He is so going down!” Spike swore.

“Hey, we all down for movie night in the theater tonight?” Pinkie asked. “Cheese Sandwich has the whole collection of ‘One Thousand and One Movies You Must See Before You Die.’”

“Really?” Dash asked. “That’s awesome.”

“Does he take requests?” Spike inquired.

Pinkie nodded.

“In that case, I’ll definitely be there,” he said.

Later in the day, Fluttershy and Starlight Glimmer joined Rainbow Dash in Room 520 while she was cleaning it.

Starlight was going through the closet, which was full of the most beautiful gowns and dresses she had ever seen.

“Okay, whoever this woman is, she has seriously good taste,” she said. “We should borrow some to wear to the movies tonight! Let’s try some on!”

We can’t do that!” Fluttershy exclaimed.

“Why not?” Dash asked. “She’ll never know.”

“And there might be cute guys there,” Starlight added.

“What if she notices they’re gone?” Fluttershy asked.

“She has 27 dresses,” Starlight counted them.

“We’ll have them back before she even notices,” Rainbow Dash added as she pulled a yellow dress over her head. “Uh, guys, I think I’m stuck.”

“Ooh, this one would look so pretty on you!” Starlight said to Fluttershy as she held up a strapless green number.

“Oh, don’t tempt me!” Fluttershy said. “I’ve got to get back to work.”

“Guys, I’m serious, okay? I am stuck in here!” Rainbow Dash shouted.

Meanwhile, out in the hallway, Applejack (in her lifeguard uniform) knocked on the door to the room. She was on her way down to the outside pools when one of the people that had been on the elevator with her passed gas. She stepped out with another one of the guests, and when she breathed in the fresh air, she heard the sounds of female laughter coming from one of the suites.

Female laughter that sounded a little too familiar.

“Shh, shh! Someone’s at the door!” Fluttershy whispered.

“Get it off! Get it off me!” Dash told them.

The door to the suite opened.

“Can I help you?” Dash answered.

“What’s going on?” Applejack asked. “I heard a ruckus.”

“A ruckus?” Dash repeated. “I don’t know anything about a ruckus.”

Applejack heard the sounds of girls giggling behind Rainbow Dash.

“Is someone else in there?” she asked.

“No, it’s the TV,” Dash said, which wasn’t entirely false. “The guests must’ve left it on.”

“Tourists,” Applejack said with a roll of her eyes.

She started to walk back toward the elevator, and then turned around again. She pointed to her eyes using the backward V-Sign. Then she pointed those fingers at Rainbow Dash. The universal sign for, “I’m watching you.”

She did it three more times before she walked away again.

“Okay, I really have to go,” Fluttershy told them after Applejack had left.

“You’re sure about the dress?” Starlight asked.

“Yes,” she replied. “You two are so bad!”

Spike stretched out on a chaise by the larger outdoor swimming pool, his biceps bulging as his hands were behind his head, his eyes shielded by wraparound sunglasses, as he waited for his mother to join him.

He saw Sunset sunning herself on a chaise next to Applejack’s lifeguard tower. She was wearing a sarong over the bottoms of her black bikini. Luckily for Celestia (who stepped out of the women’s changing room), they were also wearing dark sunglasses because she was wearing nothing at all. Celestia quickly ducked back into the dressing room and stepped back out again, wearing a skimpy, virgin white, barely-there, pretzel bikini.

Spike glanced across the pool at the postcard-perfect picture before him, and a tall beauty whose bronze skin complimented her sun-kissed hair. Then he glanced back at his mother, who reclined on the chaise next to his.

With curves in all the right places, Celestia was very much like a goddess. Spike’s eyes focused on her beautiful, perfect breasts; long, luscious legs; and amazing ass. He could clearly see the outline of her nipples beneath her swimsuit and his mind soared with thoughts about what else lay beneath.

Then he asked himself how he could be thinking about her like that. Sure, they weren’t related by blood, but she had raised him as her own after his mother died and he loved her for that.

“Spike,” Celestia’s voice broke him from his thoughts. “I can’t help noticing you’re taking more of an interest in the fairer gender lately. There’s something I would like to say about that. There comes a time in every young man’s life when he enters a garden of beautiful flowers. And he wants to enter that garden with the knowledge to let the flowers bloom...”

“Mom, if this is about sex, you can save yourself the embarrassment. I already know,” he told her.

“You do?”

“The Sex Ed course at your school is very thorough,” he replied. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I see a young lady who needs help putting on suntan lotion.”

He stood up and walked the few feet to Sunset just as she untied her sarong and turned over to lie on her stomach. She rested her chin on her hands as Spike sat down beside her.

“Need a hand?” he offered.

Sunset nodded with a smile as Spike picked up the bottle of tanning oil and started rubbing some over her shoulders.

“So, guess what Cheese Sandwich is screening tonight at the theater,” he said as his hands worked their way down her back, “the first three episodes of ‘Rainbow Gate.’”

“You asked him to show it?” Sunset asked.

“More like bribed,” Spike replied. “I promised I’d wash his bus next week.”

“You know, you’ve been kind of obsessed with getting back at Feather Bangs since he hit on Rarity,” Sunset commented as she took off her sunglasses. “What do you care who she dates?” She gasped. “You like her! And you’re jealous of Feather Bangs!”

“I am not!” Spike protested.

“You want to kiss her! Admit it!”

“I’d rather kiss Twilight!”

“You’re washing a bus for her?” Applejack asked.

“No, I am doing this for the betterment of mankind and because women shouldn’t have to put up with cheesiness from guys, especially in the form of stolen lines!”

“Yeah, you definitely like her,” Sunset commented.

“Excusez-moi,” a new voice interrupted.

Spike’s head whipped around and he saw Fleur standing next to him, holding a white towel in one hand and a bottle of sunscreen in the other. Her French bikini barely covered her sensual figure.

“Sorry to keep you waiting for so long, Monsieur Drake,” she said as she took the chaise next to Sunset’s.

“Feel free to call me Spike,” he told her.

“Well, thank you for waiting, Spike,” she replied.

Fleur lay on her stomach after she handed Spike her SPF 100. She really didn’t want to get burned. Spike didn’t blame her.

She lifted her hands to her back, untied the knot in her top, and the strings dropped to her sides. Then she released the knot at her neck as well, and pulled her bikini top out from under her. She dropped it on the ground right at Spike’s feet and rested her chin on her hands.

Spike couldn’t believe it when Fleur reached down to the knots in the waistband of her bottoms and tugged them before dropping them at his feet too. She let out an airy sigh as Spike’s fingers touched her soft, smooth skin. He started at her shoulders, and then slowly worked his way down.

“So, will I see you at the theater tonight?” he asked her as he rubbed more lotion onto her back.

“Actually, I thought that you would join me in my suite,” she replied. “I could cook dinner, maybe share a bottle of wine?”

“That sounds like a roadmap whose destination is the boudoir,” he said as he moved his hands over her thighs so that they just barely brushed her posterior.

“But if a night out is what you want, then I would love to accompany you,” Fleur said. “I hope you’re taking notes,” she told Sunset. “Learn a little something about how to treat your man.”

Sunset went red in the cheeks, Applejack’s whole face went red as steam started to come out of her ears, and Fluttershy (who had been bussing drinks by the pool) saw the whole thing. She dipped her hand down the front of her uniform, pulled out her cell phone, and speed-dialed Starlight.

“I changed my mind,” she said. “I need that green dress for tonight!”

Just when Spike thought his situation couldn’t get any hotter, Chrysalis showed up. She towered over him in a royal blue sling bikini as he squeezed more sunscreen onto his hands.

“Would you mind rubbing some oil into my back?” she asked sweetly. “I won’t bite... unless you want me to,” she added in a whisper.

Her swimsuit slipped from her figure before she laid out her towel and lay down upon it, resting her head on her arms.

Spike positioned himself on top of Chrysalis so that he was straddling her thighs and she purred as he rubbed her bronze shoulders and caught a glimpse of the sides of her breasts on either side of her body, pressed under her weight. Chrysalis felt Spike getting hard and she clenched around his erection like it was a hotdog, sandwiching him between her buns.

Suddenly, Chrysalis unclenched as she, Spike, Fleur, Celestia, Sunset, Applejack and Fluttershy heard music coming from the other side of the pool. They saw Feather Bangs, fully clothed, following Rarity. He was trying to charm her by playing guitar and singing “She Loves Me.”

He followed her around the pool, singing and playing all the way, until they walked up the steps to the high dive, and Rarity pushed Feather Bangs off the diving board and into the pool.

“Well, there’s something you don’t see every day,” Spike told Applejack after she’d helped Feather Bangs out of the pool. “You’re coming to the theater tonight, right?”

“Uh, y-yeah, yeah,” she replied.

“Great, see you then,”

And then he left.

Applejack turned to Sunset and asked, “Um, did he just ask me on a date?”

“Uh, I don’t think so,” she replied.

“I think he just asked me on a date!” Applejack said.

Sunset wrapped her sarong around her waist as she got up and thought, “Oh, man, this could be a weird night.”

Only about 20 people (including Spike, Fleur, Applejack, Sunset, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Twilight and Starlight) were at the theater that evening. Even Feather Bangs showed up... with Rarity on his arm.

Cheese Sandwich was selling tickets at the box office while Soarin and Zephyr Breeze worked the concession stand and a young woman with moderate azure eyes, pale olive skin, strong cerulean hair with arctic blue highlights, and tiny glasses ushered people into the theater. According to the usher’s nametag, her name was Juniper Montage.

Spike had chosen to go casual, in dark navy Wranglers and a black T-shirt, as did Fleur (except her shirt was pink and her jeans were tight enough that they cupped her heart-shaped derrière). Applejack and Sunset were also dressed in jeans and T-shirts (red and orange respectively), Pinkie was decked out in a hot pink tank top and miniskirt (no surprise there), Rainbow Dash wore a yellow dress with spaghetti straps, Fluttershy wore a strapless green ensemble, and Starlight was wearing a pale, low-cut heliotrope number that was extra short in the skirt.

“Hey, did anyone see what’s playing?” Spike asked.

“Oh, yeah, tonight’s showing is the first three episodes of the short-lived, early-2011 series ‘Rainbow Gate’!” Cheese Sandwich announced.

Feather Bangs’ eyes went wide for a moment.

Then he said, “Hey, Rarity, we can’t really talk at a movie. So, why don’t we go get some frozen yogurt or something?”

“What? You can’t just walk away from ‘Rainbow Gate’,” Spike said. “You are really going to love it,” he told Rarity. “Enjoy.”

He returned to Fleur, who was looking at Starlight.

“Is something wrong, Cherie?” he asked her.

“I have that dress,” she said. “I thought it was a one-off.”

“I know. Don’t you hate it when that happens?” Starlight chuckled. “Hey, why don’t you guys go in, save us some seats, and we’ll get the refreshments after we, uh... powder our noses?”

“It looks really crowded,” Feather Bangs replied. “We probably won’t even get in.”

“No, I really want to see this,” Rarity said. “Please? It looks really good.”

She batted her eyelashes at him and made a cute little face that he couldn’t say no to, while Starlight pushed Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy into the ladies’ room and locked the door behind them.

“Girls, the guest we borrowed our dresses from, is Fleur,” Starlight told them, “Spike’s Fleur!”

“I told you! I knew this was a bad idea!” Fluttershy said. “We can’t go in there now!”

“Well, I want to see Feather Bangs’ face when he gets busted,” said Dash. “Spike told me how he plans to do it, and I love it! And besides, what’s the worst they can do, fire us?”

“Hmm, good point,” Starlight replied. “Let’s go.”

They exited the restroom and got in line for the concession stand. Fluttershy ordered a small box of popcorn with butter but no salt, Starlight asked for salt with no butter, and Twilight took her kernels plain (no salt or butter), complaining that they always made her fingers greasy.

Applejack followed Spike and Fleur to the center of the theater and they sat in the middle of the row, Applejack on his right, Fleur on his left. Then Sunset sat right of Applejack. They sat in the row behind Feather Bangs and Rarity.

Juniper Montage had personally shown them to their seats. Sunset and Applejack noticed her smile at Spike, and longingly gaze at him, until he took his seat. They both glared at Juniper and then smiled as her face went red with embarrassment and she went back to the lobby. Spike sat behind Feather Bangs while Rarity sat to Feather Bangs’ right. Twilight and Starlight entered soon after, Twilight glancing around for Spike (trying not to be too obvious, but was). They took their seats in the row behind him, and Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy sat in the row behind Twilight and Starlight.

Normally, Spike would have pulled the armrests down, but now, as he sat between two beautiful women, he decided to let his arms rest at his sides, in case someone (namely Fleur) wanted to cuddle.

The theater went dark as the screen widened and the first episode began.

The male lead on the screen spoke.

“Your boyfriend is a pretty lucky guy. It’s not every day I meet a woman with such a warm and inviting personality.”

“Didn’t you say that to me this morning?” Rarity asked Feather Bangs.

“No,” Feather Bangs chuckled nervously. “I don’t--I don’t think so.”

Halfway through the episode, Spike offered some of his popcorn to Applejack.

“Aww, thanks, you’re sweet,” she said as she reached into the box.

She glanced down at the coating of luscious topping.

“Salt and butter?” she asked.

“Naturally,” he replied. “What good is life – and popcorn – if you don’t enjoy it?”

Applejack smiled as she devoured two handfuls and then licked her fingers.

Twenty minutes later, the second episode began and the man on the screen looked at his love interest with kind eyes.

“The wounds of love cut deep, but I would gladly suffer pain a thousand times greater if it meant keeping you out of harm’s way.”

“Now, that’s a great line,” Spike whispered. “Wait, haven’t I heard that somewhere before?”

“Usher!” Feather Bangs shouted. “There is someone talking behind me!”

Everyone in the theater shushed him.

“What are you, leaky tires?” Spike asked them.

That quickly shut them up.

As the minutes passed, Applejack leaned closer and closer to Spike. She leaned in so close that her breast grazed his bicep. He smelled good to her, like body wash, fresh from the shower. She recognized it from a sample that came in one of Sunset’s magazines—it was the body wash Spike was spokesmen for: Dragon Wolf. It was like a combination of exotic spices and a campfire that had been just put out; two of her favorite scents.

“Oh, sorry, do you need more space?” Spike asked her.

“No, I-I just, uh...”

“Oh, I was gonna get up anyway,” he said.

When he did, Applejack leaned toward Sunset and whispered, “This wasn’t a date, was it?”

“No,” Sunset whispered back.

While the ladies’ room was a place for chatting, primping, and various “woman mysteries”, the men’s restroom was dedicated to speed and efficiency. When using a public bathroom, men observed general unspoken rules that dictated behavior and sped up the process of using the facilities. And the biggest rule of all, the one that should never, ever, be broken, was keeping any and all interaction to a minimum. And that meant absolutely no talking!

But while Spike was washing his hands, he couldn’t help but ask Feather Bangs if he was enjoying the show.

“You’re getting some kind of sick enjoyment out of this, aren’t you?” Feather Bangs asked him.

“You have no idea,” Spike replied with a smile.

“Wait, how did you know that ‘Rainbow Gate’ was playing tonight?” Feather Bangs asked. He gasped. “You didn’t! You bribed the guy out front to run it! I am so going to get you back for this!”

“I’m so scared!” Spike chuckled sarcastically as he exited the restroom.

He, Feather Bangs and Rarity returned to the theater as the third episode began. After five minutes, Fleur put her hand on Spike’s thigh. Then she started tracing it with her finger and sighed into his ear.

“What does he even see in her?” Twilight whispered to Starlight.

“Maybe she’s a good conversationalist,” Starlight whispered back.

Neither one of them even remotely believed that.

Spike was having a hard time (pun unintended) trying to focus on the screen so that he would be ready to bust Feather Bangs at just the right moment.

“Well, this was fun,” Feather Bangs said abruptly. “Can we go now?”

“Wait, my favorite part’s coming up!” Spike said as he planted his hands on Feather Bangs’ shoulders, forcing him to stay in his seat.

“I could feel the hands of Fate pulling us together!”

“You stole all those lines!” Rarity shouted at Feather Bangs.

Spike released Feather Bangs as Rarity ran out of the theater and they both went after her. She ordered a large box of nachos with extra cheese from the concession stand, and Soarin obliged.

“Rarity, I know what you’re thinking, but this is all a misunderstanding,” Feather Bangs said.

“Oh?” she replied. “Well, here’s what I think of your cheesy lines!”

And she slammed the nachos onto his head.

Spike and Fleur were immediately at Rarity’s side with handkerchiefs.

“I’m so sorry!” Twilight said. “Is there anything I can do?”

“Thanks,” Spike gritted through his teeth. “But we’ve got it.”

“Come on, Rarity,” said Fleur. “Let’s go. Oh, and if those dresses are mine,” she added to Fluttershy, Starlight and Rainbow Dash, “the three of you will be more than fired!”

Spike and Fleur took Rarity to the Sweet Snacks Café and ordered her an emergency ice cream sundae with extra sprinkles and whipped cream.

“We have to get these dresses in Fleur’s closet before she gets back to her room!” Starlight exclaimed.

And she, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash took off for the elevator bank.

“Um, where did everybody else go?” Pinkie asked.

“Who cares?” Sunset replied. “They were giving me a headache.”

“Guess we’re on our own for the rest of the evening,” Applejack said.

Starlight, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash changed clothes while they washed and dried Fleur’s dresses and returned them to her closet. When Fleur returned to her suite later that night, she found the three dresses hanging in her closet exactly as she had left them.

The next morning, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Starlight and Rarity were all relaxing by the larger outdoor pool while Spike was swimming laps. He pulled himself out of the water and toweled off just as Feather Bangs and his three groupies walked out from the hotel.

“Did you have a nice swim?” Feather Bangs asked rather calmly.

“Did you have a hard time washing the cheese out of your hair?” Spike countered in reply. “What do you want?”

“I said I would get you back for last night,” Feather Bangs replied, “and well, you have something I want... a certain card?”

He reached into his vest pocket and produced a playing card with a sapphire number three on one side and the Sun on the other.

“My friend here is so lonely,” he said.

Spike couldn’t believe it.

“A Gate,” he breathed. “You’re a Gate Holder?”

“That’s right,” Feather Bangs growled in reply. “And I challenge you to a Gate Battle!”

Several guests and employees clamored as they crowded around them. Many of them had heard about Gate Battles, but none of them had ever seen one with their own eyes, especially since they were so rare.

“But I wouldn’t be surprised at all if you didn’t want to fight me,” Feather Bangs added. “Taking up arms to defend the woman you love so dearly, why it brings a tear to my eye. Fate is such a cruel mistress!”

Spike guessed Feather Bangs was talking about Rarity, but he didn’t care.

“I accept your challenge!” Spike shouted.

Suddenly, the ground started shaking.

“What’s happening?” Spike exclaimed.

A giant Roulette wheel rose from the pool. It was so large that a yellow bowling ball served as the Roulette ball. Pinkie Pie reached into her hair, pulled out a microphone, and spoke into it.

“Ladies and gentlemen, Flimflam Brothers Resort is proud to present a once in a lifetime showdown ultimate Roulette Gate Battle!” she announced. “Every dealer wishes to be a Gate Holder. Those who have Gates not only fight for themselves, but for the dreams of dealers far and wide! Anyone who can’t handle that burden doesn’t deserve to be a Gate Holder! Seizing the title of strongest dealer is a victory for hope itself!”

Feather Bangs glanced at Spike’s board shorts.

“Raising the stakes?” he asked. “I’ll join you!”

And he tore his clothes off, revealing a black Speedo underneath.

“Oh, Feather Bangs, you’re so sexy!” Dear Darling, Fond Feather and Swoon Song cried out. “That six-pack is to die for!”

“So, what do you think?” Feather Bangs directed at Rarity. “Do you find my body intoxicating?”

“I’m certainly overwhelmed,” she admitted.

“The audience sure is eating this up,” Fancy Pants observed. “Well, I suppose a Gate Battle is a fine excuse to loosen up a little.”

“The rules are simple,” Pinkie told Spike and Feather Bangs. “One of you will throw the ball and the other will bet. It comes down to a straight bet between red and black. If the person betting bets correctly, they win. If they bet wrong, the winner is the person who threw. Got all that?”

“Yes,” Spike stated.

“Oh, I’ve got it,” said Feather Bangs.

“And Fluttershy, you will be the dealer,” Pinkie added.

“Wait, I’m not ready!” she protested.

“Fluttershy, you’ll be fine,” Spike told her. “All you have to do is choose who will bet and who will throw the ball.”

“After you,” Feather Bangs said. “Whatever you want is just fine by me.”

Spike was taken aback by this.

“Really?” he asked. “Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure,” Feather Bangs replied. “Either way, it’s still a 50/50 chance, so the odds will be even. So, what do you desire? Well, besides Rarity.”

Spike thought for a moment and said, “I’ll bet.”

“Then I will gladly throw the ball. I’ve never played Roulette under these conditions. A few practice throws would help. Do you mind?”

“Go ahead,” Spike said.

“How naïve,” Feather Bangs thought as he picked up the ball.

Feather Bangs was no ordinary gambler; he was a Gate Holder. On top of that, he was good with numbers. He could make the ball fall into any pocket of his choosing, even if it was on a giant Roulette.

The size of the wheel was irrelevant, only the speed of its rotation and the timing with which Feather Bangs threw the ball were important.

“Rotation speed, 2.5 yards per second; ball weight, fourteen pounds; internal slope of the Roulette, 32 degrees...” he calculated in his mind. “Oh, I almost forgot to include the cut on my finger into the equation.”

One final calculation: (1+i) 4 = (√2) 4*ei π-4

“Now it’s perfect,” he whispered. “Black two!” he called out.

He threw the ball down the alley and it shot up the tube leading to the top of the Roulette wheel. Accelerated by the tube, the ball passed through the ramp in seconds and into the wheel... and it landed on black two.

“Red fourteen!” he shouted on his second practice throw.

It landed in red fourteen. After that he called out “Black 29” and once again it went into the corresponding pocket.

“Perfecto,” he said. “I’m ready whenever you are,” he told Spike.

“It’s going to take a lot more than some big talk and a few fancy throws to make me back down!” Spike countered.

Feather Bangs picked up the ball and got ready to throw.

“The players are in position,” Fluttershy announced. “Let’s begin!”

And the Roulette wheel spun.

“Accounting for wind resistance,” Feather Bangs thought. “I’ll release this 14-pound ball with an initial velocity of 32 at a 45-degree angle!”

“All right, Spike, time to place your bet,” Fluttershy said.

“Which one?” he thought. “Red? Or black?”

Feather Bangs released the ball and it shot up the tube. As it went, the ball’s velocity increased by 20 percent.

“Victory is in my grasp!” Feather Bangs thought as he looked over at Spike. “Every variable is accounted for. And in any outcome, you’re destined to lose!”

“I choose Red One!” Spike declared.

The ball bounced around the wheel and it stopped on...

“Red one,” Applejack said. “Right on the dot.”

“He did it!” Starlight shouted.

“Oh, my gosh! That was super-awesome-amazing!” Pinkie cried.

“Yeah, Spike!” Rainbow Dash hollered.

“Woo-hoo!” Fluttershy screamed.

“What the Tartarus!?!” Feather Bangs yelled. “Impossible! Every calculation was accurate!”

He looked down at his hand and saw that the bandage Fluttershy had wrapped his cut with was gone. It had come off when he threw the ball.

His calculations had been thrown off by a fluke.

It felt like a sucker punch to the face.

“You have got to be kidding me!!” he shouted.

“The numbers smile on those who love the game,” Spike told him.

“And Spike is the winner of this Gate Battle!” Fluttershy proclaimed.

The masses cheered, but they were quickly drowned out by an explosion... from inside the resort. Spike bolted inside and saw Sunset emerge from X Sushi, which was filled with smoke.

“What happened?” he asked.

“Someone stuffed the microwave with salt and pepper packets!” she said with a cough.

“That. Is. IT!” Spike shouted.

Spike reached behind one of the lobby’s potted plants and pulled the Paradise twins out from their hiding spot.

“Where are your parents?” he demanded.

“The casino,” one of them answered.

“Hurt us and we’ll sue,” the other added.

“That is a risk I am more than HAPPY to take right now!” Spike told them.

And he dragged them by their ears as he led them, the resort’s staff, and the crowds to Mr. and Mrs. Paradise.

“I believe these belong to you,” Spike stated.

“What is going on here?” Mr. Paradise shouted.

“I don’t want to criticize your parenting skills, but I will,” Spike said as he threw the kids at their parents’ feet. “For the past two weeks, your little brats have been running wild, terrorizing the guests, assaulting the staff, and causing Faust knows how many dollars in damages! I don’t give a damn if it does cost me my job for saying this but get out! Get out of this hotel!! Get out of this casino!!! GET OUT OF LAS PEGASUS!!!!”

“Well I never!” Mrs. Paradise exclaimed. “You can’t talk to us like that! This is our third summer here, and we will not be returning!”

“GOOD!!!!!” Spike yelled.

The Paradises emptied their rooms and checked out, and when they did Sunset threw her arms around Spike.

“Oh, I could kiss you for that!” she exclaimed. “In fact...”

Sunset put her hands on the sides of Spike’s face and planted a big, loud kiss on his lips, forcing her tongue down his throat, and when she finally broke the kiss her lips left their mark in red lipstick.

Another round of applause erupted from the guests as well as the staff.

“Thank you!” they all cheered. “Thank you so much!”

“You know, I have to give you a strike for that, right?!” Discord shouted so that the angered former guests could hear him.

“Do what you want to me,” Spike replied. “I’m taking this one for the team.”

Discord smiled.

“That’s my boy,” he said proudly. “Between you and me, someone should’ve kicked their butts out years ago!”

The staff and guests thanked Spike almost one by one and then departed until only Feather Bangs and his groupies remained.

“What do you want now?” Spike asked him.

“I just wanted you to know that I am hereby never using stolen lines on women again,” Feather Bangs said.

“Why?”

“Well, I’ve come to realize just how much you care for your friends, and after seeing how you stood up for them just now, I realize how wrong I really was. And I don’t want any of you to be upset with me anymore,”

“I got to say, Feather Bangs, I’m impressed,” Spike admitted. “On behalf of all these ladies, I congratulate you.”

“Thanks,” he said.

“How about a friendly game of darts,” Spike offered, “and if you win, I’ll teach you how to score. But if you lose, then you three ladies have to spend the night with me,” he told Dear Darling, Fond Feather and Swoon Song.

“Sounds like a bet!” Feather and his groupies said.

Rainbow Dash smiled as she pulled out her phone and dialed her brother.

“Hey, bro, you can forget about coming to pick me up,” she told him.

“Is everything okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” Dash replied. “There’s a guy here who I think is gonna make this summer very interesting.”

Feather Bangs didn’t stand a chance against Spike, and even though he lost the dart match, Spike treated his new friend, and his three groupies, to dinner – the traditional shrimp cocktail and prime rib – and gave him a few pointers on how to strike up positive conversations with women.

After dinner, Spike took Dear Darling, Fond Feather and Swoon Song up to his suite. He took out his key, opened the door for them, and closed it behind him after he followed them in. After they entered his bedroom, Spike couldn’t help but wonder what the exactly nature of their relationship to Feather Bangs was... if there even was a “relationship” to speak of.

“Tell me something about Feather Bangs,” he asked, “does he love you?”

The three women blushed.

“He loves to win,” Fond Feather said.

“So you’re just companions? Why do you do it?”

“He pays us,” Swoon Song answered.

“Is that all he pays you for?” Spike inquired.

“And for being seen with him,” Dear Darling added bitterly.

“Just seen?”

“Just seen,” the three women stated.

“That makes me so glad,” Spike thought as he smiled.

Feeling overdressed, he quickly disrobed and sat on the edge of his bed.

“Lie down,” Fond Feather said softly.

Spike did as he was told and sprawled out across his bed. The three women were blushing furiously as they began to shed their dresses. Spike looked at their beautiful faces, lovely smiles, and unselfconscious bodies. Then he noticed the fear in their eyes, but also a look of submissiveness and longing.

The women climbed onto the bed; Dear Darling on Spike’s left, Fond Feather on his right, and Swoon Song in between them, in front of him. Spike tried to make himself look in control, but he felt like a gladiator in the coliseum with three lionesses and they were about to devour him. And ‘devour him’ they did. They surrounded his cock and took turns stroking and licking it. He watched them as if he were hypnotized while their tongues caressed him.

“It’s so hard,” Dear Darling said, almost to herself. “Doesn’t it hurt?”

Spike smiled again as he shook his head.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve met anyone like you, Spike,” Fond Feather added.

“We have all night,” he said to them. “So don’t be greedy and take your time, okay?”

The three women nodded, tears of joy forming in their eyes.

“We want you to come, we really do, but not too soon,” Swoon Song said. “If you feel you’re getting close, tell us and we’ll slow down.”

Spike nodded in agreement as Swoon Song climbed atop him to kiss his lips before sliding back down his body and started to suck him off while Dear Darling licked Swoon Song’s pussy and Fond Feather ate out Dear Darling.

After a few minutes, Spike reluctantly moved away from them, indicating that he was about to erupt, and the girls changed positions. Fond Feather squeaked as Spike mounted her doggy style. Dear Darling lay in front of her and Fond Feather ate her out while Swoon Song sat on Dear Darling’s face and she licked Swoon Song. Spike thought he couldn’t get any harder, but he was wrong.

After that, Swoon Song mounted Spike. She guided him inside her while Dear Darling positioned herself over his face. Fond Feather took Spike’s cock out of Swoon Song and sucked off some of his juices before shoving it back inside Swoon Song. Then she sat between them, on Spike’s abs, and started kissing and licking Dear Darling. Swoon Song shuddered as she tightened around Spike and Fond Feather and Dear Darling came onto his abs and into his mouth. They got as much as they wanted and then some.

Their smiles never faded.

Of the three women, Spike found the brunette Swoon Song to be the most attractive, so he made sure she ended up lying in the middle with him. If his bed were a chess board, he would have been the king, she would be the queen, and Dear Darling and Fond Feather would have been the bishops.

They all snuggled up close to Spike as he glanced over at the Fabergé egg on his dresser... and the two Gate cards inside it. He had two of the thirteen now: Number Seven and Number Three.

“Another step closer to my goal,” he whispered to himself as he smiled and fell asleep.

Author's Note

Join us next time when Spike becomes friends with a couple of girls he meets on the tennis court and he learns a secret about one of the resort’s employees. Elsewhere Zephyr Breeze grows a soul patch.

To Each Their Own

The day started with Rainbow Dash teaching Spike how to play tennis... with mixed results.

“See, Spike. That’s the right way to hold the racquet while you hit the ball,” she told him.

“I’m sorry, Dash, but I just can’t seem to get the hang of it,” he said. “Why don’t you hold me properly and fix my posture?”

“Oh no, I’m not falling for that again!”

Dash had already tried to help Spike “correct his form” when she reached around him and took his wrist in hand, but she caught on to what he was doing when he stepped back into her as she nestled her body against his.

Spike laughed as he looked over at Ace, the main tennis instructor, who was teaching a pair of teenage girls with bad hair (and even worse fashion senses) named Surf and Turf.

“Excuse us, sir,” said a voice. “When will you be free to teach us?”

“Just a minute, ladies,” Ace said. “I’ll be right--Whoa!”

His and Spike’s eyebrows shot up when they saw a pair of women in tight white polo shirts, really short white skirts, and white tennis shoes walk onto the court. One had a mint green hair and golden eyes, the other had shoulder-length blue hair with a pink streak and ice blue eyes, and both had fantastic legs that led up to well rounded rears and incredible breasts that their outfits did none too well of hiding.

“Think you could show us a thing or two?” the one with mint hair asked.

“Yes,” added the other. “We’d love to get some lessons from a talented coach like you.”

Ace was by their side in a second.

“Where did those two sluts come from?” Surf asked.

“I don’t know, but they, like, just seduced our handsome coach away from us,” Turf replied.

“We were here first!” Surf exclaimed.

“It’s obvious he likes us better!” the blue-eyed newcomer replied.

“Ladies, please!” Spike shouted as he stepped between the two pairs of women. “There’s no need for this!”

“It looks like I’ll have to separate you into two groups and assign a new coach,” Ace said.

“I know the perfect way to settle this,” Spike put in.

He pulled Ace aside and spoke to him in a whisper.

“A tennis match to decide who I’ll coach?” he asked.

“It’s crazy, I know,” Spike admitted, “but watching them prance around in their tiny skirts should make up for it,” he said as he jerked his head toward the two new girls. “And I’ll tell you what: I’ll referee so all you have to do is watch.”

Ace quickly agreed.

“All right,” he said. “You’ll compete for which of you gets to have me as your instructor. Surf and Turf will be one team, and...”

“Lyra,” the mint haired girl said.

“Bon Bon,” added the other.

“And Lyra and Bon Bon will be the other,” Ace finished. “Spike, ladies, take your positions!”

Spike stood off to the side as Lyra served the first game. She bounced the ball once and knocked it over the net as Turf drilled it back. She was aggressive with her return, so much so that it didn’t land inside the lines.

“Out!” Spike shouted.

Surf served the second game. She lobbed the ball into the air before hitting it over the net and Bon Bon hit it back with just enough power that Turf wasn’t able to hit it back before it bounced a second time.

“Point! Thirty, love!”

Bon Bon served and Surf darted off to the side, taking the ball on her backhand and hitting it over the net with a nice spin so that it dropped short, making Lyra scramble to hit it back.

“Point! Forty, love!”

Lyra and Bon Bon called a quick time out to catch their breath and have a drink of water.

“I told you, I’m terrible at tennis,” Bon Bon said to Lyra. “Good thing our looks give us an unfair advantage.”

“And having the ref on our side doesn’t hurt,” Lyra replied.

It was true. Spike had been leering at them throughout the entire match.

“We’ve got this!” they told each other.

“The ref has been favoring those two the entire game,” Surf told Turf.

“We can’t lose to these sluts!” Turf replied.

Both pairs returned to the court and Turf got ready to serve. It didn’t last long and Lyra and Bon Bon came out on top.

“Game!” Spike shouted. “Lyra and Bon Bon win!”

“I can’t believe this!” Turf exclaimed.

“I’m leaving,” Surf said. “I’m not sticking around to hear them gloat.”

Lyra and Bon Bon catapulted into each other’s arms and swung around.

“We won! We won!” they cried happily.

“That was an impressive game, ladies,” Spike told them. “Congratulations.”

“We couldn’t have done it without you,” Bon Bon said.

“Yeah, you were so biased,” Lyra added.

“What?” Spike asked. “What are you talking about? I was not--”

“We’re really grateful,” Bon Bon replied.

“If there is anything we can do to properly thank you...” Lyra led on.

“Well, let’s take a walk and see where it goes from there,” Spike said.

That was not quite the response they had been hoping for, but they both smiled and said, “Okay.”

“So, you gals live in Las Pegasus?” Spike inquired.

“No, we’re just here on vacation,” Lyra said.

“We’ve been here about two weeks now,” Bon Bon added.

“You like it so far?” Spike asked.

“Oh yeah,” Lyra answered quickly.

“It’s been pretty boring,” Bon Bon added honestly. “Until now, that is.”

She and Lyra walked with Spike and Rainbow Dash inside to the Café and they chatted about tennis. They saw Discord seated at one of the booths with Twilight sitting across from him.

“Lyra, Bon Bon, this is Discord,” he introduced them. “And Twilight,” he added. “Dash and I met Lyra and Bon Bon on the tennis court. I had their backs in a fight.”

“It wasn’t really a fight,” Lyra replied.

“We just banded together against a couple of bitches who were hogging the instructor,” Bon Bon added.

“And all they got was a view of them winning,” Rainbow Dash finished.

“Hey, Spike, do you have any plans for tonight?” Lyra asked.

“No. Why?”

“Well, Lyra and I were planning on having dinner at X Sushi and drinks in the Midnight Lounge after,” Bon Bon said. “And we’d like to treat you as our way of saying thank you for getting Ace to coach us... if you’re interested.”

“You had me at ‘drinks’ and ‘lounge’,” Spike replied, “Two of my favorite words, right between ‘refill’ and ‘bacon.’”

“Or is there some rule against fraternizing with the guests?” Lyra inquired.

“Technically, I’m a guest too,” Spike answered. “I’m just teaching dance here because I love it, and I was recommended by the previous instructor who retired a few days ago.”

“Give me your number and I’ll text you the details,” Bon Bon said.

Spike typed his number into her cell phone and she called it to make sure it worked. It did.

“It was nice to meet you,” she and Lyra told Discord. “Catch you later, sexy,” they said to Spike.

Spike slid into the booth next to Discord, a broad grin on his face.

In the few days that he had been there, it had been golden day had followed golden day. And he had won four cars from slot machines!

In addition to the yellow 2010 Camaro SS, he won a green 1969 Camaro RS, a black 1967 Impala Sedan, and an orange 1969 Charger R/T Hemi.

For the moment, everything was perfect... until Twilight spoke to him.

“I gotta admit, I’m a little impressed that you would have any friends like Lyra and Bon Bon,” she said.

“What are you talking about?” Spike asked. “I got a bunch of gal friends.”

“I meant a lesbian couple,” Twilight said.

“What are you talking about?” Spike repeated.

“I think Lyra and Bon Bon might be lesbians,” she elaborated.

“Yeah, I got that vibe too,” Rainbow Dash added.

“Why, because you think they were checking you out?” Discord asked.

“No!” Dash replied.

“Oh, they were totally checking you out!” Discord teased. “I can’t say I’m surprised. You do tend to give off that kind of vibe... and get that kind of heat.”

“Shut up!” she told him.

“I’m sorry to disappoint you,” Spike said to Twilight, “but Lyra and Bon Bon aren’t lesbians. If they were, they wouldn’t have called me ‘sexy’.”

Before anyone could say anything more, Fluttershy entered the Café and slid into the booth next to Spike.

“I need you all to help me with Zephyr Breeze,” she said. “He went with Tree Hugger for the weekend to visit her family, and I guess they rubbed off on him, because he came back with a soul patch.”

“No,” Spike said.

“Oh, wow,” Discord added. “So that means you’re the older sister of Mister Idiot, Esquire.”

“I tried to tell him that it’s lame, but he thinks it’s cool and retro,” Fluttershy went on. “He crumbles under pressure from you all, so please let him have it. I mean it, really lay into him!”

“All right, here he comes,” Spike said.

Zephyr entered the Café and slid into the booth next to Twilight.

“What’s up, guys?” he asked.

“Hey, welcome back,” Spike said. “Got a little soul patch action, huh?”

“Oh, yeah, well, what do you think?”

“I think it’s pretty cool,” Spike replied.

“What?” Rainbow Dash asked. “No, you don’t.”

“I’d go as far as to say retro,” Discord added.

“Wow. Okay, I gotta admit there was a part of me that thought you guys were gonna mock it,” he confessed. “Well, thank you. I’m going to go wash up.”

Zephyr got up and headed for the restroom and Fluttershy slammed her fist onto the table.

“What the Tartarus is wrong with you guys!?!” she shouted.

“I’m sorry, I really am,” Spike said. “At first, I wanted to go along with you, but then I realized, the more we say we like it, the longer it stays on his face.”

“And keeps on giving,” Discord added as he and Spike fist bumped.

“I can’t believe you guys didn’t abuse him,” she said. “One time I wore fake fur, one time, and I never heard the end of it!”

Spike put his arm around Fluttershy’s shoulders. He knew how much she loved animals, and would never do anything to deliberately hurt them. He gave her a kind smile and she smiled back as Zephyr Breeze returned.

“Hey, did you give the patch a little comb through?” Spike asked.

“A little bit,” Zeph admitted.

“I didn’t think you could improve it,” Discord said.

“But you did,” Spike finished.

After breakfast, Spike and Rainbow Dash played one-on-one on the indoor basketball court. Well, Spike was shooting hoops while Dash was asking him about the other lady he had been hanging out with.

“Fleur, huh?” she asked.

“Fleur,” Spike confirmed as he landed another basket.

“Good shot!” Rainbow Dash told him.

“Ten bucks behind the line?” he asked her.

“Sure, shoot till you miss,” she replied.

Spike scored again.

“She’s staying here at the hotel?” Dash inquired.

“Room 520,” Spike said after scoring another basket. “But you should know that since you cleaned her room and then you, Starlight and Fluttershy ‘borrowed’ some of her dresses for an evening.”

Spike shot again—another basket.

“The man’s on a role, ladies and gentlemen!” he announced.

“So, she’s really been saving herself for you all these years? Did you get a look at her ring finger?”

Spike had, and he didn’t see a wedding ring. Nor did he see a tan line to indicate that there ever was one. He swung his arm and threw overhand.

“It’s good!” he exclaimed.

“Listen, there’s a difference between a one-night stand and a meaningful relationship with an unattached millionairess,”

“I’m not thinking about her that way. Fleur could be more than a one-night thing,”

“She’s going to do a number on you,”

“I appreciate the concern,” Spike said as he threw the ball backwards. “Whoo!” he shouted. “That’s fifty bucks you owe me!”

“Fifty?” Dash asked. “Well, fifty says either you or her will be in someone else’s arms before the week is out.”

“That’s a bet,” Spike said.

And he continued to nail shots.

After basketball, Spike was strolling through the casino when he caught sight of Lyra and Bon Bon at the slot machines and walked towards them. He was going to tell them that he was looking forward to tonight, but he stopped when he saw Lyra and Bon Bon kissing and his smile froze on his face. He quickly looked away. Then he glanced back at them, his smile gone.

He put his hands to his forehead.

“Son of a buck!” he cursed softly. “Twilight was right!”

As he rode the elevator up to his suite, Spike tried hard not to think about Lyra and Bon Bon, but the more he tried not to think about them, or what he just saw, the more he did. A part of him had always found the concept of girl-on-girl hot, but now that he had seen it, he felt dirty. The doors opened and Twilight entered the elevator.

“How was basketball?” she asked.

“It was good,” he said shortly.

“Did you run into Lyra and Bon Bon again?”

“Yep,”

“And...?”

“I saw them kiss,” he admitted.

“I told you so,” she said.

“You don’t have to hold it over my head,” he replied.

“What are you doing?” she asked as Spike pulled out his cell phone.

“I’m going to text Bon Bon and tell her that I’m not feeling well,” he said.

“I thought you were going out with her and Lyra,”

“I’m not feeling well,”

“Unbelievable!”

“What?”

“You are a homophobe!”

“Excuse you?”

“You were going to have dinner with them, you found out they were lesbians, and now you’re cancelling on them,”

“That’s ridiculous!”

“You and I both know damn well that if Lyra and Bon Bon were both straight, you would be getting ready to go out with them right now,” she said. “And the fact you’re not, makes you a homophobe.”

“You keep using that word,” Spike quoted. “I do not think it means what you think it means.”

“Excuse you?”

“Allow me to break it down for you: ‘homo’, a prefix meaning, ‘human’ or ‘human being’, which, somehow, over time, has become associated with homosexuality,” he explained. “And ‘phobe’, a suffix that comes from ‘phobus’, meaning ‘fear’. You are calling me a ‘homophobe’, and to call me a homophobe, would mean that I have a ‘fear of homosexuality’, which I do not. I do not ‘fear’ homosexuality, nor do I have a fear of homosexuals.”

“Well, ‘phobe’ and ‘phobia’ can also mean, ‘a strong dislike of something,’” Twilight replied. “And while you claim to not have a ‘fear’ of homosexuality, you obviously haven’t been acting like you like or even mildly tolerate it, either. Tell yourself whatever you want, but I think you don’t wanna hang out with anyone that’s a homosexual,” she told him as the elevator doors opened.

“All right, I will go have dinner with Lyra and Bon Bon. If nothing else, just to prove to you that they are not lesbians! Which! They! Are! NOT!!”

Spike picked out a tight red collared shirt and even tighter black slacks with black leather loafers. He looked in the mirror in his bedroom as he rolled his sleeves up to his elbows, constantly turning and looking himself over while Discord and Zephyr Breeze watched him.

“Aw, our little man’s going out to dinner with a couple of ladies,” Discord said with mock pride. “I think I’m going to cry.”

“Speaking of which, you got any advice for me?” Spike asked.

Discord was caught offguard—he almost didn’t know what to say.

Key word: almost.

“Well, I’ve never been down this road myself,” Discord said, “but the best advice I can give you is this: Just because a woman likes women, it does not make her any less of one herself. And I know you’re an ‘ass man’, so if you’re going to even mention theirs, whatever you do, do not say that they’re big. No woman ever wants to hear that! And finally, treat them like you would any other lady. No! Treat them better than you would any other lady! Better yet, treat them better than you would your mother—your birthmother or Celestia!”

Spike exhaled. He could not believe that he was taking dating advice from Discord (a man who had never been on a date in his life) of all people.

Then Spike looked at Zephyr Breeze and saw that Zephyr had some powdered sugar on his soul patch, which Spike guessed was left over from the French toast Zephyr had for breakfast.

“Hey, Zeph, you’ve got--Oh, wait, wait, wait. You know what? That looks good. You should bleach it!”

“Oh, man, that’d be fierce!” Zephyr exclaimed.

“Did you just say ‘fierce’?” Spike barely managed to contain his laughter. “Dude, that’s cool.”

Spike checked his cell phone when he heard it vibrate and he saw a text message from Bon Bon.

“We’re down in X Sushi. Hope you’re hungry. See you soon, sexy!”

When Spike entered X Sushi, Lyra and Bon Bon waved him down. Bon Bon was wearing a little white dress while Lyra wore a little green dress. Both wore high heels and their legs looked even sexier than he remembered.

“We’re glad you came,” Lyra said when he showed up.

They smiled as he told them how gorgeous they looked. They were soon joined by Rarity, Fluttershy, and Zephyr Breeze. Sunset brought them water and sake while they watched a baseball game on the TV behind the bar.

“Oh! I got that guy on my team,” Bon Bon said.

“You play fantasy baseball?” Spike asked.

“Yeah,” she replied.

“Me too,”

“Who’s on your team?”

“Oh, well, I just got Hock Fetlock,” Spike practically bragged.

“More like Hunk Fetlock,” Lyra said, to which Bon Bon quickly agreed.

“You two think he’s hot?” Spike asked.

They both said, “Yes.”

“Good to know,” he thought.

Spike was relatively at ease for the rest of dinner, especially when the chef arrived and cooked the main course right in front of them. His quick reflexes with the knives were mesmerizing as he filleted bits of beef and shrimp on the grill and tossed them into the group’s open mouths, and Spike impressed the girls by catching every single piece that came at him.

“Here’s something that I had hoped never to say to my younger brother,” Fluttershy said. “Zephyr, you have a little rice in your soul patch.”

Spike was surprised Fluttershy could see it, because he couldn’t; especially after Zephyr had bleached it. He was even more surprised by the fact that Zeph had somehow managed to bleach his soul patch in the amount of time it had taken Spike to ride the elevator down from his suite and enter X Sushi.

“Stop knocking the patch, Sis,” he said arrogantly. “You’re the only one who doesn’t like it.”

“No, you’re the only one who does,” she replied, trying to keep her cool.

“Okay, let’s ask Rarity,” Zephyr said. “She knows fashion. Rarity, what do you think of this bad boy, huh?”

“Yes, Rarity, tell him,” Fluttershy said. “What do you really think? And please, don’t hold back.”

“Okay. What’s out? Soul patches. What’s in? Not having soul patches,”

“Well, Spike likes it,” Zeph said.

“No, I don’t,” Spike admitted.

Lyra and Bon Bon didn’t like it either.

“See?” Fluttershy asked.

“So no one thinks this is fierce?” Zephyr asked.

Rarity gasped.

“Oh, my goodness, did you really just say that word in my presence?”

Lyra and Bon Bon paid for everyone’s food and they left arm in arm with Spike in between them. Later, in the Midnight Lounge, Soarin mixed them drinks while they listened to the Dazzlings sing “Sweet Little Lies.”

“Scotch on the Rocks,” he said to Spike, “and a Shirley Temple for each of the ladies.”

Lyra took a sip through her straw before telling Spike, “Seriously, try this.”

Spike looked at the concoction of ginger ale and grenadine, and the maraschino cherry that garnished it. Then he took a small sip and was surprised by how sweet it was.

“Wow. That is refreshing,” he said honestly.

Lyra and Bon Bon looked at each other before looking back at Spike, who seemed to be more focused on the Dazzlings than on them. They noticed him squirm throughout their performance, despite his best efforts not to. His cheeks were as red as his shirt and his stomach felt as tight as his pants. When the song ended, Bon Bon asked him if something was wrong.

“Yes, there is,” he told them. “Girls, there’s no easy way for me to ask, so I’m just going to come out and say it. Are you in a relationship with each other?”

They both gave him a perplexed look.

“We’re best friends, if that’s what you mean,” Lyra said.

“No, I mean more than ‘just friends,’” Spike replied.

“Wait, you mean--” Lyra began.

“You thought we were--?” Bon Bon added.

“Lesbians,” Spike finished.

He hung his head, ashamed of himself for even asking.

“Is that why you’ve been--?” Bon Bon began.

“Acting like a jerk?” he replied. “Yes. I have been feeling awkward ever since I saw you two kiss in the casino this afternoon.”

“Spike, that’s just something we do,” Lyra said.

“I mean, seriously, why can’t two people, men or women, who are best friends, just go out together and enjoy themselves?” Bon Bon asked.

He told them he felt exactly the same way whenever he went out to brunch with Thorax, his college roommate.

“Spike, if something bothers you, just tell us,” Bon Bon said as she took his hand in hers. “I may look like a porcelain doll—fragile and very expensive—but I promise I’m not. We should have been a little more up front with you. I’m sorry.”

“No, I’m the one who should be sorry,” he apologized. “I let my stupid prejudice almost keep me from coming tonight. That’s no excuse for how I’ve been acting toward you. I really am sorry.”

“Hey, how about we play a game?” Bon Bon suggested. “Twenty questions. You can ask us 20 questions—anything you want to know about us, the nature of our friendship, or in general.”

“All right,” he said.

The first thing he wanted answered was if a guy could get them off/make them cum. They both said yes. They even added “very easily.” Then he asked them about their sexual preferences and style: “Are you screamers or are you more relaxed,” that sort of thing.

“Sometimes I like to scream,” Bon Bon admitted, “but I’m usually very quiet, with little moans and whimpers.”

“Do you like it rough or a little more sensual?” he directed at Lyra.

“I love it rough,” she said. “I love to be thrown onto the bed, hair pulled, panties ripped off.”

“Now, do you like to be rough?” Spike added.

“No,” Lyra said. “I like to be dominated.”

“Well, if you found the right guy, how often would you prefer to have sex?”

“Every single day,” they both said.

“Every single day?” he echoed.

“Sometimes more than once a day, I would hope,” Lyra said.

“So, when you are in bed with a guy, what is your favorite position?”

“I love to be on top,” Bon Bon said, “because everything is inside me and I can move the way I want to. Let me tell you, the detachable shower head was the best invention for women.”

Spike instantly wanted to know more about that.

“What have you done with that?” he inquired.

“We turn it on to pulsating and we play with ourselves, and each other, down there, and we cum in a couple minutes,” Lyra said.

“And you do that often?” he asked.

“Every single morning,” Bon Bon answered, “and sometimes when we’re not even together.”

“Wow. You masturbate every single morning,” he breathed. “So, do you think about each other when you do that or... what do you think about?”

“Honestly, I fantasize about me with Lyra and a man,” Bon Bon said.

“And I think about me with Bon Bon and a man,” Lyra added.

“We both love the threesome,” Bon Bon went on.

“So, what is it about the other that turns you on?” he asked them both.

“Honestly, it’s her tongue,” Bon Bon said. “She really knows how to put her tongue to good use. No other girl can lick my pussy as good as she can.”

“And I like the way she touches me, especially my tits,” Lyra replied. “We have just such a good connection. I can’t say that I’ve had the same chemistry that I have with her.”

“So you have been with other women before?” he asked.

“I have ‘been with’ other women,” Lyra confessed, “but not in the dating sense.”

“Would either of you ever date other girls?” Spike asked.

“No,” Bon Bon said quickly.

“We love cock too much,” Lyra added.

“I think women, we’re too catty, too emotional,” Bon Bon admitted.

“I like the fantasy and the sexual part of it,” Lyra agreed, “but as far as an actual dating relationship goes, count me out. I need a good dick in my life.”

“Me too,”

“We can’t live without guys,”

“So, how did you two meet?” Spike asked.

“I was doing a photoshoot in Horseolulu, and Lyra was there on vacation,” Bon Bon recalled.

“And I am so thankful that I had the bravery to walk up and talk to her when I was passing by,” Lyra confessed, “because if it hadn’t been for that, we never would have met.”

Spike smiled and he started imagining them rolling around in the sand, getting all hot and bothered in the ocean.

“Look, Spike, I think we all know where this is going,” said Bon Bon. “We like you, and you like us, so why don’t we just stop beating around the bush...”

“And take this upstairs?” Lyra finished.

“After one more song, please?” Spike asked.

“Well, I guess one more couldn’t hurt,” said Bon Bon.

Their attention returned to the stage as the applause subsided and a man came out from the wings and approached the microphone.

“Give a bag hand to the Dazzlings,” he said. “And now, ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to introduce, next on our fine stage, a lady as sweet as cider.... the tantalizing Apple Jewel!”

The curtain parted and a sultry chanteuse appeared onstage. Her blonde hair was drawn up away from her face. The red silk dress she wore clung to every curve of her voluptuous figure. The deep V of the halter-top gave Spike an almost clear view of her perfectly pert breasts and nipples, which were protruding through the soft fabric. A slit on the side of the skirt ran all the way from the base to the top of her right thigh. And the way her arm rested just beneath her breasts as she stepped up to the microphone seemed to lift them further up out of the dress. It was more than enough to drive a man crazy. Spike had to blink a few times to make sure his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him.

“It can’t be!” he breathed.

His suspicion was confirmed when started singing, “Trust in Me.”

Spike downed the last of his Scotch and focused all of his attention on her. As she sang, he felt as if he were entering another calm, soothing, relaxing trance. The only other women that had been even remotely capable of causing that were the Dazzlings themselves.

His eyes roamed up her body, to her face, and to his surprise (and hers) they locked eyes. Though she was quite a distance from him, Spike knew she was looking back at him, almost into him. Then she stepped down from the stage and started to walk towards him. Spike’s eyes shifted to his left, and then his right, wondering if he may be wrong.

She came closer and closer until she was directly in front of him. Then she swung one of her legs over his and began to straddle him. She placed a hand on one of his shoulders as she swirled her hips in smooth circles over his lap, her groin hovering a mere inch above his. She leaned forward, allowing him a perfect view of her breasts and he felt the silk of her dress as she playfully brushed her crotch against his pants. Her lips grazed his ear as she sang, her body arched over his frame. Then she traced the outline of his ear with her tongue, her breath flowing down his neck. She ran her hand all the way down from his chest to his leg, letting her hair run over his body before she switched positions.

Spike peeked over her shoulder as she massaged her rear against his hard on and saw everybody looking at him with deep envy. She leaned her back against his chest as she did this, taking one of his hands and guiding it over her body to feel her soft breasts. She wrapped her other arm around his neck and writhed slowly against him. Her seductive smile never vanished, even as she strolled back up to the stage to finish her song and she disappeared behind the curtain as it closed.

Spike told Lyra and Bon Bon that he had to make a quick stop before accompanying them back to their suite. He promised he would hurry before he made his way to the Dazzlings’ dressing room backstage. He found them, and Applejack, seating in front of the row of mirrors.

“I knew it,” Spike said.

Applejack gasped as she saw Spike enter, and then quickly turned away as if she were afraid to look at him. Spike stepped further into the dressing room, but kept a respectful distance from the women.

“Applejack, that was incredible. Why didn’t you tell me that you sang?” he asked. “Do any of the other girls know about this?”

“No,” she said.

“Why not, are you afraid of what they might think?

“They would laugh at me,”

“Applejack, you have a beautiful singing voice! You blew my mind! You sang your heart out up there, and I... and I...”

“Spike, are you okay?” Sonata asked.

“What? No, no! I-I’m fine,” he lied, as he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You’re crying,” Adagio said.

Spike knew he couldn’t keep the truth from them, especially not with Applejack in the room.

“All right, you might as well know,” he said. “Back in college, there was this super-cool all-male singing group. And I wanted nothing more than to be an Acapelican.”

“You sang?” Aria asked in genuine disbelief.

“I wanted to. I practiced for months, but at the audition... I choked, throat dried up. I could barely even breathe,”

“That’s awful!” Sonata gasped.

“And hearing your voices blending in sweet harmony... weaving a tapestry of song, all that pain came flooding back,” he concluded. “Applejack, you shouldn’t be afraid of doing something you love.”

“I hate to think of you wondering if you’d missed out on something special,” Adagio told him.

“No, there’s no streaming service for what might have been,” Spike replied.

“Maybe there is,” Adagio said. “Meet us back here tomorrow evening. And wear something fancy.”

Spike wasn’t sure why she wanted him to do that, but he nodded and then he left, closing the door behind him.

Lyra and Bon Bon’s panties were already wet when they brought Spike back to their hotel room. They were lucky they were able to restrain themselves on the elevator and down the hall to Room 1215.

They told Spike to sit on one of their beds while they undressed in front of him. Lyra’s lingerie was mint with lace, which Spike had guessed; but Bon Bon’s weren’t the virgin white (to match her dress) he presumed.

“Black lace panties, matching bra, looks like – Celestia’s Secret Spring Catalogue, page 27... She’s got good taste!” he thought.

And they both had tiny, little tattoos on their hips. Lyra’s was a golden lyre and Bon Bon’s looked like three little hard candies in blue wrapping.

The two women undid each other’s bras–the clasps were in the front–then they pulled down each other’s panties, and Spike’s jaw dropped when he saw that they were both shaved.

“Holy Guacamole!” he exclaimed. “You. Two. Are. Gorgeous!”

“Thank you,” they said as they forced him onto his back before crawling onto the bed.

“Wow! I figured you two were hot for me,” he admitted, “but I didn’t expect you to come at me together.”

“We’re best friends,” Lyra replied. “We share everything.”

“Especially hot guys,” Bon Bon added.

“Now, it’s time for us to show you a thing or two!” they said together.

“Wow! He’s one Tartarus of a kisser!” Bon Bon thought as she started making out with him while Lyra unbuckled his belt.

“You’re so big. I’d say we hit the jackpot, Bon Bon!” Lyra said. “I’ll have fun with this later.”

She crawled over Spike and positioned her breasts over his face.

“Have a taste,” she said.

Spike did as he was told and began suckling Lyra.

“There... Ahhh... That feels so good...” she moaned.

“She’s so soft,” he thought.

“Oh, Spike, your hands are amazing,” Lyra said. “Oh yeaaahhh...”

“And they’re so warm,” she added in thought. “So warm... so relaxing...”

Lyra felt like she was floating on a cloud.

“Don’t stop!” she told him.

“You’re paying too much attention to Lyra!” Bon Bon whined. “Suck my breasts, too!”

“Go on,” Lyra told Spike. “Try hers out.”

Spike switched to Bon Bon’s, which were just as soft. Then Lyra slid her fingers inside Bon Bon before eating her from behind.

“Oh... Aaahhh there... keep licking me right there...” Bon Bon moaned. “Mmmm...”

The more worked up the girls got, the more ambitious they became; and Spike was working them into a frenzy.

“I’m going to have to pull double duty to keep up with them,” he thought.

The girls rolled onto their backs as Spike got on top and they forced their breasts around his cock.

“Is that firm enough?” Bon Bon asked.

“That’s perfect,” he said. “Hold them just like that.”

Spike couldn’t believe his luck. He was living one of almost every man’s dreams: getting a titty-fuck from two beautiful women.

“It feels so good I’m gonna—” Spike’s thought was cut short when Bon Bon curled her tongue around his shaft and he exploded onto her face.

“No fair!” Lyra cried. “You know most guys can’t resist your blowjobs!”

“I’m sorry,” Bon Bon replied. “I couldn’t resist.”

“You got a little bit of his cream on your nipple,” Lyra said. “Let me clean that up for you.”

Lyra positioned herself on all fours, on top of Bon Bon, after licking her (Bon Bon’s) breasts clean, and Spike mounted her (Lyra) from behind.

“Ahhh... Kiss me, Bon Bon,”

After fifteen minutes of thrusting, Spike started smacking Lyra’s ass as he slid in and out of her.

“OH yeesss! Oh, more! Harder! Do me harder! Give it to me!” Lyra shouted. “Jackhammer me! Fill me with your cum!”

Lyra came so hard that she squeezed Spike out of her before she collapsed onto the bed.

“I’ve never seen her cum like that before!” Bon Bon said.

“I feel so full...” Lyra slurred.

“Why don’t you take a breather and enjoy the show?” Spike told Lyra as they rolled onto the bed.

But Lyra didn’t want to rest, she tried to keep going, kissing Spike as Bon Bon straddled him.

“This is even better,” he thought. “One riding me while the other is making out with me...”

Spike admitted to himself that having only two girls to please was much easier than three. The Dazzlings and Feather Bangs’ former groupies were almost too much for Spike to handle.

“You’re filling me up!” Bon Bon shouted. “That’s it! Go as hard and as fast as you want! Make me cum!”

Spike pulled out and forced Bon Bon onto her back beside Lyra.

“Don’t make me beg for it!” Bon Bon cried.

“Shower us with your juices!” Lyra added.

“Say you’re naughty girls!” he commanded.

“We’re naughty, naughty girls!” they squealed.

And Spike showered them with his nectar.

“I love being sprayed like that,” Bon Bon said.

“I think we might need that three times a day for the next three days,” Lyra added. “Are you up to it?”

“I sure hope so,” Spike thought.

Spike spent the night with Lyra and Bon Bon. He didn’t wake up until the next afternoon and headed to the Café for a late brunch, a big grin on his face. He saw Twilight sitting with Discord at the same booth again and slid in next to him.

“Guess where your ‘homophobic’ coworker was,” Spike said, “playing with his two new, bisexual, friends.”

“Are they any good?” Discord inquired.

“Surprisingly, both excellent ball-handlers,” Spike replied.

Twilight glared at him.

“A sex pun?” she asked. “Really?”

“You’re the one who practically forced me to hang out with them, so from now on, any and all risqué remarks that I make, you bring upon yourself,”

“Speaking of ‘playing’,” Discord put in, “Rainbow Dash and Soarin have been complaining to me about you not wearing underwear when you play basketball with them... well, mostly Soarin.”

“Let him complain,” Spike replied. “Nobody crowds me under the boards.”

Zephyr Breeze, clean shaven, walked in a few seconds later, and slid into the booth next to Twilight, across from Spike and Discord.

“Aw, you got rid of the soul patch,” Spike groaned. “Remember when he had it?” he asked Discord.

Discord nodded and said, “This is the pilot of the world’s tiniest plane. Is the runway clear for landing?”

He laughed as he pulled a miniature airplane, not much larger than one of his fingernails, from his coat pocket and proceeded to “fly it” toward Zephyr’s chin.

“Can we just move on, please?” Zeph asked.

“Porn star Robbin’ Glitter left a message two days ago, she--”

“I know what she wants!” Zeph shouted at Spike. “I don’t have it anymore!”

Later that night, Spike entered the Midnight Lounge, wearing a black tuxedo. He ordered a Scotch from Soarin at the bar before making his way backstage again, where Applejack, Vinyl Scratch, and the Dazzlings were waiting.

“All right, I’m here,” he said. “Now, what’s this all about?”

“Spike, we’ve been looking for a guy to join our group for a while now,” Sonata told him. “And after your little speech last night, well...”

“We want to give you an opportunity to sing again,” Adagio said. “To see if you’ve got what it takes.”

Spike was almost flabbergasted. They were giving him a chance to join them... and to make up for the time he missed out on in college.

“Vinyl can give you some musical accompaniment,” Aria said.

“Whenever you’re ready,” Adagio told him.

They stepped off and sat at the table closest to the stage. Sunset, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, Rarity and Starlight were in the audience as well that night. Spike downed the last of his Scotch and nodded to Vinyl, who walked over to her turntables. The curtain opened as Spike picked up the microphone and he started singing Flank Sinatra’s “My Way.”

He started out softly for the first few words of the first verse, but he gradually got louder with each chord until he enraptured his entire audience with his voice. By the time it was over, Applejack, Sunset and Pinkie were in a trance, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Aria stared in open-mouthed enthrallment, and Fluttershy, Adagio and Sonata were in tears. The audience broke out in thunderous applause as the curtain closed and the girls went backstage to congratulate him.

“That was out of this world!” Sonata exclaimed.

“I thought it was a little in and out,” Aria admitted, “but not bad.”

“Spike, on behalf of The Dazzlings, we would be honored to blend your golden voice with ours,” Adagio stated.

“I appreciate the offer, ladies, but I have to refuse,” he said politely.

“What?” Aria exclaimed. “That is absurd! You have an incredible gift!”

“But I have another gift that’s even more powerful than singing... and that’s dancing. I’m sorry,”

He thanked them as he left. Then he stopped to whisper to Applejack.

“Next time you have a show, I’ll go up there with you and we will show them what we got... together. What do you say, Apple Jewel?”

“Okay,” she smiled.

Author's Note

Next time, Rainbow Dash breaks her ankle after rollerblading in the lobby and is forced to take a week off with a cast on her foot. Discord subs in Spike as the new head dealer so Twilight can take over Dash’s maid duties.

Lucky and Unlucky

The next day, Fluttershy was getting yet another dance lesson from Spike. This time, he was dressed in a basic T-shirt and black pants. She wore a green dress with a skirt so short that it barely covered her thighs and cut so low that if she bent the right way it would fall free.

“Okay, just like we practiced,” he told her.

“I did it!” she gasped. “I’m doing it!”

“She’s come such a long way in a short time,” Spike thought. “She’s still so shy, though. That reminds me, I’ve got to take Coco out for coffee sometime.”

“Nice!” Pinkie cheered. “Whoa, you two look rough,” she said to Twilight and Rainbow Dash as they rollerbladed into the ballroom.

“Discord had us hall-sitting until 2:00 A.M. last night,” Dash yawned. “What’d we miss?”

“Fluttershy doing some sweet quickstepping,” Pinkie replied.

“Did you see me?” Fluttershy asked as she brushed a lock of hair back from her eye. “Spike taught me to quickstep! Isn’t he the best?”

“I’ve seen better,” Twilight replied.

“Way to drag your butts out of bed,” Spike said to them. “Tough day at the tables yesterday?” he asked.

“Actually, yes,” Twilight answered. “Teaching tourists and amateurs how to play cards all day is harder than it looks.”

“Right,” Spike commented. “Card dealer is right up there with crab fisherman on the tough-job scale.”

“Hey, I’m an essential service!” Twilight snapped. “On call 24/7 and I never get a day off!”

“I could do your job in my sleep, wake up, do my job, and still kick your butt at the tables,” Spike countered.

“You talk about our butts a lot,” Dash observed. “I think you like them.”

“She does have a good butt,” Pinkie admitted.

“I could not care less about your butt,” Spike replied. “Oh, and before I forget...” He dipped a hand into one of his pants pockets, pulled out a wad of bills, and handed it to Rainbow Dash. “You won our little bet.”

“Thank you,” Dash said, almost shyly. “Wait... That’s a thousand bucks! The bet was only--!”

“Just take it,” Spike cut her off.

Rainbow Dash thanked him again as she rollerbladed back to the lobby. She jumped, did several spins in midair, and crashed into the Brothers’ statue.

“I’m hurt. I’m hurt!” she exclaimed as Zephyr Breeze and Bulk Biceps helped her to her feet.

“What? What hurts?” Twilight asked.

“My ankle!” Dash cried. “I think I broke my ankle! Aah! It really hurts!”

“Let’s see,”

Twilight removed Dash’s rollerblades and squeezed her right ankle.

“OWWWWWWWWWWWW!” she screamed.

“That’s definitely broken,” Twilight said.

Almost two hours later, Rarity was pacing the floor of the lobby while Coco worked the front desk.

“Hey, Rarity,” Spike said. “Twilight and Dash back from the E.R. yet?”

“No, and I can’t hide it from Discord much longer,” she replied.

“Hey, Concierge!” came the unmistakable voice of their boss. “Where is Sparkle?”

Twilight and Rainbow Dash came through the entrance doors a few seconds later, the latter on crutches and her right foot in a cast.

“Someone please tell me this is a joke,” Discord said.

“The doctor told me to take it easy for at least a week,” Dash told him, “which means I get a week off! I have a note.”

“Great!” Discord exclaimed after he’d skimmed it. “Who am I gonna find to clean rooms on short notice?”

“I’ll do it!” Twilight volunteered.

“Don’t you already have a job here?” Discord asked.

“Twilight can do it,” Spike told him. “She’s great at cleaning up other people’s messes.”

“No, because then I would have to find a replacement dealer,”

“I could do that,” Spike replied.

“No!” Discord stated.

“I’m bad at cleaning toilets, and I’m the Dragon Lands’ Blackjack Champion. You need me working the tables. At least give me a shot,”

Discord thought it over for a moment and then said, “Okay, you’re up. You’re the new maid,” he said to Twilight. “And you’re on sick leave until your ankle heals,” he told Dash. “Don’t make me regret this!” he told Spike.

When Fluttershy entered the staff locker room later that morning, she paused when she saw Spike buttoning up an emerald green vest with a bold design – the four card suits: red hearts and diamonds with black spades and clubs – and knotting an even darker green tie around his neck.

“Did you get fired?” she asked.

“Nope, I’m the new star dealer,” Spike replied.

“That’s great!” she squealed. “Isn’t it?”

“I can’t deal cards and teach people how to dance!” he exclaimed.

“Come on, you taught me how to quickstep this morning,”

“That’s different. You’re no pressure. What if I get so exhausted from both jobs that I drop a girl during a dip?”

“This was the job you came here for. You’re a natural,” Fluttershy told him. “Or maybe Twilight’s just a much better dealer than you are...”

“In her dreams,” Spike scoffed. “There is nothing that she can do that I can’t! Except give birth and fake an orgasm, I’ll give her that.”

“Exactly,” Fluttershy said. “Hence...”

“Did she just use reverse psychology on me?” Spike thought. “Damn, she’s good!”

“Okay, okay. I can teach ballroom dancing and deal cards, too,” he smiled. “Thanks, Fluttershy. From now on, your lessons are always on the house.”

“Thank you!” she cried as she hugged him tightly, pressing her breasts into his chest as she did so.

Meanwhile, up on the staff floor, Soarin was helping Rainbow Dash get settled for her recuperation.

“Are you going to be okay?” he asked her.

“I got everything I could need: food, pillows, the entire Daring Do collection... I am in paradise!”

She kicked back on the couch and sighed.

“It’s good to be me,” she added to herself after Soarin was gone.

Spike’s first Blackjack game that afternoon was with two familiar faces.

“Bonjour, Fleur. Hello, Fancy Pants,” he greeted them. “How are you?”

“Oh, same as always: I move, I breathe. I seem to feel the thrill of life along the keel,” Fancy Pants replied.

“You sound like a ferryboat,” Spike commented.

“Men like you and me are not ferryboats, Spike, we are sloops. Very manly sloops,” Fancy said. “Wherever we go, people stare at us in dumb admiration.”

“Yeah, and what happens when they speak?” Spike asked as Fancy Pants laid 20 hundred dollar bills on the felt. “Changing two thousand!” he announced before counting out 20 black chips for him. “Don’t worry. I bring good luck. I always bring good luck.”

Spike winked at Fleur as he dealt her two cards: the Ace of Hearts and the King of Diamonds.

“A natural Blackjack,” he told her. “Congratulations, Mademoiselle, that’s very lucky.”

Fleur grinned at her good fortune. “I’m impressed. For a new dealer, you’re doing surprisingly well.”

“You’re too kind,” Spike replied.

He dealt Fancy Pants the Queen of Hearts and the Seven of Spades. He hit and got the Three of Diamonds for a twenty.

“Now, that’s what I’m talking about!” Fancy Pants let out.

“Congrats,” Spike said before signaling Fluttershy as she passed by his table. “A round of drinks for our guests,” he said to her.

She nodded as each took a vodka martini off her tray. After tipping Fluttershy a fifty, Fleur turned to face Spike again.

“So, where are you from?” Spike asked her as he dealt the cards. Fancy got a king, Fleur a queen. “I mean originally. Califoalnia?”

Fleur pretended not to smile, but Spike could tell by the goosebumps on her arms that she was impressed. She had grown up in Southern Califoalnia and, as Spike had guessed, made her living off of her looks as an Applewood starlet.

“What gave me away?” she asked. “I’ve got to get out of town once in a while, especially on the weekends. I get enough of the industry during the week.”

The next set of cards came out. Fancy drew a nine for a solid nineteen. Fleur drew another queen, a strong twenty. Spike had a six showing.

“You work in Applewood?” Spike inquired.

“Oui,” she answered. “Count this up for me. I want to split.”

She grabbed a handful of chips and pushed them across the felt. She set a second pile next to the first and split the two queens. Then Spike turned his head over one shoulder and called, rather loudly, “Splitting tens!”

Sassy Saddles looked over from across the pit. She looked at Fleur, nodded to Spike, and then he proceeded with the deal. His heart thudded as he dealt. Splitting tens was an unconventional move—and usually, an extremely stupid one. Unless the count was high and the dealer’s card was low. Then it was extremely profitable. Fleur drew another face card on her first hand and a seven on her second. Spike flipped over a ten, and then drew a queen, to bust.

Fleur and Fancy both won.

“Being an actress must be tough,” Spike commented.

“I’m not an actress, Chérie, I am a star,” Fleur said as she gave him a wink.

Fleur hit on a sixteen against Spike’s two. Luckily, she got a two for an eighteen to win the hand. Another time she doubled on an eight, managing to draw an ace. Toward the end of the shoe, she began raising her bets, taking advantage of her hot streak of good hands. As for Fancy Pants, he tossed chips into the betting circle with seeming abandon, keeping his bets around two hundred, but every now and then he jumped up to five hundred, and once laid down a thousand after drawing three hands of face cards.

By the end of it, both Fleur and Fancy Pants had made over fourteen thousand dollars—in under an hour. Most of it was stacked in front of Fleur, but at least five hundred dollars of pure profit was in front of Fancy. And it hadn’t been simple luck. Spike had tracked his shuffle so that they would win.

Overall, it had been a very lucrative afternoon.

“Well, that went well,” Fancy said, sipping his martini, amazed.

“See? I always bring good luck,” Spike said.

Fluttershy watched in awe as Fleur wrote something on a cocktail napkin and stuck it in Spike’s vest pocket. When Fleur left the casino, Spike felt like all the extra oxygen that was pumped in had been sucked out instead.

Upstairs, Rainbow Dash called her brother after she played through the whole campaign of the latest Order and Overpower game on her laptop.

“Yo, bro, what, are you too busy working to take a call? Sucker! Call me back, okay?” She hung up. “Okay, I am officially bored.”

After reading through half a dozen Daring Do books, and beating all of the video games, Dash decided to head out and see how her friends were doing. Her first stop was the front desk.

“So, what’s happening?” she asked Rarity. “What’s the 411 for tonight?”

“I’m not sure,” Rarity replied. “Here you go, Madame -- your room key and your spa card. Enjoy your stay.”

“So, this is what you do all day, huh?” Dash inquired. “Looks fun... If you want, I could hang out and greet guests or something.”

“I thought you were enjoying your time off,” Rarity said.

“Yeah, but I felt bad depriving the world of a Rainbow,” Dash replied. “I got great people skills.”

“I’m not sure having one of our maids walking around in a cast is good for P.R.,” Rarity answered. “Maybe... someone else could use your help.”

“Yeah, that’s... cool. I-I’ll go see what’s not cookin’ in the sushi bar,”

She hobbled on her crutches to X Sushi, where Starlight was helping Sunset lay out the cutlery for dinner.

“So, how’s Sunset treating you?” Dash asked as she sat down at the table Starlight was setting.

“If the fish tank was bigger, I would have drowned myself in it by now,” Starlight replied.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t want to work here, either,” Dash said as she tried to prop her casted leg up onto the table, spilling a pitcher of water as she did so.

“Dash, I just finished setting this one!” Starlight exclaimed.

“Sorry. I-I’ll clean it up,”

“No! Not my origami napkins!” Sunset shouted. “Those birds took me half an hour to fold!”

“I can fold these for you. See?”

“She said a ‘bird,’ not a ‘turd,’” Starlight said.

“Dash, do you mind if we hang out after our shifts?” Sunset asked. “I want to finish resetting so I can get a dance lesson in with Spike.”

“Yeah, no problem,” Dash replied. “I should probably check on him, anyway. He’s probably dying by now without Twilight working the tables.”

She gave them one last smile and hobbled away.

“I kind of feel sorry for Dash,” Sunset said.

“I don’t,” Starlight replied. “I’d kill for a day off!”

Then she started wondering how much a broken ankle really hurt.

Rainbow Dash entered the ballroom just in time to see Spike towel off as Discord handed him two guest evaluation sheets.

“Not bad,” Discord told him as he left.

“Hey, substitute dealer,” Dash said. “Drop any girls while dancing yet?”

“Not so far,” Spike replied as he dried his neck with the towel. “And dealing’s actually been really fun.”

“So, what’d you get?” Dash asked. “Six? Seven?”

“Try two tens!” he replied, showing her the sheets. “Oh yeah, oh yeah, who’s the boss? Come on!”

“I don’t think Twilight’s ever gotten a ten since you arrived,” Dash said.

“That’s because she sucks and I rule,” Spike said as he twirled away.

The next day, Spike was double booked for dance lessons with everyone from elderly couples to young girls that barely came up to his chest (some of which didn’t want to let him go). Fluttershy, trying to be considerate, canceled her lessons after she commented on how exhausted Spike looked afterward. He also dealt Blackjack for four hours in the casino. He slept well that night, but his muscles ached like he’d been dancing for eight solid hours.

Meanwhile, Twilight had to not only mop, vacuum, make beds and scrub toilets, she also had to clean food stains off the walls and check every battery in every smoke detector in every suite... via the tried and true “tongue test.” Unfortunately, her hair got stuck in the vacuum cleaner, all the sheet-tucking wreaked havoc on her cuticles, her tongue went numb from licking the batteries, and she had to deal with any and all floaters that came with the toilets.

Then one morning, Rainbow Dash awoke to find Spike standing over her. He, Soarin, and the girls had come by to check on her.

“Hey, gang,” Dash yawned, “ready for another day of tourists and oldies?”

“Dash, it’s been three days and you’ve barely left this suite,” Spike said.

“That’s because this is where all the fun is,” she replied.

“And Twilight, don’t you miss your job at all?” Rarity asked.

“It’s teaching kids how to bluff,” Twilight scoffed. “I mean, it’s not like a busload of movie stars just checked in looking for both card and dance lessons.”

Just then, Zephyr Breeze burst into the room, out of breath.

“Spike!” he panted. “A busload of female acrobats, swimsuit and lingerie models just checked in, and they need Blackjack and dance lessons!”

“Female acrobats?” Applejack asked.

“Swimsuit models?” asked Sunset.

“Lingerie models?” Fluttershy repeated.

“Female acrobats, swimsuit and lingerie models?” Rainbow Dash echoed.

“Who need Blackjack lessons?” Twilight asked.

“Who need dance lessons?” asked Pinkie.

“Who need Blackjack and dance lessons?” Rarity inquired.

“Female acrobats, swimsuit and lingerie models who need both Blackjack and dance lessons?!” Spike reiterated.

“That’s what I’m telling you!!” Zephyr shouted.

Spike suddenly felt like he was on Cloud Nine. His entire life had been leading up to the day when he was supposed to teach swimsuit and lingerie models how to dance.

“You’re probably right,” he said to Twilight and Rainbow Dash. “Sitting here, on your butt and/or cleaning rooms is way more fun.”

“You need help with all those women?” Zephyr asked.

“I think I can handle it,” Spike said calmly as he headed for the elevator.

“I have to see this,” Rarity said.

“Me too,” Sunset added.

“I’m down with that,” Soarin joined in.

“As much as I would love to,” said Starlight, “I have to get to work.”

And they followed Spike, leaving Rainbow Dash and Twilight alone in the room.

“I never thought I’d say this,” Dash told Twilight, “but Spike has the best job in the world.”

“He has my job, too!” Twilight said angrily. “And I’m getting it back!”

Discord found all of his key employees in the lobby, ogling the swimsuit and lingerie models and the female acrobats. They were all fully-clothed, save for the lead acrobat, Trapeze Star, who wore a purple sequined leotard.

“Wow! For someone on duty, you’re sure doing nothing!” Discord said.

“Just, uh, checking on our dance instructor-slash-dealer,” Sunset replied.

“And you guys are...?” Discord asked.

“Helping,” Soarin and Zephyr Breeze answered.

“Uh-huh,” Discord said.

Spike swaggered up to the throng of beautiful women.

“Okay ladies, are ready to dance?” he asked them.

“Yeah, we’re ready, coach,” Trapeze Star replied.

“‘Coach’ -- I like the sound of that,” Spike said. “Okay, let’s start by strutting right past those guys over there.”

Discord found himself staring along with Soarin and Zephyr Breeze as Spike, the models and the acrobats paraded past them. They followed them into the ballroom and watched them warm-up before dancing freestyle to “Footloose.”

“Well, that settles it,” Discord said. “Spike is the new permanent top dealer.”

“He is?” Fluttershy gasped. “That is so awesome!”

“And Twilight is the newest maid,” Discord added.

“Where’s Rainbow Dash going?” Fluttershy asked.

“Oh, that’s easy,” he replied as he left. “She’s fired.”

“That’s so unfair!” Fluttershy exclaimed. “Can’t you find her another job,” she asked Rarity, “at the front desk, maybe?”

“Front desk requires -- how can I put this delicately? A bigger brain,” Rarity replied. “And all the other positions are filled. There’s only one place for her, and if she can’t stand on her own two feet, she can’t clean rooms.”

“But Twilight can still deal cards,” Fluttershy said. “Can you get Discord to make the rounds in the casino a bit early so he can see it?”

“I guess so, but--”

“Perfect! You’re the best, Rarity!”

Fluttershy hugged Rarity and marched up to Spike.

“This should be interesting,” Rarity told herself.

“Great job, ladies,” Spike told the models and acrobats. “Fluttershy, thanks again for the pep talk the other day. You were right -- this is my dream job.”

“That’s great, but you have to quit,” Fluttershy said. “Discord is this close to giving you Twilight’s job and giving her Rainbow Dash’s job permanently!”

“Let me get this straight,” Spike replied. “I get to be the dance instructor and the new star dealer, Twilight’s stuck as a maid, and Rainbow Dash goes home? What’s the downside?”

“Spike, please!” Fluttershy whimpered.

“Oh, all right, all right!” he exclaimed. And then he sighed. “I can’t believe I’m saying this... I’ll help them get their jobs back. But I am only doing it for Rainbow Dash, not Twilight, just Dash!”

“Yay!” Fluttershy cried.

Later that afternoon, Rarity convinced Discord to make his rounds in the casino earlier than usual. She had told him something urgent had come up that required his immediate attention.

“All right, what is so important that it couldn’t wait?” he asked.

Rarity pointed to the Blackjack area, to Twilight Sparkle’s table. Spike and the girls (Rainbow Dash included, her cast off) joined them after Spike completed his dance session with the models. They watched as Twilight swept up the losses of three players.

“Not bad for an egghead,” Spike complimented.

“She’s a legend!” Pinkie stated.

“I don’t need the rest of my sick leave, sir,” Rainbow Dash told Discord. “I can return to work immediately.”

“And I can return to dealing cards,” added Twilight.

“Oh, we don’t need you anymore,” Discord said to Dash. “You’re fired.”

“What?” Dash asked. “But I can walk again!”

“We have a new maid and a new star dealer,” Discord replied.

“No, you don’t,” Spike said. “I quit.”

“What do you mean you quit?” Discord asked.

“I’m sorry, but Twilight was right, teaching tourists how to play cards is pretty bleak,” Spike lied. “I’ll just stick to dance instructing, Twilight can work the tables again, and Dash can go back to housekeeping.”

“Whoa! Spike taking another one for the team,” the girls thought.

“Suit yourself,” Discord said, “oh, wait -- the housekeeping position’s already been filled. Oh, well. Safe trip home,” he told Twilight.

“What? Now you’re firing me?” she shouted.

“Technically, it’s downsizing,” Discord replied smugly. “And just when I thought the Brothers should have given you the housekeeping job. I mean it. You did a really good job cleaning.”

“That’s so unfair!” Fluttershy cried. “Rainbow Dash, she just saved your job! Say something!”

“You can’t fire me!” Twilight shouted. “Please, I’m begging you! Is there anything I can do?”

“Listen, I hire you back, that puts us over our staff quota, which hurts our overall budget, and you know who gets penalized for it? Me!”

“If you’re gonna fire anyone, fire me, not them!” Spike told him.

“I can’t fire you!” Discord replied. “You’re the only semi-decent employee I’ve got!”

“Either everyone stays or I go,” Spike stated.

“Even Twilight?” Discord asked.

“Even Twilight,” Spike repeated.

“Come on, man! At least attempt to be reasonable!”

“Nope, all or nothing,” Spike said, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“Fine, you can all have your old jobs back!” Discord said.

“Yay!” Fluttershy cheered.

Rainbow Dash knocked on the door to Spike’s suite later that night. He opened it, wearing a dark blue bathrobe.

“I wanted to thank you for saving my job,” she said. “That was pretty cool of you. So, got a full day ahead of you tomorrow?”

“Nah, I’m skipping it,” he replied. “I was on my feet all day. So, you’re back in housekeeping?”

“It’s not that bad,” She gave him a smile. “I get free movies, tons of grindage from the minibars...”

“How’s the ankle?”

“A little better, it’s probably never gonna be the same again but I can still pull a three-sixty,”

“If you call what you do a three-sixty,” he said.

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to speak, but she was cut off by a voice calling Spike’s name from his bedroom door.

“Yeah, Star?” he answered it.

Dash looked over and saw Trapeze Star, wearing one of Spike’s shirts, leaning against the doorframe.

“Are you coming back to bed?” she asked him.

“I’ll be right there, babe,” he murmured softly.

Trapeze Star smiled as she disappeared back into the bedroom and Spike turned to face Dash again before closing the door on her with a smile.

“No! Way!” she breathed.

Nightmares

The following day was hot and humid, and thunderheads began to form up around one in the afternoon as the Flimflam Brothers led Twilight and Rarity through a big gray casino that had been built to look like a castle, located in the heart of Las Pegasus.

“Slow down!” Twilight called after them.

“No, you speed up!” Flam called back. “Pick up the pace!”

“So, what do you think?” Flim asked them after they reached the top.

“This place gives me shivers,” Twilight whispered to herself.

“Wow! What a gorgeous view!” Rarity breathed.

“We’ve got big plans for this place,” Flim said.

“Just imagine how much the guests would enjoy this view if this whole top floor was a bar-lounge,” Flam added.

“But aren’t castles like this usually haunted?” Twilight asked. “Wouldn’t that drive customers away?”

“Who knows?” Flim replied. “Spooky stuff like this could be a great attraction.”

“Let’s check out the basement,” Flam said.

“Do we have to?” Twilight asked.

The basement was black marble and onyx, its ceiling held up by four statues of nude women with upraised arms and stainless steel eyes. Blue tapestries hung on the walls and long black candles stood in elegant silver candlesticks.

“There used to be a pretty popular casino here back in the 19th Century,” Flim told them. “It was run by a woman named Nightmare Moon, who’s featured in this portrait here.”

They all gazed up at the framed painting of a regal woman in a dark blue gown silhouetted against the night sky.

“She’s so beautiful,” Rarity said.

“Yeah, she really was something,” Flam replied. “And we’ve converted this basement into a perfect recreation of her casino.”

“Conveniently, these tables are the same as the ones we use in our casinos, so repairs were a breeze,” Flim added.

“Impressive,” said Rarity.

“I know,” Flam answered. “To pull the whole look together, we’ve ordered you ladies some special costumes. We’ll open for business next week, when the reconstruction is done. Can we count on you?”

“How do you expect us to work here and at the hotel at the same time?” Twilight asked. “We’re all working overtime as it is, not to mention all of your little side projects.”

“No worries,” said Flim. “We’ve already got your replacements lined up for the big day.”

“Not another new recruit, I hope,” Twilight replied.

“No, these are experienced professionals,” Flam assured her. “There’s no room for error.”

“We’ve invested a truly irresponsible amount of money into this castle,” Flim said as the women followed him and his brother out of the basement. “If it turns out to be a flop, then we all lose big.”

When they left the castle casino, the skies opened. It began to pour and the portrait of Nightmare Moon started glowing.

Hours later, a zigzag of lightning cracked across the sky over Las Pegasus. It had been raining for hours and the storm showed no sign of letting up. Outside the Flimflam Brothers’ Resort, the night was cold, rainy, and dark. But inside, the guests were all warm and comfortable. Several of the girls had joined Spike in his suite for a little late night reading.

“Ah...” he sighed.

Spike had his nose buried in one of the many fine titles in his excellent collection of comic books. He wasn’t sure exactly when his fanboy crush on Mistress Marvelous had begun, but he didn’t care. At the moment, he imagined himself as Humdrum, peeling off her tight red uniform and making love to her... right behind Masked Matterhorn’s back!

Applejack was looking at an issue of Mistress Marvelous too. Pinkie stifled her laughter (as not to disturb everyone else) as she read a comic about cartoon animals that sang silly songs and (at least in her mind) spoke in squeaky voices. Fluttershy held up a comic, but it was to conceal a smutty romance novel about a group of lady pirates who had saved a young man from dying and took him on as their cabin boy. She was reading the part where the cabin boy had started a relationship with the ship’s doctor (who was also a woman). Even Rainbow Dash was reading a Shadow Spade novel... with a sour, unbelieving expression on her face. She traded with Rarity for Daring Do and the Tickets to the Opera.

The only one who wasn’t reading was Sunset Shimmer. She was staring out the window, into the rain, into the darkness. Just then, a bolt of lightning flashed into the night, followed by a deafening crash of thunder that shook the building.

All the other girls looked up at Sunset, startled.

“Just the storm,” she said, blushing as red as her hair.

She turned away from the window too quickly, stubbing her toe against the leg of the room’s main reading table.

“Ow!” she cried, hopping around the room in pain.

“You’re awfully jumpy tonight,” Spike observed. “Is something wrong?”

“It’s nothing,” Sunset insisted.

Spike returned to his comic book, but every few seconds, he lowered it an inch to look at Sunset. When she caught him looking, he quickly raised the comic back in front of his face.

Twilight glanced at her watch—it was almost midnight—then she headed for the door.

“I’ve got to work the graveyard shift,” she said.

No one seemed to be listening as Twilight pulled the door to Spike’s suite shut behind her. She hurried down the hall to the elevator and rode it down to the ground floor. Once the doors reopened, she walked through the lobby to the casino. She glanced at her watch again. The minute hand moved. It now pointed straight up to twelve. The lights flickered on and off as Twilight took her position behind her table and a woman in blue sat across from her. She was soaked to the bone but in good humor.

“Good evening,” Twilight said.

Droplets of water dotted the lady’s hair as she pushed four chips (one red, one black, one purple, and one blue) across the felt to Twilight. Thunder boomed and a few hanging lights in the gloomy casino flickered.

Twilight dealt the woman the Ten of Hearts and the Ten of Spades, and she got the Jack of Diamonds and the Eight of Clubs for herself.

“Twenty,” she said. “The dealer shows eighteen. Congratulations.”

“Let’s make a bet,” the lady told her. “If I’m the winner of this game, then your casino belongs to me.”

“Good one, that’s very funny,”

The lady in blue started laughing. Then she attacked Twilight!

Twilight screamed as she bolted upright in her bed.

“Just a bad dream,” she told herself as a bolt of lightning flashed across the sky and she dove under the covers. “I hate lightning!” she cried.

Across the city, lightning struck the castle casino and the spirit of Nightmare Moon was freed from her portrait!

The next morning was sunny and warm. The staff and the guests of the Flimflam Brothers’ Resort could hardly believe that there had been a storm the night before. Applejack, Sunset, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Twilight were all by the pool, preparing for the Brothers’ latest side project: a swimsuit calendar featuring all of them. Applejack was dressed in a royal blue bikini while Fluttershy wore a yellow two-piece number with a frilly pattern, Pinkie was decked out in hot pink while Sunset wore black, Rarity was in white, Rainbow Dash wore red, and Twilight wore purple.

They had agreed to stay by the pool for the entire shoot, in support of each other. The plan was to finish up by 10:00 and reshoot anything that the photographer didn’t like after that, but they had the pool to themselves from six until noon... when they would enjoy a Champagne brunch together.

“I, Photo Finish... have arrived! Now, let’s get ready for the photo sesh!”

Spike stood in the shade, away from the pool and out of Photo Finish’s way. He had heard stories about her from his days as a model; about a famous fashion photographer who was as beautiful as she was smart, good at giving direction, had no limits (as long as her models felt comfortable posing for her), and a thick accent that added to her sexiness. He had never worked with her personally, and he only “knew” her from her work, which was impressive, and her reputation.

She wore a black ensemble with white accents and big purple sunglasses with thick black frames that complimented her light gray hair. And she had brought her entire entourage: Soigné Folio, High Style, Powder Rouge, Pixel Pizzazz and Violet Blurr (all women).

“It is time to make... za magicks!”

Photo Finish pulled out her camera—a high-end single-lens reflex digital model—and immediately started snapping photos. And the girls did as she instructed them without hesitation.

“Oh, yes! Ja! There you go. Okay, yes. Oh, now, Pinkie Pie, you’re having fun! Yes! So much fun! Now, Flootershy, you’re feeling bashful. You’re blushing. Rarity, give me a little pout...”

The poses started out modestly with Pinkie holding a beach ball, Fluttershy looking cute, and Rarity sitting on one of the pool chaises with her legs crossed and acting coy (like she knew they wanted her).

“Ah, yes, very nice. Ja,” Photo Finish said. “I like what I’m seeing. Now, let’s get a little sexier.”

The poses quickly got more provocative with Applejack and Sunset hugging each other, their hands coming dangerously close to untying each others’ bikini tops; Twilight tugging on the strings of her top, and Rainbow Dash bent over and looking back as she sucked a Popsicle. Photo Finish kept throwing out commands and the girls obeyed, which made her very happy. And every time the camera flashed, the girls moved. They wanted to give Photo Finish as much to work with as possible.

Photo Finish saw Spike in the shade out of the corner of her eye when she was adjusting the focus of her camera, and stopped mid-command. Then she lifted her sunglasses, staring at him with wide, dark indigo eyes.

“You!” she shouted, pulling him out of the shadows. “That poise, that masculinity... You are magnificent!” She kissed him. “I MUST photograph you!”

Photo Finish started taking photos of Spike. He held his hand up in front of his face (the first few flashes had temporarily blinded him), then his eyes adjusted.

“Remove your shirt!” she ordered. “So I can see the hunk behind the man!”

Spike took off his vest before Photo Finish (or any of her assistants) could get the chance. Then he loosened his tie and unbuttoned his shirt, and Photo Finish was in complete awe.

“Ooohh... That flat stomach, those taut, sculpted muscles... That abdomen, those lats, those deltoids, that butt, and just the right amount of chest hair... you are a fantastic physical specimen! You pose for me!”

Spike just went with it, a simple turn here, a flex of the arm there...

“You are a big, strong, macho, MACHO MAN!!” Photo Finish shouted.

She went crazy with her camera, snapping in numerous different positions, including under her leg, upside down, while lying down, looking away, crouching, even between her legs! Spike started getting the hang of it and even added some of his own personal touches, which Photo Finish liked.

He could sense Photo Finish’s lust for him as he gave her a look that said, “I know you want me. Come and let me ravage you.”

Photo Finish couldn’t remember the last time she had done a photo shoot with a man so gorgeous nor so comfortable with himself as Spike. She was thankful that she was wearing her shades, because if not, Spike would have been able to see the desire in her eyes.

“Perfect!” she said. “Hold that pose! Brilliant! Brilliant! Oh, you’re radiant! You’re glowing! Enough! I go!”

And just like that, with a snap of her fingers, Photo Finish and her entire team were gone.

“Is she always that intense?” Spike asked.

“No,” Fluttershy replied. “In fact, usually she’s much more than that.”

“That was great,” Dash said to Spike as she offered him a bottle of water.

He thanked her before taking a swig.

“You really have gotten popular around here,” Sunset said. “I’m sure you’ll be getting a call from Applewood any day now.”

“I’d love to see a movie starring Spike,” Pinkie put in.

Spike smiled as he fought off a blush. But he smiled even wider, and blushed even harder, when he saw Chrysalis sprawled out on one of the pool chaises... naked, as usual.

“Spike, can you be a dear and do my back?” she asked cutely. “You always get the little nooks and crannies.”

“Sure thing, Mamacita,” he said.

Spike was a little surprised that Photo Finish didn’t ask Chrysalis to pose for her (she had been laying there the whole time). She had been tanning so much that her skin had gotten a bronze sheen to it. Chrysalis tilted her head to look up at Spike as he rubbed oil onto her shoulders.

“That storm last night was intense,” she said.

“I slept like a rock, so I couldn’t tell,” Spike replied.

“Lucky boy,” she thought.

It hadn’t taken much effort (on Spike’s part) to seduce Chrysalis. She was lonely, bored, and like many women her age, horny. Add a few drinks and a day where it was a hundred degrees in the shade, and the result was spontaneous combustion. Now, he had her wrapped around his little finger. And yes, I’m sure most of you are thinking, “All Spike has to do is look at a woman and she’s wet between the legs, panting like a puppy for a treat, bent over, thighs spread, ready to satisfy his every desire.” But Spike liked to earn it, even though he didn’t have to. He took the time to enjoy every opportunity that came his way.

Suddenly, Starlight Glimmer came running out from inside.

“Did you hear what went down yesterday?” she asked the girls.

“No, what happened?” Twilight replied.

“Grand theft pineapple,” Starlight said. “Late last night, someone stole every single pineapple that we had on the hotel premises!”

“Every one?” Pinkie asked.

Starlight nodded.

“That’s odd,” Twilight commented.

Applejack looked over at Spike when she noticed him rubbing his arm.

“Are you okay?” she asked him.

Spike shook his head. Starlight mentioning the word “pineapple” had caused him to give in to his reflexive urge to scratch. They looked over at Rarity, who was lying on one of the pool chaises and holding her cell phone to her ear.

“I’m sorry, but I need to cancel my reservation,” she said. “Yes, thank you.”

“What’s wrong, Rarity?” Spike asked.

“I’ve been dieting, but I’m still gaining weight,” she replied.

“Are you sure?” Applejack asked.

“I was shocked when I got on the scale after I woke up this morning,” Rarity said with a sigh. “And I’m so busy I have no appetite.”

Spike gave Rarity a sympathetic smile as she got up and went inside.

“I hope she’ll be okay,” he thought.

It was cold and rainy again that night. At one o’clock in the morning, another horrible rainstorm lashed the resort. Lightning crackled and thunder boomed, and when the grandfather clock in Spike’s suite bonged, the sound was drowned out by a thunderclap. And down in the casino, several of the patrons left when the slot machines didn’t pay off.

“What the--?!”

“Is it broken?”

“I don’t know, but I’ve been on a cold streak,”

“Man, let’s just go,”

A woman in dark blue approached the Roulette wheel. She was dripping wet and she was carrying several stacks of casino chips. With a pale white hand, she placed a stack of red chips on Black 26 as Fluttershy spun the wheel.

“Let’s make a bet,” the lady in blue said. “If I’m the winner, your casino will belong to me.”

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck the casino’s vast roof. Thunder boomed and rain slashed noisily downward and all of Las Pegasus blacked out for ten whole seconds. Then the power returned... and the lady in blue had disappeared.

Discord, Spike, Applejack, Sunset, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Starlight and Twilight assembled in Flim and Flam’s office the following morning.

“If she wins, the casino’s hers. That’s what she said?” Twilight inquired.

“Almost word for word,” Fluttershy confirmed.

“Damn!” Applejack exclaimed. “She’s got guts!”

“What did she look like?” Starlight asked.

“She was wearing a long, very dark blue dress,” Fluttershy replied.

Twilight looked aghast.

“What?” she asked.

“And she was beautiful, if not a bit gloomy,” Fluttershy added.

“I’ve never seen anyone like that before,” Pinkie said.

“Just like in my dream,” Twilight whispered.

“What dream?” Starlight asked.

“Well, well, speak of the Devil,” Flim and Flam both said.

The Brothers had pulled up footage from the camera near the Roulette table Fluttershy was working the night before, and the lady in blue appeared on the security monitors.

“Creepy!” Dash commented. “You can’t even see her face!”

“Applejack, if this woman shows up again, we want you and your security team to deal with it,” Flim ordered.

“You got it,” AJ replied.

“Discord, check the backup generator and make sure it’s operational,” added Flam. “If the power goes off in the hotel again, we’re going to need it.”

“Yes, sir,” Discord said.

“Fluttershy, come with me,” Twilight whispered.

The afternoon was cold and rainy when Spike entered the Sweet Snacks Café. After the shoot with Photo Finish the day before, he went to the front desk and asked Coco if she would like to have coffee with him the following afternoon. She said yes and that she could hardly wait. The Café was almost deserted at 3:00 o’clock when Spike went in and sat at a table near the back. He waved for Coco to join him after she’d arrived. She smiled as she sat across from him and Pinkie brought him a cup of hot chocolate.

“You already ordered?” Coco asked.

“I didn’t know how you take your coffee,” Spike replied. “If I had, I would have ordered it for you so that it would be ready when you got here. I’m sorry.”

“That’s okay,” she said. “I don’t drink coffee.”

Pinkie asked Coco what she wanted and Coco said she would have the same thing that Spike had.

“Another hot chocolate with whipped cream, coming right up,” Pinkie smiled and skated away.

“It’s surprisingly chilly out there,” Coco said. “Hard to believe it was sunny and warm a few hours ago.”

“I know, this weather’s been freaky lately,” Spike replied.

Once Pinkie returned with Coco’s cocoa, she (Coco) began to relax and she and Spike got to talking. He thanked her again for helping get Suri fired and making sure that Fluttershy stayed. Then they started speaking about their jobs at the resort; Coco had told Spike that she had been working there for five years now, but she had aspirations of being on Bridleway and that if not as an actress onstage, then as a set builder and/or costume designer behind the scenes.

Spike shared that his minor in college was Theatre Arts and he had done community theatre a few times since then. He also admitted that green was not his natural hair color; he had dyed it once on a dare, but he liked it so much (and he looked so good) that he just never let its natural black color return. Then he told her he liked her hairdo.

“Bobs are gorgeous, but not a lot of women can pull them off,” he said. “And you... you do it very well.”

All in all, it was not bad for their “first date.” But after a while, Spike started staring at her.

“Spike, are you okay?” Coco asked.

He sighed.

“I like you, Coco,” he said. “I really do. But, there are others... Other girls... that I like, and who like me...”

“Miss Queen and Miss de Lis being among them?” she guessed.

“Yes. I’m sorry--”

“I understand,” she said.

Spike was shocked. He had expected her to slap him, or at least cry, but she didn’t do either.

Coco paused for a moment before adding, “Have you told either of them how you feel?”

“No,” he replied.

“Well, I think you should,” she told him. “You’re a good man, Spike Drake, and you deserve the best.”

She thanked him for buying her cocoa.

“I hope I didn’t keep you from work,” he said.

“Not at all. I had fun. I only wish we had more time to talk,”

“Me too,”

They exited the Café together. Then Coco gave Spike a kiss on the lips.

“Thank you again, Spike,” she said. “I don’t know what it is about you, but I feel that as long as you’re around everything will be all right.”

Spike held a hand to his lips and he blushed as he watched her go.

“She slipped me tongue!” he thought happily. “She slipped me tongue!”

Fluttershy was extremely scared when Twilight led her down to the basement of the castle casino. Even with the lights on, it was still dim and eerie.

“It’s not much farther,” Twilight told her.

They walked down the stairs, then Fluttershy stood frozen, her face twisted in terror as she pointed up to the gilt-framed painting hanging above their heads.

“That’s the woman I saw!” she exclaimed.

“Are you positive?” Twilight asked.

“I’d never forget a face like that. That’s definitely her!”

“It’s just as I thought. It’s the spirit of Nightmare Moon!”

Twilight and Fluttershy returned to the Flimflam Resort right after, and Twilight marched into Flim and Flam’s office.

“A ghost?” the Brothers asked.

“I’m not kidding,” Twilight said. “It’s Nightmare Moon! Fluttershy confirmed it after I showed her portrait.”

“We had heard rumors of ghosts when we bought the place,” Flim admitted, “but we thought it was just a joke.”

“So what?” Flam asked. “Ghosts don’t exist! Nightmare Moon died years ago and she’s not coming back!”

Twilight showed them an article she had printed off the internet.

“What’s this?” Flim inquired.

“I decided to do a little research,” she told them.

“And what did you find?” asked Flam.

“Nightmare Moon loved gambling more than anything or anyone,” Twilight said. “The casino she opened in the castle basement was well known for being as beautiful as its owner... until one night, when a high roller came to visit. In a single night, she lost everything from ownership of the castle to her all-time favorite food: pineapples.”

“Pineapples?” Flim echoed.

“Isn’t it strange that all of our pineapples have gone missing?” she asked.

“It can’t be--” Flam started to say. “It’s ridiculous!”

“The casino continued to operate long after Nightmare Moon’s death,” Twilight continued. “But frequent sightings of her ghost roaming through the castle caused a decline in sales, which forced the casino to ultimately close down for good.”

“Nonsense!” Flam shouted. “It’s all nonsense!”

“You’re not going to do anything even in the face of all this evidence?” Twilight shouted.

“What evidence?” Flam replied. “Let’s suppose there really is a ghost. Why would she show up here and now after all this time?”

“And why would an immaterial being want to eat pineapples, anyway?” Flim added. “Ghosts can’t eat without a physical body!”

“None of this makes any sense!” they both stated.

Twilight couldn’t answer.

Rarity awoke in the middle of the night with a throbbing headache. She went into her bathroom, splashed cold water on her face and when she looked in the mirror, she saw Nightmare Moon staring right back at her. Rarity shook her head and closed her eyes, and when she reopened them, she saw her own reflection in the mirror.

“What’s happening to me?” she asked.

Rarity could hear Nightmare Moon laughing in her head, and then she blacked out. A little while later, a noise woke Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Dash made her way to Fluttershy’s room.

“You hear that?” Dash whispered.

Fluttershy nodded.

It was a terrible, slurping, smacking sound like somebody was licking their chops. And it was accompanied by the sound of teeth tearing meat from bones.

Rainbow Dash fumbled in her pocket for her penlight. When she flicked it on, the thin beam of light found Fluttershy’s pale face.

The noise was coming from Rarity’s room.

They tiptoed to Rarity’s room and saw that she wasn’t in bed. Then they saw the door to Rarity’s bathroom creaked open. They peeked around the corner and saw Rarity sitting on the floor, savagely devouring whole pineapples. Only it wasn’t Rarity, it was a creature that looked like Rarity. It looked up at them with wild eyes and they turned and ran with it close behind them.

They bolted for the door, but it cut them off.

“You saw me!” she shouted as she overtook them.

Meanwhile, Twilight tossed and turned in her bed, unable to sleep.

“I can not believe them!” she said about Flim and Flam. “They are so hardheaded!” Suddenly, her cell phone started ringing. “Rarity, what’s up?”

“Please... help me... before it’s too late...”

She sounded weak, almost like she was dying.

Then the line went dead.

“Rarity, what’s wrong? Rarity!” she shouted.

Twilight ran down the hallway to Rarity’s suite. The door was wide open. She walked in and saw that the suite had been trashed. The water had been left running in the sinks in the bathroom and the kitchenette, a bottle of red wine had been spilled on the carpet by the couch, and every single one of the rooms was littered with... pineapples.

“Rarity’s been possessed by Nightmare Moon!” Twilight breathed.

Numerous bolts of lightning flashed above Twilight’s head as she made her way across town, to the castle casino. Once she was inside, she made her way down to the basement, and she found Spike standing across from Rarity as she sat on a throne in the center of the room. Only it wasn’t the Rarity they knew. This woman wore a dark blue, almost black dress, and she was taller, paler, and more endowed in the bust department.

“I welcome you to my castle, Miss Sparkle,” she said with a wicked smile.

“Get out of Rarity’s body right now!” Spike ordered.

“You want me to leave? Very well, but in exchange...”

She tossed Spike a pair of red dice and he caught them one-handed.

“I want to play a game,” she said. “Afterward, I will release Rarity. Well, if you win, of course.”

“And if I lose?” Spike asked.

“The Flimflam Brothers’ Resort will belong to me... forever!”

“That’s outrageous!” shouted a familiar voice.

“Unacceptable!” added another almost identical one.

“We’ll never agree to those terms!” a third joined in.

Spike looked behind Nightmare Rarity and saw Flim, Flam, and Discord all hanging, suspended by ropes on the far wall.

“Rainbow Dash! Fluttershy!” he shouted.

They had been possessed too, hypnotized into Nightmare Rarity’s servants.

“If you refuse my game, I’ll cut them in two!” Nightmare Rarity said.

“Accept her challenge, Spike!” shouted Flim.

“Do what she says!” Flam added.

“Are you okay with putting your entire resort on the line?” Spike asked.

“I’d rather die!” Flim growled.

“You’re about to!” Spike reminded them.

“Fine, you have our express permission!” the Brothers shouted.

“If I win this game, do you promise that you’ll let Rarity go?” Spike asked.

“I swear,” Nightmare Rarity replied.

“And you have to promise to leave all of us in peace!” Spike added.

“I keep my word!” Nightmare Rarity smiled evilly. “Now, let’s get started!”

“I’ll do it!” Spike accepted.

They took positions on opposite ends of a Craps table.

“Let’s keep it simple,” Nightmare Rarity said. “We’ll place bets on the sum of our dice coming up even or odd.”

“That’s fine,” Spike replied.

“One roll will decide your fate,” she added. “Here we go.”

Spike held the dice firmly in his fist.

“Hurry up and roll already!” Nightmare Rarity demanded.

“What’s your bet?” he asked.

“Odd,” said she.

“Don’t you dare lose, Spike!” Flim stated.

“The resort is our lives!” added Flam. “You have to win!”

Spike was about to throw when suddenly, a swarm of bats appeared and started flying all around him. Only they weren’t bats, they were rings of pineapple. Flying pineapple rings with bat wings attached to them. He tried to knock them away with his fists, but they were too quick.

“What is he doing?” Discord and Twilight asked.

Spike was the only one who could see the pineapple rings, and even if they were a hallucination, they still felt very real. His arms started to turn red as the pineapples rings surrounded him.

“What’s the matter?” Nightmare Rarity asked. “Roll the dice. I’m getting impatient.” She picked up a pineapple ring from a bowl of them that had been sitting next to her throne and tore into it. Then tears started to form in her eyes. “What the Tartarus is wrong with these rings?” she exclaimed. “They’re so spicy!”

“They better be,”

“You!” Nightmare Rarity hissed.

Spike squinted through the swarm of pineapple rings, and Twilight turned to look up the staircase, and saw Sunset and Pinkie Pie standing at the top!

“I soaked the last of that shipment in my own special blend of hot sauce with extra habanero,” Pinkie smiled.

Nightmare Rarity exhaled sharply, and spat out a fireball that incinerated the flying pineapple rings surrounding Spike.

Once they were gone, Spike cast the red cubes... and he rolled two ones.

Normally, single digits on both dice were not desirable at all... but that day, they were life-saving.

“Snake Eyes!” he declared. “You lost! Now release my friends!”

Nightmare Rarity screamed as Sunset ran down the stairs. She whipped out Spike’s allergy shot and jabbed it into his arm just before his face started to swell up. Spike thanked Sunset as he quickly caught Rarity, Pinkie caught Fluttershy, and Sunset caught Rainbow Dash before they all fainted to the floor.

“That was close,” Discord exhaled.

“Rarity, are you okay?” Spike asked.

“I’m all right,” she groaned. “But I feel bad for Nightmare Moon. We had so much in common... we might have gotten along.”

“Hello, anybody,” Flim began. “Let us out of here!”

“If we’re not out of here in ten seconds you’re all fired!” Flam yelled.

Sunset and Pinkie released Discord and the Brothers from their bonds before helping Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy to their feet.

“Thanks for your help,” Spike told Sunset and Pinkie Pie. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“But who, what--when--how?” Twilight attempted.

“It was quite simple, really,” Spike told her. “The other girls and I had been keeping a close eye on Rarity since the photo shoot. It was originally just to make sure that she was all right, but then we noticed her acting strangely. Then, when I saw her leave the resort after a late night gambling session, I decided to follow her and voilà!”

“We saw where things were headed,” Sunset added. “I guess that’s what you’d call intuition.”

“You gotta make sure players follow the rules,” Pinkie said.

Twilight was thunderstruck. Spike, Sunset and Pinkie had saved Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Flim, Flam, and Discord! And not only that, but in spite of her not sharing any of her findings with him, he had found out about Nightmare Moon on a simple hunch! As they all walked back to the resort, Twilight couldn’t help but think that there was much more to Spike, and his abnormally large amount of good luck, than what was meeting the eye.

Author's Note

Next time, the girls take Spike to a magic show, only to have the Great and Powerful Trixie make him disappear as part of the act.

It's Magic, Part One

Magic was the topic at the table when Celestia and Spike joined the girls, Soarin and Zephyr Breeze in the Sweet Snacks Café before it opened and the breakfast rush began. The Flimflam Brothers Resort was hosting a magicians’ convention at the hotel and several performers from illusionists to hypnotists had checked in over the past few days.

Soarin held up his hardboiled egg and asked, “How great would it be if I cracked this open and a dove flew out?”

“That’d be unbelievable,” Zephyr said. “We’d be talking about it forever.”

“Plus, I’d sue this place for millions,” Soarin replied, “buy a cabin in the woods, maybe a boat... But I’d have to buy a lot of birdseed, too.”

“Why?” Zeph asked.

“To feed the million-dollar dove,” Soarin answered.

“This is an actual conversation?” Twilight asked rhetorically.

“Women are the ones always asking what men are thinking about,” Soarin replied. “Never ask me what I’m thinking about,” he advised.

“Not anymore,” Twilight retorted.

“Good,” Soarin said.

“I’ll admit, magic’s pretty cool,” Pinkie replied, “but I’m more of a human cannonball kind of girl.”

“I know a little hypnosis, myself,” Starlight said. “What about you, Spike?”

“I hate magic,” he stated.

Twilight stiffened as if Spike had slapped her.

“How can you not like magic?” she asked.

“I just don’t. You got problem with that?”

The entire table stared at Spike in shock.

“I don’t want to talk about magic. I don’t want to hear the word ‘magic’, I don’t want anything to do with magic, and I hope and pray to never see another magic trick for as long as I live!!” he yelled.

He turned his whole body away from them, but he didn’t get up to leave.

“All right, Spike,” said Pinkie, “what is the deal with you and magic?”

Spike glared at her for a moment, like he was hoping she would burst into flames. Then he went right back to staring away from them.

“Spike, what is it? What’s wrong?” Pinkie asked, genuinely concerned.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he said shortly.

“Spike was part of a wonderful magic act when he was a boy,” Celestia explained, “The Great and Powerful Trixie... and Friend.”

“Wait! Trixie?” Starlight asked. “As in Trixie Lulamoon? My best friend? That Trixie?”

“Oh, you know her?” Celestia asked.

“She’s the Resort’s very own special in-house magician,” Starlight said.

“And friend?” Twilight inquired, looking at Spike.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Spike repeated.

As if on cue, Celestia pulled her cell phone and showed them a video of Spike and Trixie when Spike was seven-years-old and Trixie was thirteen. Trixie was dressed in a top hat with a cape and wand, while Spike had been reduced to wearing a ridiculous outfit with a brightly colored vest and neck tie.

In the video, Trixie was performing one of magic’s most popular impromptu tricks. All she needed to baffle her audience was a length of rope (which she proved to be strong and unprepared). She gathered the rope to find its exact center. Then she made a loop and held it in her hand. After that, she pulled out a pair of scissors and cut through the center of the rope. She twisted the cut ends in her fist; waved her other hand over it, and when she reopened her hand, the rope was back in one piece as if by magic.

“Aww... You were so cute!” Fluttershy said.

“But how do you know Trixie?” Starlight asked Celestia. “And more importantly, how does Spike know her?”

“Trixie was Spike’s closest friend,” Celestia replied.

“Another ‘closest friend’?” Rarity asked. “What about Thorax?”

“Before Thorax,” Celestia explained. “They both attended my School for Gifted Youths together and Spike saved Trixie’s life.”

“Where’d Spike meet Thorax, then?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“They were roommates in college, but before that, who knows?” Celestia replied. “A racetrack, a nightclub, Whinnyland...”

The gang turned to Spike to ask him, but he was gone. Celestia paid for all of their meals and they went off to find him. They found him with Discord, standing by the large double doors leading to one of the resort’s theaters, in front of a stone statue of Trixie’s father, the late, great Jack Pot.

“That man was one of the greatest showmen I’d known since Flank Sinatra,” Discord told Spike. “Jack was supposed to be the Resort’s main attraction. The theater was designed specifically to house his show. Sadly, it was not meant to be.”

He and Spike bowed their heads, almost mournfully, as if to pay respect to the dead. Spike knew that world-famous magicians used their tricks to impress supermodels and beautiful Applewood starlets the same way some guys used flashy cars to impress women who were way out of their league (Spike, himself, was guilty of using both in the past). But Spike knew Jack Pot all too well and his daughter... And it all began with a game of the old street hustle, three-card Monte.

It was fifteen years ago, when Spike was walking down a street in Monacolt. He came across a girl in a blue top hat, a blue jacket, a matching skirt and heels. She had very pale hair, beautiful dark violet eyes, and an even more beautiful smile. She was amazing.

“I know a lucky boy when I see one,” she had said.

“And you look like the cat that ate the canary,” Spike countered. “Tell me, what would your Daddy think if he knew his little girl was running a con game?”

“Some people sharpen their skills with Tae Kwon Do, I sharpen mine with cards,” she replied. “Lay your money down, rube.”

Spike put down fifty dollars, which was all the money he had. Trixie smiled.

“Of course you know the object of this game is to stay away from the Jokers and find the Queen of Hearts,” she told him. “If you can find the Queen after the cards are shuffled you win double your money back.”

“Let her rip, baby cakes,” Spike said.

“Okay, here we go. Keep your eyes on the prize,” she said as she shuffled. “Everyone wins and everyone’s a winner. Show me the lucky lady.”

Spike pointed to the left card.

“Right here, toots,”

Trixie flipped the card over.

“Son of a--!” she exclaimed. “Beginner’s luck... Keep your eyes on--”

“There,”

“Damn! This is impossible!”

“I guess all that time hanging out with transient carnival workers finally paid off,” he said.

Trixie snapped her fingers and the faces of all three of the cards transformed into the Queen of Hearts.

“I’d say the hearts are on your side, Slick,” she said. “What to go see some real magic?”

Trixie loved being onstage, seeing the mystified looks of the crowd as she wowed them with the simplest of magic. She had started out as a regular stage magician, performing parlor tricks, when her father, Jack Pot, introduced her to the world of true magic. She quickly began incorporating it into her act, creating illusions that would be impossible for any other magician to replicate. It was her ticket to fame and fortune. But Trixie didn’t perform for the money, or the attention. She was in it for the thrill.

She also adored Spike, so much that she went doe-eyed whenever he was around. They’d been best friends, mostly because Trixie’s father was extremely protective of her, always too worried about “bad influences”. But she had Spike and they shared a very special bond; Trixie felt it was her responsibility to make sure that Spike was happy.

Spike’s mind drifted to the last time he saw her. It was a routine they had done time and time again. The very first illusion of the night would be Jack dramatically appearing onstage, whether it was levitating down from the rafters, teleporting in with a puff of smoke, or by a simple drawback of the curtains by the crew offstage. Then Jack would introduce his daughter, usually by either helping her out of his top hat, or making her materialize out of thin air or a cloud of smoke, demonstrating Jack’s power to convince the audience that he could make his assistant(s) come and go at will. It was always one Tartarus of a show. Then they added Spike to their act. And when they did, no trio had been more famous. And no trick was too big. They had done almost every trick in the book: amazing appearances, death-defying escapes, baffling levitations, astounding vanishes, mind-blowing sleight of hand, and impossible illusions; everything from the levitating woman to the disappearing elephant.

Their final performance together, Jack and Spike stepped out in black tuxedos and matching hooded capes. Then Jack asked Spike to help him with the first trick, which involved a tall, four-legged wooden frame. Spike entered and examined the seemingly empty frame. As he looked around, the audience could see straight through it. Then Spike lowered a chain from the frame’s round top. Then, Jack handed Spike a costume—a suitably seductive two-piece number and a pair of heels. Spike hung the costume from the chain as Jack removed his cloak. As Jack attached it to the frame, Spike picked up a ghostly mannequin head. Once the cloak was in place, Spike set the head on top of the frame. Jack pulled the hood of his cloak up and over the head and he gave Spike a signal to rotate the entire frame.

While Spike was spinning the frame, Jack did a few of his patented hand gestures and pulled a bouquet of red roses from one of his sleeves. After Spike finished spinning the frame, Jack handed him the bouquet. Jack removed his cloak from the frame and there was Trixie, wearing her top hat and the costume that Spike had hung from the chain. And she was delighted by the bouquet. The audience applauded and Spike pocketed three of the roses. He was going to need them for later. Then Jack took his cloak and stepped off to the side as Trixie stepped forward.

“Now for something simple,” she said to the audience. “Nothing up my sleeves; and my hat is empty.”

She took off her top hat and displayed the inside of it to the crowd. She even tossed it into the air to further prove that nothing was hidden inside.

“Now, who can guess what I’m going to pull out of my hat?” she asked.

Some of the audience members shouted guesses to her.

“A rabbit!”

“Some scarves?”

“Another bouquet of flowers?”

“Would you believe... more hats?” she asked them.

Trixie reached into her hat and pulled out a slightly smaller top hat. Then she pulled another out of that one, and another, and another, and another like they were nesting dolls, until she finally pulled out one the size of her fingernail.

“Thank you, thank you!” Trixie said with a smile as they cheered and her father returned.

“And now, my assistants will help me perform another illusion,” he told them, “one of the most famous in all of magic.”

He levitated an ordinary-looking table and chair onto the stage. Spike walked around the chair so that he, and the audience, could get a good look at it. Then he did the same with the table. They could see that there was nothing on or below the chair or the table. Then, Jack stepped onto the table to prove that there was nothing above him or the table. He then called Trixie over so that the audience could get a good look at her.

Jack stepped down from the table and Spike and Trixie covered it with a large sheet. After that, Spike handed Jack the chair, which Jack placed in the center of the tabletop. Ever the gentleman, Spike helped Trixie step up onto the table where she joined her father, who told her to sit in the chair. Jack stepped back down onto the stage again, removed his cloak once more, and began to raise it while Trixie was still in the chair. Spike helped cover Trixie with the cloak and Jack told the audience to watch carefully as they lifted it in front of her. Again, the audience could see that there was nothing below the table.

Jack waved his hands a bit, and when Spike lifted the sheet away, Trixie was gone. Spike helped Jack remove the chair from atop the table and Jack spun around on top of the table to prove that Trixie was really gone. After Jack stepped down from the table, Spike removed the other sheet. Once again, the audience saw nothing underneath the table... and Trixie was nowhere to be found. But wait! There she was! On the far side of the stage!

After that, Spike plunged a rose through Trixie’s heart. From the expression on Trixie’s face, the audience could tell that she hoped his intentions were honorable. But they weren’t. She let him approach from behind. And then, he plunged the rose straight through her back and out through her chest.

Spike’s first “solo” illusion was a classic trick that Jack had performed countless times all over the world. One of magic’s bread and butter tricks: levitating—more specifically, levitating someone else. For centuries, magicians have been making audiences believe that they have mastered the art of levitation. And Spike was going to do it using a solid oak plank, three chairs (two of which were set up at each end of the plank), and a pedestal in between them.

Trixie did a little dance to get the men in the audience, and Spike, into the mood. Spike gazed into Trixie’s eyes, as if to put her into a trance (I’ll tell you right now, he was the one entranced). She stepped up onto the chair in front of the pedestal, reclined on the board resting between the other two chairs, and she appeared to go limp. From offstage, Jack telekinetically lifted the chair in front of the makeshift table and levitated it towards him, behind the curtain.

Spike wrapped Trixie in the sheet that was covering the board and then he removed the center pedestal from beneath the plank so that it was supported only by the two chairs. Beneath the board, the audience could see that Spike was standing on a raised platform so they could see his legs. A few waves with Spike’s hands, and Trixie began to rise. On Spike’s command, Jack (who was still standing offstage) telekinetically moved the other two chairs, which had been supporting the plank, leaving it, and Trixie, floating in midair. Slowly, Trixie continued to rise.

Spike moved his whole arm under her body to prove that nothing was supporting her. Then, with a wave of his hand, Jack levitated a stainless steel ring the size of a hula-hoop out and Spike grabbed it out of the air. Spike passed the metal hoop around Trixie’s whole body, to prove that she wasn’t being suspended by wires, cables, or any other kind of supports. He passed the ring around her a second time, then Spike signaled to Jack, who took the hoop away and returned the two chairs and the pedestal just in time before the board floated all the way to the ground. After the pedestal was put back in place, Spike made a few more waves with his arms. Slowly, Trixie floated down to her original position and Spike removed the sheet and brought her out of her trance.

There was a brief intermission, and when the audience returned, two identical steel structures had been set up onstage.

“Now, with the help of my daughter, Spike will perform the illusion of teleportation,” Jack told them. “Take a good look at her... and not just for the obvious reasons.”

Spike backed Trixie up a flight of stairs and onto the first platform suspended overhead. They danced around the pole at the top, gazing into each other’s eyes, to prove that there was no place to hide. Spike then took a bright red handkerchief from his pants pocket and tied Trixie’s hands to the beam, over her head, using two separate knots. As Spike descended the stairs, he looked back at Trixie to make sure that she couldn’t escape. Then, he ascended the stairs of the second platform ten feet away.

With a wave of Jack’s arms, the curtains on both platforms began to rise. When they fell down again, Trixie appeared on the second platform alongside Spike, having escaped her bonds.

The level of hype continued to rise as a giant glass tank filled to the brim with water, with a platform that surrounded the top, was brought out.

“Spike will now attempt to cheat death by performing the world’s most dangerous illusion: Hoofdini’s famous water torture escape!” Jack Pot announced. “I want you all to know that this chamber is airtight, the plate-glass is bulletproof, and there are more than 500 gallons of water sealed inside! As always, do not attempt this or any other dangerous illusions or escapes! We are professionals and we have a team of safety experts standing by. Spike has been training for the past six months to pull off this feat!”

It was true. Spike had learned to expand his lung capacity and slow his breathing by putting himself into a temporary state of suspended animation. This would allow him to stay underwater without gasping for air.

Most tricks aren’t very dangerous. But this one really is. In fact, anyone who would get into a device like that voluntarily would have to have confidence in their powers of escape... or a death wish. And if it was their “swan song,” it would be one Tartarus of a way to go.

There was a timer clock next to the tank, and Trixie was going to keep track of Spike’s minutes underwater.

The lid of the chamber was lifted and Spike began to mentally prepare for the dangerous trick. First, Spike held his arms out in front of his body and Trixie cuffed his wrists together. Then, his feet were shackled inside of the lid. Once he was tightly secured, Jack began to levitate Spike, upside down, into the air. Timing is crucial in a trick like this. Spike’s blood was already rapidly rushing to his head, increasing the odds that he would lose consciousness while underwater. He was trying to keep calm. He took a few deep breaths and concentrated on lowering his heart rate and expanding his lungs so that he could hold his breath for as long as possible. He was hoisted into position. He steeled his courage, took one final breath and nodded, indicating that he was ready. Trixie and Jack stood on both sides of the tank, closely monitoring Spike’s safety and ready to alert the paramedics if anything went wrong.

Spike was lowered into the chamber and water began to pour out, cascading to the floor, since there was no extra room in the chamber. It was very real, and very wet. Trixie and Jack secured the lid and locked it with heavy duty padlocks. Spike had been underwater for almost thirty seconds.

How long could he hold his breath?

Hopefully long enough.

Even experienced divers would find it terrifying to hold their breath while handcuffed and locked inside a tank of cold water with virtually no way out. Spike had been in much trickier positions than this. A minute later and Spike was still inside, struggling to escape. Even if he’d smuggled a lock-pick into the tank, reaching the locks on the outside would be impossible!

After he had managed to turn himself right-side up, he wrestled with the cuffs. He had been underwater for two whole minutes and he still hadn’t made any progress. But he didn’t show any signs of panicking, more like frustration. Three minutes and still holding his breath; it was then that he began to almost stand at the bottom of the tank as he slipped into his hyper-trance. Four minutes and Spike slowly slipped into his state of relaxed consciousness. A few air bubbles escaped from his lips. Jack and Trixie were still standing at the ready in case he needed help. Quite a few people in the audience wondered if Spike was okay. Another minute had gone by and Spike was still underwater and going into his trance.

Some more bubbles escaped from his mouth.

“Spike has been holding his breath for exactly five minutes!” Jack shouted.

Time was running out.

Still standing beside the tank, Trixie felt helpless. She wanted to get Spike out of there, but he had told her and her father in advance that he wanted to do it alone. It was going to take a miracle to get out of that.

Finally, Spike floated to the top of tank. His head and face were still underwater. There was no way for him to breathe. Panic overtook Trixie as she climbed to the platform at the top and she began to remove the locks to free him.

She struggled as she pulled him out of the water. She placed her hand on his neck to feel for a pulse while she placed her other hand on a pressure point in his back, monitoring for any sudden jerks or contortions that would indicate distress.

Nothing.

The paramedics were still standing by in the wings offstage, ready to act in the event of the worst.

Suddenly, Spike gasped.

He was alive! He was shaken, a little out of breath, almost completely out of strength, and barely even able to keep his head up, but none the worse for wear. And even though he hadn’t escaped, the audience still clapped, thankful that he was not dead.

And for their grand finale, Jack made two nine foot tall male elephants (one seven thousand pounds, the other five tons) appear, disappear, and reappear. Using his telekinesis, Jack raised a very large sheet (aside from the long poles sewn inside to hold it upright, it was not gimmicked in any way) in front of one of the elephants. He repeated the process with a second sheet, and then both of them dropped. The elephants had disappeared. Jack raised the sheets again and when they came down again, the elephants were back on the stage. The crowd roared, giving them a standing ovation. After the show ended and everyone else had gone home, Jack pulled Spike aside.

“I remember when my daughter first brought you to see one of my shows,” he said. “You had no interest in magic, and yet you were dying to learn. And for some reason, I wound up teaching you secrets I’ve never shown anyone else. I’m sorry you’re going to be moving on.”

“Same here,” Spike replied. “It was an honor to work with you.”

“I’ll miss you, Spike. And so, I trust, will Trixie,”

Jack smiled at his daughter and left the two of them alone.

“I thought you’d be finishing the tour with us,” Trixie began.

“I’m leaving for Jockeypan tomorrow,” Spike told her.

He had told her at least once before that he would be on a plane in the morning... and he was.

“I know,” she said, “first San Franciscolt, then Horseolulu, and Trotkyo.”

Trixie didn’t want him to go. She had made that abundantly clear, several times, but she knew that no matter what she said or did he would leave.

“Here,” he said.

He gave her the other two roses he had pocketed earlier before plunging the third one through her heart.

“I wish I could give you more,” he added.

“I have something for you, too,” she replied.

She reached behind her back and produced a pair of white men’s opera gloves. Spike knew that Trixie would ask him to try them on, so he did and they fit perfectly. They were a little dated, but still fashionable.

“As long as you wear these, your luck will never run out, and no harm will come to you,” she told him.

Spike gave her a smile and said, “I know I’ll see you again someday.”

He gave her one final hug and left. As the years went by, Spike started gambling (and found it to his liking). He had always had good luck, but now it had been amped up by the white opera gloves Trixie gave him before they parted.

Now, every time Spike wore those gloves, or even thought about magic, they reminded him of her.

Back in the present day, Spike was still standing in front of Jack’s statue with his head still bowed.

“Spike never knew his father,” Celestia told the girls, “and after his mother died, Dragon Lord Torch entrusted me with Spike’s care. I raised him like my own son. Upon learning that Barbara was a ballroom dancer, Spike decided to pursue becoming a dancer on his own.”

Spike looked down at the white gloves on his hands.

“Trixie’s mother had been hospitalized for quite some time,” Celestia continued. “Her father, Jack, was always working and she spent most of her childhood alone. They were virtually inseparable until Spike decided to study abroad and they parted ways. It’s hard to believe it’s been almost five years.”

“Five years?!” Pinkie cried.

“She and her father were very fond of him,” Celestia said.

“I was a different person then,” Spike said with a passive sigh. “I doubt she’ll even remember me.”

“Knowing Trixie, most likely, she will!” Starlight stated.

“Well you all can go in and check out rehearsal if you want,” Discord told them. “Right now, Miss Soleil and I have some business to discuss.”

And he walked off with Celestia.

The theater was laid out like the Midnight Lounge; with booths lining the walls and tables all across the floor. There was a string quartet playing, sitting in the far corner of the room; and most of the people seated around the theater were street magicians, illusionists who specialized in close-up magic and tried way too hard just to get attention.

At a table of three, one of them was making a soda can float through the air. He held it gently between the fingertips of both of his hands. He blew on the can and suddenly, in began to rise. He quickly snatched it before it went too high.

The second magician was making a coin penetrate a sealed can of beer. With the coin resting on his outstretched palm, he forced it through the bottom of the can. Nothing in his hand, but when he shook the can Twilight could hear the coin rattling inside. The magician broke the seal and the beer began to flow. He poured it into a glass, careful not to spill a drop of the suds. But the coin was still inside the empty can. He shook the can and the coin fell out through the top, slightly smelling of brew. An ordinary can of beer, still factory sealed, and an ordinary coin—nothing really special about either of them—a simple, good, and convincing sleight of hand trick that anyone could master and fool ‘em every time.

And the third man was doing trick that was often used by street magicians to convince their audience that they had freakish powers: tapping a bent bottle cap on the bottom of a clear (and empty) glass bottle. With the cap resting on his fingers, he continued to tap until the cap appeared inside the bottle. It seemed to have penetrated the glass without breaking it.

Twilight looked over at a table of five. One of them, a woman, was playing with linking rings (a trick that one can buy at just about any magic store). Two of the men were vanishing objects—one was using toothpicks while the other was using a book of matches. They held the little wooden sticks in plain view, made a few magical waves with their hands, and poof! The toothpick, and the matchstick, were both gone; vanished without a puff of smoke and without as much as a hint of sawdust. Twilight would have been impressed by that if he hadn’t seen the so-called “invisible tape” that was stuck to their thumbnails.

The fourth took a match from the second guy’s matchbox, lit it, and then lit a candle with it. Then, he took a piece of white paper and crumpled it into a ball. He touched it to the flame and, of course, it lit flared up. But it didn’t burn. He unfolded the paper to reveal a 100-dollar bill. A little warm, but still cold, hard cash—another classic piece of close-up magic that street performers presented as a brand-new miracle. And the fifth magician transferred the flame from the candle to his thumb and back again without burning himself before he blew out the candle.

And finally, at a table of four, one magician was making his cigarette pass through a (not-so-solid) half-dollar while the second was taking the cigarette’s ashes from the ashtray and making them pass through his hand. He sprinkled some on the back of his right hand, made a fist, and then rubbed the ash with his left hand. The ash had disappeared. He opened his fist and the ash was in his palm.

The third was making a crumpled 20-dollar bill float. At first glance, the bill looked authentic and unrigged. A few hand gestures and it looked like the bill was moving on its own. Then it began to hover in midair between his hands. Then, with a little coaxing, it did a little dance. Finally, it floated straight up to his hand. He unfolded it. It was still wrinkled, but other than that, unharmed.

“Wire,” Twilight thought. “More specifically, a super-fine thread that is virtually impossible to see.”

The thread acted like a fulcrum, or an improvised pulley, allowing him to raise and lower the bill, depending upon how far away he moved his hand. The more slack he took up, the closer the bill went to his hand. And by hooking the thread between his fingers, he could control the movement of the bill, making it look like it was dancing. And the fourth magician was debating whether to use his deck of playing cards or a seemingly ordinary spool of thread.

Spike, Soarin, Zephyr Breeze, and the girls took seats at the tables closest to the stage and a voice boomed from all around them.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the Flimflam Brothers’ Resort is proud to present the Mistress of Illusion, the Prestidigitator without Peer—the one, the only, Great and Powerful Trixie!”

The lights dimmed and Trixie appeared on the stage in a puff of smoke.

She was still the gorgeous pale-haired, violet-eyed beauty that Spike remembered. Except now she was wearing a strapless blue silk leotard covered in sequins (her ample breasts peeked tantalizingly from the top) under a blue tuxedo vest with gold buttons, a matching tuxedo jacket with gold cufflinks, a blue bowtie, her blue top hat, a black cape, and fishnet stockings with her blue heels.

The first trick she performed was a simple transformation. Using her telekinesis, she levitated a glass of water from one of the tables in the theater. Then she levitated an empty coffee mug from another table. She grabbed both cups out of the air, and she poured the water from the glass into the coffee mug. Then she gave the mug a little shake. She poured the water from the mug, only it wasn’t water anymore... She had turned the water into ice!

The girls applauded, especially Pinkie Pie. Trixie clapped her hands together, made a few magical gestures, and an enormous straw basket levitated onto the stage.

“For my next trick, I’ll need a volunteer from the audience,” she said.

Pinkie Pie frantically waved her hands in the air while Spike crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“Oh, we have a handsome young man right here, front and center,” Trixie said, motioning to Spike. “I assume the lovely blonde next to you is your date?” she inquired about Applejack.

“Actually, I’m his date,” Twilight spoke up.

“And I thought I was the magician,” Trixie joked, which earned a roaring wave of laugher from the other illusionists. “I’m just teasing. Why don’t you come on stage?” she directed at Spike.

“Go on, Spike,” said Twilight, “it’ll be fun.”

“Yeah, Spike, go on, do it!” Pinkie added.

Spike stepped up to the stage, and then climbed into the basket.

“I have to underscore the warning for the young people that are watching, and the drunk people, don’t try this at home,” Trixie told the audience. She leaned over Spike and added in a whisper, “Don’t worry, you’re perfectly safe.”

She put the lid on the basket, and then she levitated no less than a dozen swords onto the stage. They were very real and very sharp. Trixie plunged the first sword, a thin scimitar, through the center of the basket.

“Yeesh!” Spike breathed. “That was close!”

Fluttershy covered her mouth with her hands as Trixie drove more swords through the basket. It seemed like the blades were cutting right through Spike. But if that were true, Spike would have been screaming.

One by one, Trixie removed the blades from the basket, but she was far from done. After she removed the final sword, she removed her cape and covered the basket with it. Then she proceeded to levitate the basket into the air.

Trixie pulled on her cape, and the basket and Spike were gone.

“Where did he go?” Twilight asked.

“I bet this isn’t the first time she’s said that on a date,” Trixie told the audience. “Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. You’ve been very kind,” she added with a bow.

Suddenly, a hoarse, petulant voice roared from above them. A voice that was very different from the one that had introduced Trixie.

“Get out! NOW!!”

Suddenly, a tall, thin man in a tattered suit and a scary mask appeared on the stage in a blazing inferno. Some of the street magicians ducked under tables for cover while others fled the theater. Fluttershy screamed and ran as the masked man shot fireballs out of his eyes and they burned through the cables of a steel cage that was holding a 1200cc motorcycle suspended high above the stage. The cables snapped and the cycle plummeted toward Trixie!

Roll Ruler

The first thing Spike noticed the instant he awoke naked in bed was the vast picture window to his left. Instead of a view overlooking the Strip, it displayed dolphins swimming underwater; under where the Flimflam Brothers’ main water fountain was located. And left of it was a marble hallway that led to a marble bathroom with a marble Jacuzzi.

“I’m in Trixie’s room?”

Spike wasn’t sure what time he finally drifted off to sleep. The last thing he remembered for certain was when Trixie brought him back to her room: 11:15 P.M. After that, everything else felt like a dream. Trixie led him by the hand as they got out of the hot tub and she took him to an enclosed elevator that went down to her suite. She squeezed his arm and looked at him with wide, doe eyes. The way she always did when they were younger.

“Spike, will you stay with me tonight?” she had asked. “I... I don’t want to be alone.”

He knew what she meant. She was afraid that, after all this time, she was going to lose him again. And just like that, that overwhelming sense of responsibility to care for and protect his childhood friend came rushing back.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he promised her as he held her in his arms.

They made love again, the second time to the Scorpions singing “There’s No One Like You”, and Spike found himself agreeing with the words—there really was no one like Trixie.

Now, as he looked at her, the woman with whom he had grown up, this woman who loved him, he longed to touch her again. He didn’t, even though the cold of the night had sent her into his arms. She lay, beautiful, naked and sleek, against his side. She was at a half curve, her front to him, her arm cast out, her knee curled high. Her breasts peeked out from the tangle of hair and the crook of her elbow, and they were as tempting as ripe fruit. Spike barely restrained himself. Yet he did. Trixie sighed and smiled in her sleep, and he wondered of what she dreamt. He had touched her passions. He had reached inside her and found a deep sensuality he knew lay beneath her sizzling eyes. He sighed softly as he stared at her, following the elegant lines of her features to the slender, beautiful curves of her body, and smiled.

“So I wasn’t dreaming after all,” he said to himself.

Spike and Trixie were called into Flim and Flam’s office a few hours later.

“What are you talking about?” Spike asked. “You mean you knew that Trixie and I were childhood friends all along?”

“Of course,” Flim replied.

“We want to see you two as a package deal: Spike and Trixie’s Dynamite Magic Showtime Deluxe!” Flam added. “Double the pleasure, double the money.”

Spike smiled as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“It’s always about money with you two, isn’t it?” he asked.

“We’re not completely heartless,” Flim replied.

“Wait, who told you that Trixie and I knew each other?” Spike inquired.

“Do not underestimate our web of information,” Flam answered. “We know everything from if any given woman is single, to hidden treasure and secret recipes of fanciful chefs from every country... even stuff we can’t talk about.”

“We also know Trixie is 5’ 7” tall, and her body measurements from the top down are 91, 59 and 86,” said Flim.

“Eight-eight, actually,” Trixie corrected him. “Your intel is outdated.”

Spike and Trixie took their leave and the Brothers went back to watching the security monitors. The biggest screen showed a zoomed in view of Twilight talking to Rarity behind the front desk.

“Good morning, darling,” Rarity said.

“Not for me,” Twilight groaned. “That damn magician stole my date.”

“Oh, yes. When Spike called me this morning I did hear someone in the background yelling ‘ta-da,’” Rarity commented.

“I love this channel,” Flim said.

“A favorite,” agreed Flam, “an absolute favorite.”

As they rode the elevator down to the lobby, Spike asked Trixie if she was all right with the fact that the Brothers put his name before hers in the (more-or-less) official title for their new show. Trixie smiled, saying that there was no one else that she would be happy to play second fiddle to. Then, when Spike saw Twilight’s name pop up on the screen of his cell phone, he almost didn’t answer.

“This is a recording. You have dialed the wrong number. Now please hang up and don’t do it again,” he said with a laugh.

“Spike, Fluttershy’s in trouble!”

Spike and Trixie darted out of the elevator as soon as the doors opened and made a beeline for the casino. When they got there, they saw Applejack, Sunset, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, Rarity, Starlight and Twilight joined around one of the blackjack tables... and Fluttershy in the arms of a big, beefy, barrel-chested man in a dark suit. He had frizzy hair, long sideburns, a silver nose ring, and weighed over three hundred pounds.

“Get your hands off her!” Spike ordered.

“You here to make a bet against me?” the big man asked. “If I win, this little lady’s gotta join me on a date. Don’t worry, I don’t bite,” he said to Fluttershy.

“I accept your challenge,” Spike said.

“You’ve got guts. I like that,” the muscle-bound man said as he let Fluttershy go and motioned to a tall appliance that had recently been set up. “The name of the game is Lottery Vending Machine, imported directly from the Akihabara District in Jockeypan. It’s my specialty.”

“For real?” Rainbow Dash asked. “That’s so lame.”

“So lame,” Pinkie repeated.

“I’m the Lotto Vending Machine Master!” the burly guy proclaimed. “Call me Iron Will! I have a hundred percent win rate. I’m the best there is! NO ONE CAN BEAT ME! I!! NEVER!!! LOSE!!!!”

“I’ll go first,” Spike said as he approached the vending machine and deposited a silver dollar.

Spike skimmed the list of drinks. Many of them were marked “HOT” and “COLD” in red and blue letters respectively. He made a selection and the machine’s lights flashed off and on, complete with fanfare.

“Aw, shit!” Iron Will exclaimed. “That was just dumb luck! No one make a fool out of me!! You make me lose, I blow my fuse!!!”

He inserted his own coin into the machine, and the same process repeated.

“Looks like it’s a draw,” Iron Will sneered. “As a tie-breaker, we’ll have a speedy drinking contest!”

“Wow, what a sore loser,” Dash commented.

“Don’t worry,” Sunset told her. “There’s no way he’ll finish his first.”

“Say what?” the girls asked.

“He pressed the ‘hot’ button,” Sunset replied.

Sure enough, as Iron Will chugged his drink, his face instantly went red and steam shot out of his ears.

“Hot, hot! Water, water!! IT BURNS!!!” he cried.

And he took off running.

“Fluttershy, are you all right?” Spike asked.

“Yes, I’m fine,” she replied. “Thank you.”

“That was impressive,” Trixie said.

“You think so?” Spike asked.

“That was awesome!” Dash exclaimed.

“But I didn’t even do anything,” Spike added.

“All right, people, as you were,” said Applejack, “nothing to see here!”

“Spike, I can’t thank you enough for coming to my rescue!” Fluttershy said. “I promise I won’t forget this! I will find some way to repay you, I swear!”

“Well, what are you doing right now?” he asked.

“I’m working, but I’m free this afternoon,”

“How would you like to have lunch with me?”

“I would love to!” she exclaimed.

“Perfect,” he thought.

It was a nice day for a picnic, Spike thought as he laid a red and white plaid sheet out on a secluded sand dune just outside the city limits. No one else seemed to know about it, and Spike considered himself very lucky. Then again, who else would go picnicking in the desert even on a cool day? He sat on the sheet across from Fluttershy, who had changed into a green turtleneck sweater and faded blue jeans. She opened the picnic basket and pulled out a tuna sandwich.

“Um, Fluttershy, aren’t you a vegetarian?” Spike asked.

“I am, but that doesn’t mean you have to be,” she said as she gave it to him.

Spike took a bite of the sandwich as Fluttershy helped herself to a bowl of salad, and he was overwhelmed by the flavor: ripe cucumbers, real mayo, fresh dill, and fresh ground pepper!

“Is it good?” she asked.

“It’s great!”

Over the course of their picnic, Spike learned more about Fluttershy; what she liked and what she didn’t like. Like Rainbow Dash, she hailed from Cloudsdale, but she was delicate and frail as a child. She had a fear of heights and she was an avid animal lover, which explained why she was a vegan. She was only a little bit younger than Spike, and she’d had a couple of boyfriends back in Cloudsdale, the first when she was a teenager. That one ended in a messy breakup. The second one she talked about even less.

“It didn’t work out,” Fluttershy sighed. “He said I was nice, like a sister.”

“I know how that feels,” Spike told her, looking at her chest as it heaved ever so slightly beneath her sweater.

Spike wanted to say that Fluttershy’s ex (whoever he was) was an idiot for dumping her, but he decided against it. Eventually, he asked her about the man who’d had her in a headlock that morning.

“Do you have any idea who he was?” he inquired.

“His name is Iron Will, and he’s a motivational speaker,” Fluttershy said.

Spike recalled having seen pamphlets for a self-help guru who had checked into the hotel about two weeks before. He had also heard rumors about a high-octane, energetic dude that was built like a wrestler with an enormous ego to match... but Spike hadn’t paid much attention. In fact, he doubted it was even the same person.

“I attended one of his seminars on assertiveness last week so I could learn to be more confident,” Fluttershy explained. “He promised a one hundred percent guarantee and that anyone who wasn’t completely satisfied would pay nothing. I didn’t have much money, and I thought I wouldn’t be completely satisfied, so I figured it was a safe bet.”

“Did it work?” Spike asked.

“It did, but I became so violent that I attacked someone and threw them out of a taxi cab,” she went on.

Spike was shocked. Fluttershy wouldn’t hurt a fly! It was impossible for him to imagine her raising her voice, much less physically harming another person.

“Well today, Iron Will came to collect and I refused to pay,” she said.

“Did you tell him you weren’t satisfied?” he asked.

“I did. Unfortunately, Iron Will’s not the type to take no for an answer,”

“I noticed,” Spike replied.

“So, since I wouldn’t pay, he demanded that I go out with him as collateral,”

Spike grimaced at the thought. Suddenly, Fluttershy reached out and picked a piece of cucumber off of his lip. Then she ate it.

“I-I’m sorry, it’s an old habit of mine,” she apologized.

Spike smiled as Fluttershy’s cheeks turned crimson and she tried to hide her face behind the high collar of her sweater.

“Damn girl, you just got even cuter!” Spike thought.

“I never really did thank you for saving me,” Fluttershy said.

“Sure, you did,” he replied.

“Coco told me that she helped you save my job,” she added. “She also told me that you told her I’m cute.”

Now, it was Spike’s turn to blush. Ever since he first laid eyes on Fluttershy, he thought she was cute; but her kind heart, sweet smile, soft voice and shyness made her unusually attractive.

“That’s twice you’ve saved me. Twice,” Fluttershy said. “Thank you.”

She reached into the basket again and pulled out a cheesecake.

“Consider this a small token of my appreciation,” she told him.

“Baby, you are the greatest,” Spike smiled as he kissed her cheek.

And they dug into the cake.

When Spike and Fluttershy reached The Hive Casino and Grill later that evening, he stood aside and held the door open for her, bowing and swinging his hand in a courtly welcome. They stepped into the fragrant, dimly-lit bar and Arista, the bartender, paused inquiringly before them and Spike answered for them both.

“A double Scotch and a Virgin Marey,” he said.

Spike said hello to a few faces he knew and glanced at a few others he didn’t know – and didn’t want to know, including the few drunks that were sitting at the end of the bar. As he and Fluttershy gazed around the room, Spike noticed that the Changelings looked much different from the last time he had seen them. Some still wore black, but most of them were dressed in a variety of bright colors: reds, oranges, yellows, greens and blues, even turquoise, azure and the occasional purple. The drinks came and Spike slid a twenty past Fluttershy, let the change lie on the bar as he picked up his Scotch. Fluttershy raised her glass to her lips and sipped her Virgin Marey as she enjoyed the scent of desert bluebells.

“This is nice,” she said. “This is very nice.”

“I’m glad you think so,” said a voice.

Spike and Fluttershy turned and saw Thorax and Pharynx standing next to them. Thorax was dressed in a custom tailored lime green suit with an emerald green vest and an orange neck tie, while Pharynx wore a dark cyan suit, a grayish-blue vest, and a red tie. They were accompanied by a young woman with beautiful light pink hair and blue eyes that rivaled Fluttershy’s, pale skin, and dressed in a school girl’s uniform with a pleated skirt. Spike recognized her as Thorax and Pharynx’s younger cousin, Ocellus.

“Little dark in here, though, don’t you think?” Spike asked them.

“Dark and cold, like the hearts of so many in this city,” Pharynx replied, almost poetically.

“We’re still remodeling the rest of the building,” Thorax said. “I wanted to have some vines in here.”

“I told him they were a safety hazard,” Pharynx put in.

“So we compromised on ‘no hanging plants,’” Thorax added. “As you can see, we do theater, swing dancing, and have potlucks once a week...”

“Your open mic night seems like a big hit,” Spike commented.

“It always takes the timid ones a while to get up the nerve,” Pharynx replied.

As they were talking, Cornicle was onstage singing “Just What I Needed.”

“What in the world? Am I the only one hearing this?” Spike asked himself. “The man is butchering a classic!”

Spike started weighing his options on what to do. Then he remembered one time when he was at a karaoke bar in Trotkyo. He got up and started singing, and the men in the crowd got up and left because they felt so insulted and because they took karaoke so seriously over there. But these guys, the Changelings, were different. They really had no culture or heritage. These were a people who were all but literally starving for a tradition that they could call their own. They had recently started celebrating Hearth’s Warming. It seemed that embracing the arts (and even karaoke) were the next thing.

“Maybe it would help if you went up there and started things rolling?” Spike asked Thorax.

“Thorax, sing in his own club?” Ocellus asked. “That would be like this place was just a big temple set up to worship him.”

“Come on,” Spike said, “just one song, you guys and me, as an example to the shy kids.”

“Okay, okay,” Thorax replied.

So Thorax, Pharynx and Ocellus followed Spike up after he’d finished his Scotch and they joined Cornicle onstage.

“Testing... testing...” Spike said into the microphone. “Are you guys ready to rock and roll?”

The audience cheered. Spike and Thorax picked up guitars while Pharynx got behind the drums, Ocellus moved to the keyboards as Cornicle picked up a tambourine, and Spike led them in singing “Rock’n Me.” The ladies all smiled and swayed in their chairs while the men started nodding their heads to the beat. Not even a minute went by and half a dozen women got up onstage with them and started dancing around Spike as he sang. When the song ended, Spike invited Fluttershy to join them. He led her by the hand, up to the microphone, and she started a smooth version of “Somebody to Love.”

She began softly, then Spike joined her to give her some encouragement, and when Ocellus started playing piano and Pharynx give her a beat on the drums, Fluttershy felt the butterflies in her stomach fly away. The only break in their singing was two minutes into the song, when Thorax had a guitar solo, which the ladies in the audience loved. After the third minute, everyone started clapping their hands and patting their knees, keeping in time with Pharynx’s drumbeat, and when they finished, the audience erupted again.

Spike had always loved that song, but hearing it sung by Fluttershy, he loved it even more. After they finished “Somebody to Love,” they moved on to “Take Me Home Tonight,” and every time Fluttershy sang, “Be my little baby,” she seemed to sing it with a little extra affection.

Now, with Fluttershy having proved to Spike that she could sing as well as she could dance, she started to wonder if Spike would see her as someone he could love, and one he could always love. A part of her thought that guys like Spike never changed. It was crazy to hope they could.

Spike, Fluttershy, Thorax, Ocellus, Pharynx and Cornicle stepped forward and took a collective bow.

“Thank you! You’ve been a great audience!” Spike shouted. “Good night, Las Pegasus! Spike Drake is leaving the building!”

Trixie sat in the Midnight Lounge, alone, that night. She was shuffling, flipping, reshuffling and reflipping her brand new set of tarot cards when Twilight Sparkle walked in. Trixie offered her to sit down, but Twilight refused. Trixie flipped over a card that showed a man and a woman, both naked—The Lovers—and they looked a lot like her and Spike.

“I didn’t come here to have my fortune told,” Twilight began. “I came to talk about Spike.”

“You love him,” Trixie guessed.

“What’s wrong with that?” Twilight replied.

“Nothing,” Trixie said. “He’s great.”

“I heard you and he were getting closer... onstage and off,”

“If you feel threatened by me, don’t be,” Trixie replied. “When it comes to love gone sour, I don’t pine, I don’t whine, I just move on.”

“It seems he has, too,”

“So, Fluttershy, huh? From the gossip, it’s pretty serious. If it’s the real thing, I wish him well. You should, too,”

“It’s hard to be that dismissive about someone who’s brought such... emotion into my life,”

“If you feel there’s something you want Spike to know, Twilight, you should tell him... before it’s too late,” Trixie fanned out the remaining cards in her hand and said, “Pick three.”

Twilight shrugged as she did so and she showed them to Trixie.

The first was a court jester dressed in purple (and looked freakishly similar to Twilight)—The Fool. The second was The Tower—a dark gray structure being struck by lightning and several people falling to an unknown fate—which usually meant destruction. And the third was a white skeleton, hooded and cloaked in black, wielding a scythe and riding a pale horse—Death.

Spike opened the door for Fluttershy when they returned to his suite after karaoke. Spike shrugged his jacket and threw it in the general direction of the nearest chair. He tore at his tie to loosen it, and let it sag below his opened collar.

“Can I get you anything to drink?” he asked her. “Bottled water, ginger ale?”

“Water, please,” she replied.

Spike walked behind the bar and fished a bottle out of the minifridge below. Looking at Fluttershy, he felt that she had done well; not only as a bunny girl, but also as a shoulder to cry on. Since she started work, she had become everyone’s friend. And she was. She was one of the few girls he could talk to and not get tired of the sound of her voice or the look of her face or the curves of her body. Spike had always had a weakness for curves especially when they were wrapped around a heart of gold... or a pint of Scotch.

Fluttershy was one of those girls you thought you could have seen somewhere else, like in a movie or in a fashion magazine (and she was in the latter, thanks to Photo Finish) and then you’d look at her closely and think maybe not. It wasn’t that she didn’t have the looks or class – she had both. But perhaps she was too nice.

He gave her the bottle of water and she followed him into his bedroom. The first thing she noticed was the picture on the nightstand of a woman with silky hair, lips soft as rose petals, and emerald eyes.

“Spike... Who is this?” Fluttershy asked.

“My birthmother, Barbara,” Spike said.

“She’s beautiful,” she breathed.

“Yes, she was,” he replied.

“You have her eyes,” Fluttershy commented.

Barbara’s photo, as stunning as it was, didn’t capture the full scope of her beauty. Spike may have inherited his eye color from his mother, but the chiseled jaw and muscles were his dad’s. It had been so long since she died that Spike was beginning to forget what her voice sounded like. Fluttershy picked up another photo of Barbara in a white wedding dress with a man in a black tuxedo.

“Is this your papa?” she asked.

“I never knew him. Celestia she told me he was in a bomb disposal unit. He was honored twice as a hero... then he died in the line of duty before I was born,”

Fluttershy looked at the floor before sweeping her hair behind her ear. That was one of the things Spike loved about Fluttershy. She didn’t mind that he didn’t talk much. She didn’t mind his tough guy act, and she didn’t mind his drinking. Everyone needs some kind of defense. But there was still something, a small aura she gave off that seemed to take the form of motherly instinct.

As Spike looked at her, she looked conflicted, like she was trying to make up her mind about what to do next.

“You don’t have to be so shy around me,” he said to her.

“I know, but... I can’t help it...”

“Just tell me what you want,”

“But... wh-what if what I want is... kind of... dirty?”

Spike couldn’t answer.

“Spike, were you nursed as a baby?”

“What are you--?”

“I’m asking if you were breastfed,”

“I... don’t... remember,” he said slowly.

“I was a wet nurse,” Fluttershy confessed. “I gave milk to the children of mothers who couldn’t produce their own... I thought I was ready to wean, but I miss the bonding.”

She glanced out the balcony window.

“I’m dull, and I can’t speak well... I thought if I became prettier and turned people’s heads... I could have more self-confidence...”

“Fluttershy...”

She catapulted into his arms, her head against his chest.

“I’ve loved you for so long... so long... from the moment you taught me how to dance!” she cried.

She pulled herself away just enough to look up at his kind face. Then she kissed him. Her mouth was sweet and damp. Then she stepped away.

Spike’s jaw dropped as he watched Fluttershy undress. She lifted the hem of her green sweater and then held it in her right hand. Her stomach was pale and her bra was forest green, almost matching her sweater. She dropped the sweater, and then put her arms around Spike’s neck, kissing him again. Spike tasted her breath as she took his right hand and put it on the silky cup covering her left breast. She was so responsive to his touch and he could feel the soft, steady beat of her heart. Then she stepped away again. She looked beautiful, standing there barefoot in her faded jeans. Spike wanted to take her in his arms, lift her and carry her off to a castle in the clouds.

He imagined the panties beneath her jeans, wondering if they matched her bra (they did), and he began to stir. She had a body to go with her face, young and virginal. Her breasts were melon-round with pert nipples, her belly was deliciously dimpled, and her hips and thighs were doubly seductive.

So, why was she so self-conscious?

They kissed again and her hands dropped to his belt and unbuckled it. There was a soft rasp as his zipper went down, and then the side of her palm was sliding along the hard ridge beneath his shorts. She gasped.

“It’s bigger than I imagined it would be,” Fluttershy whispered.

She smiled as she slipped a cool hand inside, and gripped him. That hold, coupled with her gentle moving thumb, made all of his former girlfriends’ efforts seem very minor league, and things got pretty heated pretty fast.

She unfastened her bra and Spike could see small white droplets forming on the end of her nipples, slowly inching their way down the round underside of her breasts as she wrapped them around his cock.

“So, I just sandwich it like this?” she asked.

“Yeah!” he nodded.

“If you become that happy about it, it’s embarrassing,” she said. “I always thought big breasts were just in the way...”

“Fluttershy, your breasts are wonderful!”

“Thank you,”

Then she started licking the tip as she gave him a boob job. She pulled away as Spike was about to burst and pushed her jeans and panties down. Spike removed the last of his clothes as Fluttershy sat on the couch in the corner. She patted her lap with her hands, inviting him into a more comfortable position. She let out a long, soft moan as he reclined across her soft thighs, stretching out his legs.

Fluttershy smiled down at the strong, perfectly built young man with eyes that were full of joy. Spike fondled her nipples for a moment, feeling them rise and harden under his touch. Then he bent to caress them with his lips and tongue. She sighed as he looked up at her; his eyes were watery with emotion, a mixture of self-anger and guilt.

“Suckle me,” she said, trying to encourage him.

He took her incredibly sensitive left breast in both hands and gently placed his lips upon it.

“That’s it,” she whispered. “Suck my nipples harder.”

Spike’s cock twitched as he suckled her left nipple, moaning as it swelled in his mouth and her milk began to glide down his throat.

“Let me feed you,” she cooed as she stroked his hair. “Let me be your mommy.”

Spike’s fantasy was becoming a reality. He thought of how the loss of his mother had affected him. He thought of how he needed a feminine support over the years, and he began to cry. Tears ran down his cheeks and he whimpered as he nuzzled his face into her breasts.

“Shhh... shh... shhh... there you go, baby. No more crying now. Mama’s here,” she cooed.

Seeing his almost childlike reluctance turn to eagerness was turning her on. The taste of her milk was intoxicating; it was all he ever wanted, and he could not get enough. The harder he sucked the faster it filled his mouth.

Fluttershy cupped a hand behind his head and guided his mouth from one breast to the other and into the fragrant, woman-scented valley between them. He responded by suckling a bit harder, coaxing more and more of the creamy liquid from her breast, and she stroked his hair. Then he moved his left hand to her right breast and began to caress it.

Spike didn’t need any more encouragement at this point as he reached up and took Fluttershy’s right breast into his mouth and latched on. Instantly, steams of warm milk began to fill his mouth.

He started making contented little noises as he felt his climax approaching. Fluttershy detached herself from Spike and encompassed his cock with her mouth just before he released and she gulped down his cream.

“Spike, I want you to deflower me,” she said so low it was almost a whisper.

“I’ll take it slow,” he promised.

He ran his hands up to her bare shoulders, and pulled her down for a kiss. Then he stood up, scooped her up in his arms, and placed her gently across the bed, dropping himself alongside her as he ran his free hand down to the warm moisture between her trembling thighs. She tried to look away from his sincere, handsome face but could not.

“Spike, would you please turn the lights off?”

“But then I wouldn’t be able to see you,”

He started suckling her again.

“Spike, not too much with the breasts this time, please,”

He parted her knees and entered her, his bare feet on the carpet and her hips almost hanging over the edge of the mattress as he drove hard and deep. Then her hips began to gently rock, encouraging him, and he thrust into her, slowly at first, as she adjusted to having him completely submerged inside her. She gasped and moved her face to one side, sobbing.

“Am I being too rough?” he asked.

“No, it’s okay. I can take it! I-I’m not made of glass,” she said.

He muffled her screams with a kiss as he came fast, and moved them both further onto the bed for a more comfortable second encounter, taking his time now, as their heaving flesh got better acquainted. He grabbed both of her buttocks in his hands and hauled her in closer under him. She moaned as she and raked her nails along his back and sobbed again.

She had dropped her modesty completely now and was responding like a she-wolf in heat, digging her nails in and raising her knees until her heels were crossed behind his neck. He was hitting bottom with every stroke. He eased off a bit; aware that he could be hurting her, but she pumped hard to meet his thrusts.

“All of it! I want it all inside me! Deep! Go deep! I want all of you! Now! Now! Yes! Oh, yes!”

They had a long shuddering mutual orgasm and she suddenly went limp. Spike knew he was heavier than Fluttershy, so after lying there long enough to catch his breath, he shifted his weight to his elbows and eased off.

“Don’t move,” she sighed. “Just let it soak inside me till we can do it some more. You’re still nice and hard. My, there’s certainly a lot of you, isn’t there?”

He took it as a compliment.

“Can we do it again?” she asked. “This time I want to be on top!”

He rolled off her and lay back as she giggled like a naughty schoolgirl and climbed on top of him, with a knee by each of his hips. She toyed with his moist erection, guiding herself onto it with her hands.

“I feel delightfully wicked,” she said.

He sighed with pleasure as she dropped her pelvis hard, taking it deep with a breathless hiss, and moved up and down with amazing vigor as she leaned forward, swinging her nipples across his face.

“Suck me! Suck my titties!” she shouted. “Oh, don’t stop! It’s amazing!”

Suckling this way was much easier as the milk in her breasts was being helped by gravity. This made it easy for him to drink without having to use as much suction.

“Fuck me harder, Spike! Fuck me like there’s no tomorrow!”

They came together before Fluttershy collapsed on top of him and he wrapped his arms around her narrow waist.

It wasn’t just once, and that was very lucky for Spike, because the first time he lasted only about eight minutes, maybe nine. Fluttershy smiled, a little smile that put dimples at the corners of her mouth, but she didn’t laugh at him.

“If anything, I’m flattered,” she had told him.

She got up from the bed and disappeared into the living room for a minute. She came back with a bottle of pink Champagne in an ice bucket and two crystal glasses. But as she stood naked before him, Champagne was the last thing Spike wanted. They lay together, sipping Champagne and enjoying each other’s warmth. When Fluttershy sat up, the sheet slipped away from her nipples and Spike felt himself begin to stir again. She caressed his face with her free hand.

“You’ve had thirds. I don’t suppose you’d be interested in fourths?”

Spike put his own Champagne down beside the bed.

“As a matter of fact...”

The first time was embarrassing, the second time was good, and the third was quite a bit better. But the fourth time... was the charm.

“I will treat you to your fantasy,” she said. “I’ll nurse you, and feed you all the milk you want and need.”

After two hours, Fluttershy began to cry out softly. But it was him whispering “Come for me. Please” into her ear that sent her over the edge.

“Was I good?” she asked.

“You were more than good, babe. You were great,” he said. “I wish I could have been better.”

“I wish I could have been better,”

“Baby, you’re the best,” Spike said as he wrapped his arms around her again. “You are so pretty, so pretty and kind.”

Spike didn’t know how Fluttershy knew what she said next, but somehow a little Jockeypanese escaped her lips.

“Ai shi teru, Spike-kun,” she said.

I love you, Spike.

“Ai she teru, Fluttershy-san,” he whispered back.

Rich Enterprises Incorporated.

Like the Flimflam Brothers, they had a clear hierarchy among their employees, and the only thing they cared about was money. It was the only thing they respected. That and how skilled at gambling their employees were. Those were the rules. That was all that mattered.

The Rich Resort and Casino, which was the largest casino in the world, had been built on a massive scale: the main complex totaled five million square feet, with half a million of those feet dedicated to gambling. The casino boasted 500 table games and more than ten thousand slot machines spread through ten distinct gambling areas. The company’s total 100,000 employees serviced an estimated 250,000 guests daily—an incredible accomplishment.

An architectural and entreprenueal phenomenon designed to make every visitor’s jaw drop. The mini-replica of Manehattan was like a guidebook gone three-dimensional: tourists wandered from a replica of Maneway Station at one entrance to the Bronclyn Bridge at another, passing by a one-third-size The Mare Statue, as well as detailed representations of Saddle Row, the Rink at Rockefillyer Center, and even Bridleway. The casino itself looked like the back lot of an Applewood movie studio, the décor so authentic that you could smell fresh bagels above the customary scent of cigarettes and cheap perfume.

But even though it was one of the great “wonders” of Las Pegasus, the casino was definitely not a favorite among professional gamblers. So many tourists came just to gawk that the narrow pathways winding through the resort were jammed in a constant state of pedestrian gridlock. It was built like a labyrinth to keep people in, and security had an eye and an ear on everything. Impossibly Rich was also tapped into the federal fingerprint database.

The Rich Family’s greatest strength was also their greatest weakness: ego (something they shared with Twilight Sparkle). As for Impossibly Rich herself, she was a machine. She arrived at her Resort every day at 2:00 P.M., in the same car, driven the same chauffer, the family’s butler Randolph. Impossibly Rich remembered every valet’s name on her way in (not bad for a woman worth three-quarters of a trillion). She had offices upstairs, she worked hard, hit the lobby floor at 7:00 P.M. on the nose. Her right-hand was her son, Filthy Rich; and her left-hand was her haughty casino manager, Abacus Cinch. She spent three minutes talking with Cinch, all business. Between Filthy and Cinch, the place was covered.

Impossibly Rich liked to know what went on in all of her casinos, from the rotation of the dealers’ to the path of every cash cart. She liked to be in control (also like Sparkle). She knew everything about every guard, watcher, anyone with a security pass; where they were from, nicknames, and how they took their coffee. There was rarely an incident she didn’t know about or handle personally. She spent a few minutes glad-handing the high rollers. She was fluent in Latin, Germane, and Itailian, and she was taking lessons in Jockeypanese (getting pretty good at it). She was out by 7:30 P.M. when Filthy Rich handed her a black portfolio with the day’s profits and new security codes. Then they headed to the restaurant for dinner.

Long story short, Impossibly Rich was as smart as she was ruthless. The last guy she caught cheating, not only did she have him sent up the river for ten years, she also had the bank seize his house and bankrupted his brother-in-law’s tractor dealership. Impossibly Rich didn’t just take out people’s knees, she went after their livelihood. She ruined their lives and the lives of anybody they knew.

Impossibly Rich’s office was typical Applewood; with its eclectic styling of furniture, walls littered with photos of the woman shaking hands with politicians and movie stars, and the liberal amount of unnatural lighting, it was all flash and almost no class. And in that upstairs office, Impossibly Rich sat at a ten million dollar redwood desk with four phones – one to call her son, one to call her lawyer, one to call her masseur, and one to call her personal trainer (the latter two of which were also her lovers). And there was a silver tray by the window, stacked with bottles of only the finest liquor. Iron Will stood at the far end of the office while half a dozen women, wearing maroon vests and/or jackets with pleated plaid skirts and matching high heels, stood in the center of the room.

One, named Sunny Flare, had cerise eyes, a mulberry bob haircut with raspberry streaks, dark eye shadow, and wore a pair of metal bracers on her wrists that had been outfitted with miniature computers. Another girl, Sour Sweet, had pale skin, freckles on her cheeks, and a rose-colored ponytail with a streak of aquamarine, which matched her eye shadow. Another, Sugarcoat, had orchid eyes behind glasses with orange frames, light gray hair with light arctic bluish streaks that was done up in twin pigtails and she had the shortest skirt of them all, but wore pantyhose with her socks. The fourth, Lemon Zest, had amber eyes, hair the color of pistachios with various highlights, pink skin and blue eye shadow. And the fifth, Indigo Zap, had golden eyes, hair that was three shades of blue, and wore a pair of flight goggles and sneakers instead of high heels.

The only thing that tied them together was the power they wielded as members of Impossibly Rich’s inner circle. Power derived from the authority of Impossibly Rich and her family. They were soon joined by Abacus Cinch. Cinch was in her mid-fifties, with fuchsia hair, thick lips, a grandmotherly face, and angry eyes. And like the younger women, she was wearing a tailored maroon suit with tiny glasses.

“Miss Rich, the data we have on the young man who recently started work at the Flimflam Brothers’ Resort,” Cinch said.

She handed Impossibly Rich a beige folder and Impossibly Rich started going through its contents.

Spike Drake, 22-years-old, orphaned at age four, and was adopted by Celestia Soleil shortly after. He barely knew his birthmother, Barbara, but he inherited a lot of money from her when she died. He was rich, he was bored, and he was talented. A college graduate with mysterious means of income and a nonconformist lifestyle.

“So, the Serpent’s son has appeared in my paradise,” Impossibly Rich said.

She closed the folder and looked at her employees around the room. They had all heard the stories surrounding the young man... including the rumors.

“Care to share any thoughts, ladies?” she asked.

“He’s awesome if he could take down Sparkle so quickly!” Indigo Zap said.

“I bet he’s full of himself after beating that peon,” Sour Sweet added.

“Hold on!” Lemon Zest cut in. “How did she get to be at the top again?”

“I think that’s enough,” Sugarcoat stated as she readjusted her glasses.

“So, how exactly do you plan to dispose of Spike Drake?” Abacus Cinch inquired.

“Seriously, I find the situation developing to be rather interesting,” Sunny Flare told them. “Why don’t we do some more meddling?”

Impossibly Rich smiled, and then agreed.

“I have a question for you, though,” Iron Will interjected. “Are you sure that’s what you wanted? Why did you want me to cause such a big scene? What did you have me do that for?”

“To test the extent of Spike’s power,” Impossibly Rich replied. “We are going to learn everything about him.”

Author's Note

Next time, to impress her father (and the Flimflam Brothers), Starlight asks Spike and the girls to perform in the staff ballroom dancing competition in the hopes of beating archrival hotelier Impossibly Rich’s team. There’s just one problem: the girls need to learn how to dance first.

Dancing with Dragons

Everyone at the Flimflam Brothers’ Resort from the owners down to the parking valets was in a bad mood. Discord, in particular, was extra frustrated; so much that he had crushed a whole case of stress balls just to try and keep calm. At the moment, he was chewing out Rarity, Soarin and Zephyr Breeze. He looked like he would blow his top at any second.

“This is a copy of my job description,” he said as he held up a sheet of paper to them. “Do you see ‘supervising a staff full of babies who can’t think for themselves’ anywhere here? Do you?!”

“Dude, it’s not even ten o’clock,” Zephyr groaned as he rubbed his eyes.

“You mixed up the Coals’ and Slaws’ luggage!” Discord went on.

“Not my fault,” Zeph replied. “I couldn’t tell one from the other. They were both so big and heavy.”

“The luggage or the people?” Soarin inquired.

Discord finally went nuclear.

“You are nothing but a never-ending string of complaints, excuses, and wisecracks! That’s a strike for all three of you! Now, get to work! That is an order, NOT a suggestion! Move it! And what kind of a sorry display is that?!”

Meanwhile, in the Sweet Snacks Café...

“What’s the holdup?” Pinkie asked Chef le Grand. “Table Twenty-Two’s been waiting on a banana smoothie for half an hour.”

“Miss Pie!” the Flimflam Brothers called out.

“Is there a problem, sirs?” Pinkie asked after roller-skating to their table.

“Would you look at this?” Flam asked. “My muffin is bursting with blueberries and my brother’s barely has any! Does that seem right to you?”

“Uh... uh, no, no, sir,” she replied.

“Tell Chef le Grand in there that we want every muffin to have an equal amount of blueberries in it -- an equal amount!” Flim stated.

Pinkie did.

“This is nonsense! Equal blueberries?! Get out of my kitchen!”

And she skated back through the swinging doors, being pelted by the Chef’s muffins, as well as croissants, as she fled. Just then, Starlight Glimmer walked in, talking to Trixie on her cell phone.

“Yes, it’s hard!” she said as she finished buttoning up her uniform with her free hand. “My manager, Sunset, is sooo annoying. Oh, and Rarity wears way too much makeup. Did you know her eyelashes are false? But I won’t be here for much longer. I have a way out of this job...”

“Where have you been?” Pinkie asked. “Your tables are about to keel over from starvation!”

“Trying to avoid angry bellhops,” Starlight answered. “I need to talk to Flim and Flam.”

“I wouldn’t, if I were you,” Pinkie advised. “On an angry scale of one to ten, they’re a fifty this morning.”

“Oh, I’m just gonna suck up to them for a minute,” Starlight reassured her.

“Twilight!!” Flam yelled. “We need to talk to you NOW!!”

“Um, I think she’s hiding under a shelf in a supply closet,” Pinkie said.

And the Brothers went on the hunt for her as Starlight approached her father’s table. Sunburst and Stellar Flare had joined him for breakfast.

“Why’s everybody so upset?” Starlight asked.

“The list of the Top-10 Casino Resorts just came out,” Stellar Flare explained, showing her the morning newspaper. “And the Flimflam Brothers came in second.”

“Second?” Starlight asked.

“And guess who came in first,” Sunburst added.

Starlight gasped... then growled, “Impossibly Rich!”

“Ever since her driver beat the Brothers’ pick in the Las Pegasus Grand Prix,” Stellar Flare replied. “It’s too bad there isn’t a way to stick it to her.”

“I might have a way,” Starlight said. “The staff ballroom dancing contest is usually right after the Top 10, isn’t it?”

“Oh, don’t remind us, Pumpkin,” Firelight told his daughter. “In fact, that is the last thing any of us want to think about right now.”

“Don’t worry, Dad -- we are going to win it this year, and I’m gonna make sure of it. But first, duty calls!”

Then she ducked under the table.

“What are you doing?” Sunburst asked.

“This gum isn’t going to scrape itself!” she replied.

Her father, Sunburst and Stellar Flare all quickly pushed their chairs back and paid as they left.

The only room that seemed to be immune to all the negativity in the whole resort was the ballroom. Inside, Rainbow Dash was snacking on handfuls of little chocolates (the ones that were for decorating the guests’ pillows in their rooms. At least they were supposed to be) while Twilight sipped a strawberry smoothie.

“Mmm, mmm, mmm,” Dash hummed. “These are so good. Can you get addicted to pillow chocolates?”

“How many guys would do something like that on their day off?” Twilight asked. “He’s not even being paid.”

She was talking about Spike... again; more specifically, the fact that he had started streaming dance instruction videos to the hotel’s website as a way to strum up more business. That day, Spike was having Sunset Shimmer film him teaching a segment on hip-hop... and Fleur was his dance partner.

“Are you forced to offer some feeble excuse for not dancing?” he asked, looking into the camera. “Are you left holding the bags, the coats, and stuck with the check while everyone else enjoys themselves? Do you feel like a wallflower, alone in a world of dancers? Do you have two left feet?”

Spike stretched as he talked, then he started shaking his money-maker.

“See, the thing about hip-hop is that you don’t plan the dance, you just make up new moves as you go along with the music,” he went on. “You use steps you know, but don’t plan the order. So, the dance is a little new and different each time. That’s called improvising.”

He proceeded to demonstrate, earning a gasp from Sunset.

“Dancing is as easy as A, B, C or 1, 2, 3,” Spike said as he nodded to Vinyl Scratch, who nodded back and dropped the needle on her turntable.

Sunset gasped again. It was hard to believe it had been fifty years since that song was released, where it stayed at #1 for four weeks, and it was still popular.

“Stupendous!” she exclaimed.

Twilight and Rainbow Dash were soon joined by Spike’s mother, Celestia.

“Spike’s been obsessed with choreography,” she said. “Ever since he saw Barbara teach a blind man how to tango, he’s wanted to make a career out of it.”

“Aww, I think it’s cool,” said Twilight. “It’s like there’s more to him than just a cute smile, nice eyes, broad shoulders and perfect abs...”

“Watch it!” Celestia warned her. “That’s my son you’re drooling over!”

“Hey, she’s a total catch, too,” Rainbow Dash said about Twilight.

“Thanks,” Twilight replied.

Dash’s phone beeped and she saw a text message from Starlight Glimmer.

“She’s on her way down,” Dash said. “So, are you gonna hang out here on the sidelines until Spike notices you, or are you gonna walk up to him and say hi?” she asked Twilight.

Twilight wasn’t sure that she could. After everything that had transpired between her and Spike, she felt awkward and uncomfortable.

“Brock-brock-brock-brock-brock-brock-brock-brock-brock!” Dash clucked.

“Okay, okay!” Twilight said.

As they were talking, Fleur was having her own conversation with Spike.

“You know, Spike, if you were my boyfriend, I would spoil you,” she whispered into his ear as they danced. “I would love to spoil you. Take you places you’ve never been, show you things you’ve never seen. I would like you to... crème my brûlée.”

Spike blushed hard. Thankfully, the music stopped just as he saw Starlight enter the ballroom and he hip-hopped over to her. Soon, the ballroom became filled with people – as well as Spike, Fleur, Celestia, Sunset, Vinyl, Rainbow Dash, Starlight and Twilight – Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Soarin, Rarity, Coco Pommel, Cheese Sandwich and Zephyr Breeze joined them shortly after.

“What’re you all doing here?” Spike asked.

They all held up their phones, revealing the same text message from Starlight Glimmer.

“I wanted to see how the latest dance video is coming,” Starlight told him. “Also I need you all to do something for me.”

“What?” Zephyr groaned.

“Win the annual staff ballroom dancing contest next Saturday,” she said.

“Is that all?” Soarin asked, as if he were expecting more.

“You’ll have to skip work without getting fired and practice every spare second you have,” Starlight added.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa... Whoa!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “When you say ‘dance’ you mean as in ‘together’? I don’t know if you know this about me, but I don’t slow dance, only break dance.”

“And if we did agree to help you, what’s in it for us?” Rarity asked.

“Other than spending time with Spike and possibly getting fired,” added Applejack.

“The Rich Family and the Flimflam Brothers are sworn enemies,” Starlight explained. “They’ve been competing at everything since Flim and Flam took over after Gladmane was brought down. Sports, social events, the stock market...” she listed them off. “Every year for the past six years, the Brothers have been Number One. That’s why Discord’s being such a dictator. They’re giving him the grind because he let us slip to Number Two.”

“This morning, he gave me a strike just for yawning!” Coco told them.

“The dude’s a workaholic,” Soarin said. “It’s a disease.”

“Hope I don’t catch it,” Zeph added.

“Yeah, I don’t think you need to worry about that,” Dash told him.

“So if we win, Discord will get off our cases?” Spike asked.

“You’ll be legends, and... Dad will let me out of this stupid job,” Starlight said. “So, are you in?”

“Definitely,” Spike replied. “I mean, if it means getting Discord off our backs, and promoting the hotel at the same time, how would you gals rather be seen, in smoking hot dresses or with your mouths full of pie?”

“On a skill level, I’m better at pie eating,” Applejack answered.

“I think this could be really cool,” Pinkie added.

“And having the staff show off their dance moves would surely bring in more guests,” Twilight went on.

“All right, just for argument’s sake, who would I be dancing with?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Why, me, of course,” Zephyr smiled.

“No offense, darling, but you’re a groper and you smell like you haven’t showered in a week,” Rarity said.

“Yeah, thanks, but no thanks,” Rainbow Dash added.

“Fine, just get another partner,” Starlight said.

“Like who?” Dash asked.

“Oh, for Scorpan’s sake, I’ll do it,” Spike grunted.

“Spike, no,” said Sunset. “You’re working hard enough as it is.”

“I’ll have you know I am a three-time ballroom dancing champion,” Spike bragged. “In fact, my dance teacher told me that I was the best she’d ever had.”

“So, the dance teacher selling you lessons said you were a natural?” Dash asked. “Unheard of!”

Now, a normal guy would’ve said something along the lines of, “You think I can’t do it?”, or a sarcastic “All right.” But not Spike. For one thing, Spike was not a normal guy. He was a college graduate turned casino dealer and dance instructor. Instead of saying anything, he simply grabbed Fluttershy by her wrist, pulled her close to him, and started twirling her. She spun around him several times before he finally dipped her, leaving her breathless.

“I can also do the Hop, the Jump, the Twist, the Hustle, the Monkey, the Jerk, the Dog and the Disco Duck,” Spike said. “And I won’t be the only guy in this competition; I’m going to take Cheese, Soarin and Zeph here under my wing. The more teams we have competing, the greater our chances of winning.”

“So, what do you say, girls?” Starlight asked them. “Please?”

They slowly agreed, one by one.

“Fine, we’ll do it,” Rarity replied.

“Good. I’ll cover for you so you can start training,” Coco said.

“Wait a minute! If Coco’s going to fill in for Rarity, who’s gonna cover for me?” Rainbow Dash inquired.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got it covered,” Starlight replied.

“You’re gonna clean rooms?” Dash asked. “This just keeps getting better and better!”

As Twilight finished her afternoon shift in the casino, she thought back to when she and Rarity were in the staff locker room an hour ago. Spike had walked past her outside the changing stalls like she didn’t even exist.

“Twilight, darling, you can do so much better than Spike,” Rarity had said. “Move on! And besides, why do you care if he notices you? You’re pretty, you work at an exclusive casino-hotel and you’re a friend of mine. You can date anyone you want!”

“I know, but the one I want is Spike,” Twilight replied.

“Well, here’s a little advice: the fastest way to get a man’s attention is to make him jealous,”

Twilight was willing to give it a try, but she didn’t know to begin. That’s when she heard a commotion coming from one of the poker tables across the casino. She saw a battered young man in his late twenties, maybe early thirties, who had been on the wrong end of too many boxing gloves. He was tall—over six-five—with vivid orange hair and an athletic frame. His face was narrow and his eyes a little too close together.

He barely looked at his cards as the deal continued. He threw out his bets haphazardly, carrying on conversations with the other players while they tried to focus on their hands. Pretty soon the others dropped out until it dwindled down to him and one other player, who was also drawing into a full house.

Instead of folding, the guy pushed a large stack of chips into the center of the table. He smiled at the other player, daring him to match the bet, the very same way Spike had smiled at her that night when they played poker. His confidence was unnerving; Twilight could see the other player weakening with each passing second. Finally, he folded, unwilling to take the chance that his last card would give him the full house. The guy swooped up his winnings and began to stack them in neat little towers.

“That was pretty impressive,” she said.

“What that? It’s just pocket change,” he replied.

“I’m Twilight,” she introduced herself, “Twilight Sparkle.”

“Call me Garble,”

Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Soarin, Zephyr Breeze, Cheese Sandwich and Twilight assembled in the ballroom the next morning. They were about to start warming up when Discord burst through the double doors with Applejack right behind him.

“There had better be a really good explanation for why you’re not all at work!” he growled.

“They have to skip work so we can win the staff ballroom dance contest,” Spike explained.

“Let me think about that,” Discord said. “Hmm... No!”

“If we win, you’ll be the Brothers’ hero,” Spike said.

“Think of it as career advancement,” Rarity added.

Discord thought it over for another moment, and said, “Fine. But only on one condition: I want in!”

“You want to dance?” Spike asked.

“Yes. And my doctor suggested I get some exercise,” Discord added. “So, you got a partner for me?”

“I have just the woman,” Spike told him. “Twilight!”

“Why can’t I be your partner?” she asked.

“‘Cause he just said you’re with me, baby!” Discord answered. “And we are gonna dance till we’re blue in the face!”

And he swept Twilight into his arms, which wasn’t too difficult since he stood a whole foot taller than her.

“Next time, I’ll take out my lifts, you wear heels,” Discord said.

“I already am,” Twilight replied.

“All right, everyone else pair up,” Spike said.

“Cheese’s my partner!” Pinkie exclaimed.

So, Pinkie paired off with Cheese Sandwich, while Soarin paired off with Rainbow Dash and Spike took Rarity, leaving Fluttershy to dance with her brother, Zephyr Breeze.

“We have only five days to train, and we are not coming home without the trophy,” Spike told them. “So, let’s warm up with some basic Trust Exercises. Now, I wouldn’t blame any of you if you didn’t trust your partners at all; but if you can’t trust them to catch you when you’re falling, then this isn’t going to work.”

The trust fall—the tried and true mothod in which one person fell, relying on another person to catch them. This was necessary for the couples if they were going to dance together. The more they trusted one another, the stronger and more productive they would be. It was that simple. The men caught the women, no problem; but the women catching the men required a bit more effort.

“All right, now I want to go over what dance each couple will be doing,” Spike said. “Dash, Soarin, I would like you two to Samba. Twilight, Discord, I think you two should do the waltz. Pinkie and Cheese Sandwich are going to do a hip-hop dance, Zephyr’s dancing ballet with Fluttershy, and Rarity, you and I are doing the tango. You and your partner must move as one,” he said as he pulled a tabloid out of his back pocket and held it between Discord and Twilight. “You must hold her so closely that this magazine can not fall.”

“You got a thinner magazine?” Discord asked.

“This is creepy,” Zephyr thought as he danced with his sister. “But I can deal with it.”

“Follow my lead,” he told Fluttershy. “Not too close. Keep your arms locked. And loosen your elbows. Don’t look at your feet!”

“I told you -- wait until I’m ready!” Rainbow Dash shouted at Soarin.

“It’s not my fault you’re slow!” Soarin replied.

“I am not slow!” Dash stated.

“Okay,” Spike said, stepping between them, “the biggest mistake you two are making right now is you’re going for the big moves first. You’re not going to do that. You are going to work our way up to the Level 9 lifts.”

“What about Level Ten?” Dash asked.

“Do not even joke about that!” Spike stated. “No one does Level Ten lifts, not even the pros! Got it?”

Rainbow Dash and Soarin nodded.

“To win, we just need to execute a perfect Level 9, unless one or both of you wants to end up in the hospital... or the morgue,” Spike said.

“No, we’re down with that,” Dash replied quickly.

“Level 9 sounds good,” Soarin agreed.

“Okay,” Spike told them. “Begin again.”

After Spike got everyone else set up, he finally approached Rarity.

“All right, stand up straight. Now, you’re going to put one hand here,” he said, holding out his left hand. “And the other hand on my shoulder.”

“You mean touch you?” she asked.

Spike nodded. “And you’re going to lock your thumb under my armpit.”

“There’s not enough money in the world,”

“It’s called the tango. That’s how it’s done. We need to lock elbows,”

“I’m not locking any of my body parts with yours, elbows or otherwise,”

“Come on. You can do this,”

“I know. I just don’t want to,” she said. “All right, one hand here?”

“Mm-hmm,” he replied.

“And my thumb there,”

“That’s right. And the man, me, I put my hand here,” he said, placing it behind her shoulder. “Don’t laugh.”

“Well, don’t tickle me,” she replied.

“I’m not tickling you,”

“I’m ticklish there,”

“You’re ticklish in your upper back?”

“I’m ticklish in a lot of places I’m not telling you about,”

“All right, you’re going to feel pressure on your hand and you’re going to go against that,” Spike told her. “It’s like magnets pushing away from each other.”

“Oh, so dancing with you is based on repulsion,” Rarity said. “I am gonna be awesome at this.”

“You’re cute, you know that?” he asked sarcastically. “Ready?”

“Mm-hmm,” she nodded.

“I’m gonna move, and you’re gonna follow me,” he instructed.

They started moving, forward and back, and she mirrored him perfectly.

“How’d that feel?” he asked.

“Good. Really good,” Rarity admitted. “I mean, in a dancing sort of way.”

“See, the tango is about passion,” Spike told her as they continued to dance. “The man leads, and the woman follows, until the two become...” He dipped her. “...one.”

Rarity blinked in an attempt to free herself of Spike’s mesmerizing gaze.

“Okay, I think I need a drink,” she said.

“Yeah, me too,” he replied, pulling her to her feet.

“That was kind of--”

“I understand,”

Just then, Starlight burst in.

“Spike, amazing news!” she cried. “The Resort has been selected to host the competition this year! And it’s going to be televised live!”

The gang could not believe it; Spike was grinning from ear to ear.

“You all heard the lady!” he shouted. “Let’s dance!”

The rest of the day went smoothly... even for the Flimflam Brothers, who had found their newest “show” to watch on the security monitors.

“You know, brother of mine, I really think these kids have a chance of winning,” Flim said.

Flam agreed.

“Good job, everyone,” Spike said after they were done. “Keep practicing, and remember to hold your frame.”

Soarin and Zephyr Breeze rode the elevator up to the staff quarters while Twilight walked with Rainbow Dash to the garden out back.

“That was fun!” Soarin said. “Don’t Dash and I make a great team?”

“Oh, yes!” Zephyr Breeze said sarcastically. “Switch partners with me.”

“What? Why?”

“You can’t lead Rainbow Dash. She’s pushing you around like a mop!”

“And what’s wrong with Fluttershy?”

“Besides the fact that she’s my sister, she’s got noodle arms. It’s like dancing with spaghetti. I’ll never win with her,”

“Then why should I take her?”

“‘Cause you’ll never win with anyone,” Zephyr said.

“That is insulting!” Soarin replied. “And also true...”

“Look, if you won’t do it for me, do it for Spike and Starlight,”

“Fine, I’ll switch,”

“Thanks,”

Meanwhile, in the courtyard garden...

“Rainbow Dash, I’m in trouble,” Twilight said. “I can’t dance.”

“If you can’t dance, then why’d you agree to be in the contest?” Dash asked.

“Because if Rarity enters with Spike, they’re going to win!” she replied. “That means their names are going to be on the trophy... together. Touching...”

“So?”

“So, I’ve got to stop them! I can’t allow them to name-neck!”

A part of Rainbow Dash told herself that she was going to regret doing this, but she agreed to help Twilight with some basic dance techniques. Dash reached into her pocket, pulled out a little silver bell, and proceeded to tie it to a low branch on one of the trees.

“Who carries a bell around?” Twilight thought.

“Jump and ring the bell,” Dash told her.

“Why?”

“Just do it,”

Twilight did so.

“Again,” Dash said.

Twilight jumped again and Dash shook her head.

“Twilight, you have the energy of a bullet, but you lack precision and finesse,” she said. “You have little to no sense of rhythm. You are without balance, grace and charm. And you have the lightness of a depressed elephant.”

Dash picked up a watering can left behind by one of the gardeners and dumped out the contents, creating a big puddle beneath the branch.

“Now jump up, ring the bell, land, and do not splash the water,” she said.

“That’s impossible,” Twilight replied.

“I thought you wanted to learn how to dance,”

So, Twilight did as she was told. And she continued to practice until she could barely stand.

The next day started off well enough, with the pairs working on their routines for the contest while Applejack, Sunset and the Dazzlings watched.

“You’re really a lovely dancer, Twilight,” Discord complimented her.

“Thank you,” she replied indifferently. “Now, would you scrunch down a little, please?”

“Why don’t you scrunch up?” he asked.

Twilight growled in reply.

“Right, sorry,” He twirled Twilight, and when she came back around she sneezed into his chest. “Oh, gross!”

“Sorry,” she wheezed.

“I can’t afford to get sick before this competition!” he shouted. “I’m the one who has to carry this team.”

Across the room, Rainbow Dash and Zephyr Breeze were fighting each other at (literally) every turn while Soarin was having trouble trying to boost Fluttershy’s confidence.

“Dash, you’re leading again!” Zephyr grunted.

“I’m leading because you’re hesitating,” she replied.

“I’m hesitating because you keep criticizing me,” he countered.

“I’m criticizing you because you’re not doing it right!” she shouted.

“I’m not doing it right because you’re yelling at me!”

“You’re yelling!”

“Fluttershy, you need to hold your arms up,” Soarin said gently.

“I’m sorry, Soarin really I am,” she apologized for the twentieth time.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “One more time, ready, and... One...”

While this was happening, Spike was pacing the floor, waiting for Rarity to show up. When she finally did, the first thing she told him was, “All right, I’ve got half an hour.”

“Half an hour?” he asked. “You didn’t get the schedule? I said we need six to seven hours a day minimum for the rest of the week.”

“Yeah, now 29 minutes,” she said to him.

Instead of arguing further, Spike immediately placed his arms around Rarity and they went right into their routine: lunge, flick, flick, lunge, flick, flick, out, up, around, spin, and drop.

“How low can I go?” Rarity asked.

Spike pulled Rarity to her feet and said, “What the Tartarus was that?”

“Look, if we’re going to be on TV, I need to show all of my strengths,” she replied. “I may not be the best at precision, but I am the best at pizzazz.”

“That’s not what we’re doing here! Now, let’s do it again,”

But before they could start again, Vinyl started playing Samba music.

“Our turn,” Rainbow Dash said.

“We are not done!” Rarity snapped at her.

“Well, Zeph and I need to practice our Samba,” Dash replied.

“No, Spike and I need to practice, since we’re the only ones with a chance of winning!” Rarity shouted.

“I beg to differ,” Twilight butted in. “I think Discord and I stand a pretty good chance.”

“Would you all stop?” Spike shouted.

“You know what? This isn’t even about dancing anymore,” Twilight said. “It’s about control.”

“What?” Spike asked her.

“Look, you put up with a lot,” Twilight told him, “and the one time you’re put in a position where you actually know something, you just want to run the whole thing.”

“Or maybe it’s about someone who likes to call the shots at everything, including the exact color of stripes in their toothpaste!” Spike replied. “And now you’re involved in a situation where someone else knows more about it than you do! You’re a control freak!”

“HEY!!” a new voice joined in.

They all turned to face the ballroom doors. It was Starlight Glimmer. She was flanked by two familiar individuals—Garble and Suri Polomare—and she did not look happy.

“I did not slave over the entire twelfth floor all morning so that you could spend it bickering!” she shouted. “Please tell me you at least learned a few lifts.”

“Well, duh,” Zeph replied. “Come on -- let’s show her number seven,” he said to Dash.

The group watched Zephyr as he placed his hands on Rainbow Dash’s waist and launched her into the air. When she came back down, her foot landed right on his crotch, causing him to fall onto his back and drop her. Dash quickly got to her feet as Zephyr Breeze held his damaged area with both hands.

“Seriously, you have no idea how much this hurts,” he groaned.

“Oh, suck it up,” Dash told him. “You’re such a wimp.”

“You wanna see a grown man really cry?” Garble asked Starlight.

She gave him a confused look.

“Hey, Drake!” he called out. “You don’t get rich if you don’t take risks!”

Spike, who had his back to Garble, froze. He was hoping, praying that he was wrong. And that he wouldn’t have to see that face, or hear that phrase, again. Then he slowly straightened before turning around to face him.

“Well look what the wind blew in,” he said.

“What, that’s it? No tearful greeting?” Garble chuckled.

“Dragons’ Law: never show surprise, never lose your cool,” Spike replied.

“I can’t believe they actually hired you here,” Garble added.

“Spike, this is your competition from Rich Casino and Resort,” Starlight said. “Our former coworker, Suri Polomare and--”

“Garble Chan,” Spike growled.

Twilight’s mouth fell open for a second.

“You two know each other?” she asked.

“Oh, we go way back,” Garble stated.

“All the way to the first time I kicked your tail at Lava Surfing Sectionals,” Spike said, smiling for the first time since Garble entered the ballroom. “It’s nice to see that some things never change. Are you still dying your hair and shaving with a Brillo pad?”

“Two years we haven’t seen each other and we just flow into the old act,” Garble commented. “I taught this ungrateful punk everything he knows.”

“I doubt that,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Don’t waste your loyalty on him,” Garble warned her. “He’ll dump you after Hearts and Hooves Day.”

“What the Tartarus are you doing here?” Spike asked him.

“This kid used to be the best, second only to me,” Garble said, ignoring the question. “It’s his downfall.”

“I don’t see how being good at something can be your downfall,” Rainbow Dash replied.

“I grant you, it’s not an easy concept to grasp,” Garble said. “Now take our hero, here. I haven’t seen him for a while and I’ve never been in this place before, but I will bet my bottom dollar that he’s got some kind of success manual in his back pocket. You see, Spike’s a believer. Always has been, always will be. He doesn’t realize the doors are shut to people like us.”

“Well, maybe he wants to open those doors,” said Applejack.

“Then he has to steal the keys, sweetheart,” Garble replied.

“Something even you have been unable to do,” Spike countered.

“There are two types of people in this world: workers and hustlers,” Garble said. “The hustlers never work and the workers never hustle. And you, my old friend, are a worker. Faust knows, I tried to beat that instinct out of him, but it’s in his blood. Is he or isn’t he a great teacher?” he asked the room full of people.

“The best,” Fluttershy replied.

“See? They love you,”

Spike briefly averted his eyes and smiled tightly.

“So, you traded in your surfboard for a pair of dance shoes?” he asked his rival. “Ladies, get ready for Cirque de So Lame!”

“Oh, really?” Garble retorted. “Is this lame?”

Garble grabbed Suri around the waist and hoisted her over his head. Then he held her, one-handed, under her thigh, while she stretched out both of her arms and stuck one leg out behind her while she tucked her other leg underneath her.

“Wow -- the One-Arm Falcon,” Dash breathed.

It was a tandem surfers’ move, not a dance move, but it was still impressive.

“Whatever,” Spike scoffed. “I warm up with the One-Arm Falcon.”

“You what?!” Dash, Rarity, Twilight and Starlight asked.

“You do?” asked Sunset, Fluttershy, Pinkie and Applejack.

“Spike, that’s a Level Three lift. Rarity’s not ready for moves like that,” Dash said. “I’m not ready for that.”

“I’m gonna take you down like last year’s Hearth’s Warming Tree,” Garble told Spike after he let Suri down.

“We’ll see about that, Mr. Lucky-To-Get-An-Erection-On-His-Birthday-If-The-Wind-Is-Just-Right,” Spike stated.

“Are you looking to start something here, bro?” Garble asked, getting all up in Spike’s face.

“He’s not your bro!” Dash snapped. “I got your back, dude,” she told Spike.

“Who’s got yours, Rainbow Hair?” Garble asked.

“Who you calling ‘Rainbow Hair’, Chicken Legs?” Dash quickly countered.

Spike and Garble grinded their teeth together as they glared into each other’s eyes, both trying to get the other to back down. It wasn’t until Spike clenched his fists (cracking his knuckles as he did so), and Garble punched his fist into his open palm, that Twilight finally stepped in.

“Whoa! Guys come on!” she said as she moved between Spike and Garble.

“Just get out,” Spike growled at Garble.

“Fine,” Garble replied. “But remember, it takes two to tango. Feel free to send that trophy over early, if you want. Later!”

He and Suri turned and walked out of the ballroom, and Garble smacked Suri hard on the ass, earning an audible yelp from her.

Spike let out a heavy sigh before facing his students.

“Well, don’t just stand around!” he shouted. “Keep practicing!”

A minute hadn’t even gone by when everyone started coming apart.

“Ow! You stepped on me again!” Dash hissed at Zephyr.

“I stepped on you because your foot’s not supposed to be there!” Zeph gritted through his teeth, trying hard not to yell.

“That’s where you led me!”

“It’d be easier to lead a donkey!”

“Don’t talk to her that way!” Fluttershy exclaimed.

“Oh, and I suppose it’s my fault that she pushes me around like a bulldozer!” Zeph added.

Everyone stopped and gasped. Then Rainbow Dash marched out of the ballroom with Fluttershy right behind her.

“Wait, girls, he didn’t mean that!” Soarin said.

He shot a hateful glare at Zephyr before following them. Cheese Sandwich, Pinkie and Rarity followed suit, and Twilight followed them.

Pinkie was trying extra hard to leave Twilight behind when she asked, “Are you okay?”

“Twilight, as your first real friend, I feel I should tell you that was not cool what you did,” Pinkie stated.

“What do you--?” Twilight began.

“She means spending time with Garble,” Rarity cut her off. “When I suggested that you try to make Spike jealous, that is not what I meant!”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know Spike and Garble were rivals. I didn’t mean for them to almost come to blows. It won’t happen again,”

“That’s not the point, darling!” Rarity told her.

And she and Pinkie took off toward the elevator bank, passing Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash on their way.

“Way to go, Sparkle,” Dash said as she went after them.

Fluttershy was the only one left at Twilight’s side.

“I can’t spend the rest of the summer with everyone hating me!” she said. “I have to make this right!”

“What are you going to do?” Fluttershy asked.

“The only thing I can do,” Twilight replied. “Drop out of the contest.”

Back in the ballroom, Zephyr Breeze held his hands against his head as the Dazzlings were about to head to the Midnight Lounge. Never in all of his life had he felt more like a jerk. He was wishing that he hadn’t said what he said to Rainbow Dash, and if he the chance to take it back, he would.

“I have to find another partner,” he said.

“What you need to do is apologize,” Sunset replied.

“We would be happy to do it, but we’re ineligible,” Adagio said. “Plus I need both arms to dry my hair.”

“Coco can barely dance on her own,” Sonata added.

“And Sassy doesn’t dance at all,” Aria finished.

“For the love of Faust, are there literally no other female employees at this entire hotel who can dance?!” Zephyr shouted.

He eventually left, as did Sunset and the Dazzlings, leaving Spike alone with Vinyl Scratch.

Spike didn’t fall to his knees; it was more like a baseball catcher’s crouch he was in by the time everyone else had gone. Not only had Garble come back into his life, but Suri as well, and worse, they were both working for Impossibly Rich.

What Spike knew of the Rich Family was all fact; their wake was strewn with wreckage. Spike knew about every bombing, shotgun blast, dynamited car, and other loud incident that always seemed to claim the lives or good health of Impossibly Rich’s associates but never her. Impossibly Rich had been named in court as responsible for breaking up eight Applewood marriages. There were scores of other shattered romances, marriages, business partnerships, long-standing friendships, and other pleasant associations that were rumored to have been blown to bits by Impossibly Rich. She had a talent for bringing troubles with her wherever she went.

Now, looking back, it seemed to Spike that this served as both a sign for what he had been though (as well as what he had dragged his coworkers into) and a sign for things to come.

How else could he explain the things that had happened to him?

Things had not been done to him; he had done things.

“We have to make things happen,” is what he told Celestia.

And he was suffering the consequences of those things that he had done.

He orchestrated Suri getting fired, so she went to work for the competition; worse, it was Flim and Flam’s arch rival. And Spike knew from personal experience that almost all of Impossibly Rich’s employees were incredible dancers. It was simple cause and effect.

Vinyl walked around her turntables toward him. She wished she could tell Spike just how sorry she was that everyone had walked out like that. She wished she could offer some kind words. But all she could give him was a look and a kind-hearted smile as she took off her rose-tinted sunglasses to look at him.

She didn’t say anything, but Spike was starting to show the strain of it all. He was feeling it too, as he reached into his back pocket, brought out a small silver flask, uncapped the top, and took a generous swig from it.

“When the Tartarus did I start carrying this around?” Spike thought.

As much as Spike hated to admit it (to anyone, or himself), he had been an alcoholic. He was still an alcoholic, probably always would be. He had been an emotional alcoholic just as much as he had been a physical one. It had nothing to do with willpower, or the morality of drinking, or the weakness or strength of his character. There was a switch that was broken somewhere inside, or a breaker with a circuit that didn’t work.

Spike whirled around and almost screamed as he was broken from his thoughts by a voice.

“Spike!” it called to him.

It was Applejack.

“You’ll never guess what happened,” she said. “Cheese Sandwich threw up, so he and Pinkie can’t be in the competition... Are you okay?”

“I’ve decided I’m going for the Level 10 lift,” he said.

“Didn’t you say those were dangerous?” Applejack asked.

“I have to! It’s the only way to beat them!”

“Spike, I’m getting the feeling that this isn’t just about you wanting to beat Garble,” she told him. “What’s really going on?”

“Applejack, I don’t want to talk about it, okay?” he snapped.

“Wow. Some woman must have really done a number on you,” she said.

“Why does it always have to be a woman?” Spike replied.

“Well, it doesn’t. Your friend, Garble, couldn’t have done it to you,”

Spike glared at Applejack.

“Let me tell you something about me and Garble! We grew up together! I looked up to him like an older brother! As much as anyone, I loved him and trusted him. Until the day he made a move on the woman I was dating...”

Spike first met Garble nearly eighteen years ago, but when Spike was adopted, they rarely crossed paths. It was thirteen years later that they ran into each other, when they were working at the same college pub. Garble was too much the typical jock. A boxer and surfer at heart, he was a fierce athlete, but also lazy: content with C’s and the occasional B. He could be calm and cool, even in the classroom; but when the right set of competitive stimuli was applied, he could become a juggernaut. Take away all the scar tissue, the broken nose, the bulbous ears, the caveman bone structure, and one would still find a nasty face on Garble, tough and nasty. Spike was familiar with the type. His own athletic abilities would have opened other doors. Well, Spike caught Garble kissing the girl he (Spike) had been dating, and he confronted Garble.

“If anything I did you a favor,” Garble told him, “took her off your hands before she twisted your mind.”

Spike’s lip twitched as he gave Garble a final, furious glare. He punched Garble in the teeth and Garble fell to the floor, smashing bottles of liquor as he went down.

“Get up!” Spike shouted. “Get up!”

“Can’t take the truth, huh?”

“Bullshit! It was nothing but taking a cheap shot at me! Where I come from you don’t do that to your friends!”

Garble got up and held one of the broken bottles to Spike’s throat.

“Clearly, you forgot the rules. No brawling in here!” he growled. “That includes the help!”

“I don’t care. I don’t work here anymore,” Spike stated. “You wanna cut me, go ahead. Cut me! Come on!!”

Spike even leaned into the broken end of the bottle.

“Coward!” he spat at Garble.

Spike then scraped his own neck against the broken glass, drawing his own blood and earning a loud gasp from everyone in the bar. Then he headed for the exit while the stunned patrons watched.

“You’ll thank me for this one day,” Garble told Spike before he wiped his own blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.

“The Tartarus I will!” Spike yelled back at him.

Spike rubbed the scar on his neck as Vinyl and Applejack stood in silent disbelief.

“Garble always told me ‘you don’t get rich if you don’t take risks’,” he said mildly. “The last guy who fed him that line was a jeweler. He wanted Garble to short-circuit a burglar alarm so he could rob his own store. He got half a million dollars, and Garble got one to five. That snapped the last thread that was holding me up. After that, the only way I could keep myself sane was to keep my anger locked up. But today... right now, things are different. Suddenly, everything’s changed. The feelings I locked up are fighting to get back out. The anger he put in me, the loss, the rage, the frustration, the desire for revenge! This contest is my chance to make Garble suffer like I have... just for a moment.”

“That thing that happens with your eyes,” Applejack said. “When they go from white to red in a second...”

Spike nodded shamefully.

“Spike, I am so sorry,” she said.

Then Spike put the flask back in his pocket and asked Applejack, “Would you like to learn how to dance?”

“What?” she asked.

“I’m offering you my services, free of charge. What do you say?”

Now, Applejack was speechless. No one had ever asked her to dance before and Spike could see the reluctance in her eyes. She was afraid.

“May I have this dance?” he asked her.

She slowly nodded and he led her out onto the dance floor.

“You can do this,” he told her. “Left, right, left... turn and step. Look at me, not at your feet. Now put your hand on my shoulder.”

She did so, and he put his hand on the small of her back.

“Left, right, left, turn, eye contact in the turn, and step,” he continued. “One more time, left, right, left, turn, and step. You’re doing it.”

“I am?”

“You’re doing great!”

Applejack found herself smiling as Spike nodded to Vinyl and said, “I’ve got a Little Dirt on My Boots.”

Vinyl nodded back and dropped the needle as Spike and Applejack continued their dance. Applejack thought back to the days of her youth, working outdoors all day, as the sounds of the fiddle and the steel guitar washed over her. She had always wanted to go out and hang with her friends after a shower, but nobody ever asked her to dance.

They finished with one final left, right, left, turn, and instead of stepping, Spike dipped her. He brought Applejack back up, and when the song ended, her head came to rest on his chest. She could hear his heart beat. And as her head was resting on his chest, he slid his hand from her lower back and up to her shoulder.

“Perfect,” he whispered.

“I never thought you were this graceful,” she whispered. “You really are an amazing dancer.”

Spike smiled in reply.

“Any time you want a dance lesson, my door’s always open,” he said.

“I still can’t believe that you’re going to compete even after everything that’s happened this week,” she replied.

“I’m the only one left,” he told her. “I have to do this.”

“Well, see ya later, I guess,”

“You’re not even going to come to support me?” he asked.

“I’m sorry, Sugah, but a bunch of people trying to show each other up at a dance contest is not my idea of a good time,”

“That’s too bad,” he said. “It really won’t be the same without you.”

Applejack was about to walk out the doors when Spike called out to her. She turned back to face him and he said, “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell anybody what I just told you.”

“I promise,” she said.

“Thanks,” he smiled again. “And for the record, you were good.”

The night before the dance competition, Starlight found Zephyr and Soarin shooting hoops in the indoor basketball court.

“I can’t believe you guys!” Starlight shouted at them when she walked onto the court. “You just quit?”

“We didn’t quit. The ‘ladies’ let us go,” Zephyr replied. “We just don’t mesh: we’re sane and they’re nuts.”

“I was counting on you guys!”

“What are we supposed to do?” Zeph demanded. “Huh?!”

“I don’t know, act like adults and apologize? Be men?”

“Why do men always have to be the bigger person?” he asked.

“You say you’re sorry and they’ll jump at it. And you will have scored major points for taking the high road,” Starlight said. “And if you don’t, there’s only one other option...”

She whispered it to them.

“Two dudes?!” Soarin shouted.

“Yeah, I’m not doing that,” Zephyr stated.

“Come on, guys, I don’t see the big deal,” Starlight said.

“I am not dancing with another dude!” Zephyr Breeze said. “We’d have to touch each other!”

“And, besides, it’s not even legal,” Soarin went on. “Is it?”

“I have read the competition’s rule book from cover to cover, and there’s nothing in it that says that the pair has to be a guy and a girl -- just two dancers,”

“But we’re two dudes!” Zephyr shouted.

“And it’s just one little contest,” she replied.

“But he’s a dude!” Soarin repeated.

“Fine, don’t dance together! Let me down, let the bosses down, let us all down!” she told them.

“And even if we did, one of us would have to be the girl!” Soarin said.

“We’re two bros,” Zeph said. “I thought we just established that.”

“I mean, one of us would have to lead, and lift, the other -- the girl,” Soarin explained. “And I’m definitely the dude.”

“Why are you the dude?” Zeph asked him.

“You could never sustain my bulk on those girly shoulders of yours,”

“My hair is much more masculine,”

“Says who?”

Soarin and Zephyr’s argument went on and on and Starlight left them to duke it out. Meanwhile, up on the third floor, Spike knocked on Rarity’s door and she let him in.

“Yes?” she asked.

“I just wanted to say I may have let my high standards get in the way,” he said, “so I’m sorry and I’m willing to be your dance partner again.”

“Well, I appreciate you trying to apologize, and I may have gone a little far myself,” she admitted. “But when you left, I got a new dance partner.”

“It’s only been three days!”

“Yes, well, I called in a few favors and I got lucky. I got David Hasselhoof! Turns out, he’s in Las Pegasus and he can come over and dance with me at the competition tomorrow,”

“I see,” Spike said as he turned to leave. “Question: did he win that year he was on Dance, Equestria Dance? No, I don’t think he did.”

The night of the dance competition finally arrived. Spike, wearing a black tuxedo, moved through the crowd, trying to reach the dressing room just off the ballroom. Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to do his hair so it was a mess.

He saw the Dazzlings, in bright purple dresses with shiny sequins that reflected on the audience’s faces, on a platform that had been set up for them to sing from. Sunset Shimmer was with them. She wore a strapless, backless magenta evening dress slit up her right leg to the top of her thigh, with long, over the elbow purple silk gloves. And Vinyl Scratch, in a black skin tight bodysuit and white long coat stood behind her turntables. Spike also saw two trophies, a big gold one and a smaller silver one, resting on the judges’ table.

Then he spotted Impossibly Rich’s table, right next to Flim and Flam’s, on the edge of the dance floor. Five women in identical maroon uniforms stood near it. They looked like characters right out of a bad anime—a bad anime about girls at a prep school—a real charming bunch. Then he looked at the Rich Family themselves. They were just as he remembered them: people who needed everything on a grand scale to be comfortable; money, pleasure, notoriety and sex. Ever since Stinkin’ Rich starting selling Zap Apple Jam, he had left his mark on the business world; there were men and women, even large corporations, who had never been the same because they had become involved in a deal with the Richs.

Stinkin’ Rich’s grandson, Filthy Rich, was only the second most appealing-looking one of his whole family. The first thing Spike noticed about him was his skin. It was a deep tar-pit brown, like he had spent every day on the beach outside of Horseolulu. The blue suit he was wearing cost more than most men earned in two years; the red silk tie alone was worth no less than five thousand dollars. And his dark gray (almost black) hair was polished with some expensive goo that Spike could smell from the other side of the ballroom. Filthy’s wife, Spoiled Rich (née Spoiled Milk) was as unattractive as they came—with strong opal eyes, dark hair, pink skin, and the worst nose job Spike had ever seen—whereas their casino manager, Abacus Cinch, was (as kindly Spike could describe) a cougar.

Of the three Richs present, Impossibly Rich was the biggest in every respect. She was the tallest; she had the most magnificent body, and the biggest sexual appetite of the trio. Her son and daughter-in-law, Filthy and Spoiled, were not weak by comparison; but whenever Impossibly Rich was around, they disappeared into her shadow. With her long hair, a blue dress with a plunging neckline, a white fox stole, and a necklace with five 30 karat diamonds that dangled just above her big fake boobs, Impossibly Rich sure didn’t look like anybody’s grandmother.

“Grandma’s had some work done,” Spike thought as he looked her over.

A beautiful lady, Spike begrudgingly admitted, even Impossibly Rich’s worst enemy (and there was a great rivalry among the women of Applewood to prove their right to that title) had to admit that she was beautiful.

She stared at Spike like he was a small boy and she was the lady of the house whose window he had broken. And Spike glared back at her like the person he knew she was: the kind of woman who looked down on everyone else like they were something unpleasant she’d accidently stepped on in a dark alley.

In the dressing room, the Flimflam Resort’s former teams/competitors stood on opposite sides, as far from each other as possible. Soarin wore a blue blazer with silver buttons, whereas Zephyr Breeze had thrown together a polo shirt and khakis. Soarin’s right arm was in a sling and Zephyr was also wearing shades—their argument the night before had escalated into a fistfight—because Zeph had dislocated Soarin’s shoulder right after Soarin socked Zeph in the eyes.

Applejack wore a strapless emerald green dress with open-toed white heels and her blonde hair was done up away from her face. Discord wore a blue suit with a red tie (a cheap knockoff version of Filthy Rich’s suit), Rainbow Dash wore a light blue toga-like gown, Fluttershy wore a strapless yellow ball gown with a big skirt and petticoats, Starlight wore a simple, form-fitting purple dress, and Pinkie (in pink) was adding more feathers to Rarity’s ensemble.

“Ow!” Rarity cried. “You stabbed me in the back with your fingernails!”

“Well, now you know how Spike feels...” Pinkie remarked, “to be stabbed in the back... to be betrayed... by someone he trusted!”

“Look, I feel bad, okay? But I got David Hasselhoof!”

Coco Pommel ran in, shouting, “We don’t have David Hasselhoof!”

“What?!” Rarity screamed.

“Keep calm,” Coco said. “Mister Hasselhoof is stuck in traffic and is somewhat delayed. And by ‘somewhat’ I mean a flat tire. But he swears he’ll be here in time.”

“What if he’s not?” Rarity asked.

“He will be here!” Coco replied.

“But what if he’s not?!” Rarity repeated.

“Everything’s going to be okay,” Coco said. “If Hasselhoof doesn’t show, we’ve got Discord standing by. And please stop worrying. You’re molting!”

Twilight, in a purple dress and dark sunglasses, walked in a minute later.

“Sorry I’m late,” she said, all stuffed up.

“Twilight, what’s wrong with your voice?” Starlight asked.

“What do you mean?” she asked, trying to play dumb.

“You’re sick!” Discord stated while pointing a finger at her.

“No, I’m not,” she said with a cough. “Okay, you got me.”

Discord couldn’t believe his own rotten luck. Twilight was sick and now even he didn’t have a partner.

Spike walked in literally one second later.

“Nice outfit, Mrs. Peacock,” he said at Rarity.

“Spike, I’m so glad you’re here!” she said. “Look, I’m sorry. You’re a really great dancer. And I need your help--”

“I’m fine,” he cut her off. “You traded up. I would’ve done the same thing... if I was you.”

“Spike, wait!” Rarity cried. “I’m sorry for what I said. You were right. Twilight is a control freak. She was bothered by what you said, we all were, and we were bothered that you know so much more about this than we do, but you were just trying to help.”

Twilight sneezed so loud that Rarity (forgetting that Soarin’s arm was in a sling) jumped into Soarin’s arms and she hit the floor.

“Rarity!” Coco screamed. “Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m all right,” she said, standing up. “Never better... Oh! Oh, I could be better!” she cried.

“Sit down, sit down!” Dash told her. “Oh, that knee’s starting to swell up.”

“This is disaster!” Starlight shouted. “The Brothers are counting on us, and now our best dancer doesn’t have a partner!”

“Twilight’s sick, Soarin’s in a sling, Zephyr Breeze is blind, and Rarity may have broken bones!” Discord exclaimed. “What are we going to do now?”

“Oh, Spike’s going to dance tonight!” Rarity stated. “And he’s going to dance with Applejack.”

“Wait, what?” Applejack and Spike asked.

“We’re doomed,” Discord said.

“You know the steps, don’t you?” Rarity asked Spike.

“Know? I live them!” he answered.

“And you’ve been dancing with him on the side,” Rarity told Applejack. “Don’t deny it!”

“I’m not dancing!” Applejack stated.

“We have a chance to make history here,” Starlight told her. “Come on. Take one for the team... for me.”

“No,” AJ avowed.

“Come on! With your elbow grease and Spike’s know how, you make the perfect team!”

“No,” she repeated.

“Applejack, you have to do it,” Starlight said. “We need to win this contest. I’ll do whatever you want!”

“No!” she said again.

“Then do this for me,” Spike said.

“Please?” Starlight begged. “There is literally no one else. Please, please, pretty please? Please, please, please? Please?!”

“All right, all right, I’ll do it!” Applejack replied. “But only once, and I won’t enjoy it!”

“Thank you!” Starlight shrieked. “You are the best!”

“And,” Spike added, “if we win, and you get back into your father’s penthouse, you have to let Applejack and I come up and use his 102-inch TV anytime we want.”

“Deal,” she said.

“With popcorn,” Spike added. “And pizza and pop and a nice meat and cheese platter.”

“Anything else?” Starlight asked.

“Yes,” Applejack said. “Spike and I get to be together.”

“You got it,”

“Just with each other,” AJ elaborated, “which means ‘alone’, as in ‘nobody bothers us.’”

“Yes, yes, we all promise to not spy on you and Spike if you decide to make out on my father’s couch,” Starlight said.

“Not what I was going for, but okay,” Applejack replied.

“All right, fine,” Spike added.

“Yes! Now get out there and kick some Impossibly Rich butt!” Starlight declared. “I’m going to tell Sassy that there’s been a slight change.”

And she darted off.

Discord pulled Spike and Applejack aside.

“I don’t care what you two have to do,” he told them, “but you better come off that dance floor winners or don’t come back at all. Got it? Win this contest!!”

Applejack didn’t feel even close to okay. She was supposed to dance in front of over a hundred people, and Faust knew how many more watching on TV.

“No pressure,” she thought.

Spike held her hand and gave her a reassuring smile.

“We can do this,” he told her. “Just pretend you’re dancing like we did before -- no crowds, no competition, just you and me.”

“I don’t usually dance with a guy’s hand on my butt,” she shared with him, “but okay. Let’s decimate this dance floor.”

The lights in the ballroom dimmed as Spike and Applejack stood next to Garble and Suri while Sassy Saddles spoke into the microphone. Garble was wearing a tight red shirt with a plunging neckline, even tighter black pants, a black cape, and a mask that covered half his face; Suri wore a maroon dress, symbolizing her newfound loyalty to Impossibly Rich, and sensible blue heels.

“Welcome to the Annual Staff Ballroom Dancing Competition between Impossibly Rich’s and Flimflam Brothers’ Resort!” Sassy announced. “The contest consists of a single round with a total score out of thirty.”

“That is one hot blonde,” Flim said.

“I think that’s Applejack,” said Flam.

“That’s Applejack?” Flim echoed.

“Hope you brought your silver polish,” Spike said to Garble.

“Your head of security dancing with a neophyte... What kind of operation are you running?” Impossibly Rich asked the Brothers.

“One that’s going to stomp you into the ground, Rich,” Discord answered. “Stomp them into the ground!” he told Spike and Applejack.

“First up -- for the Impossibly Rich Casino and Resort: Suri Polomare and Garble Chan!” Sassy shouted.

Applejack squeezed Spike’s hand again as Garble and Suri made their way out on to the dance floor. They started nose to nose. Then they started executing perfect steps. About a minute into the dance he accidently tripped Suri forcing her to do the splits. Garble grabbed her hands when she held her arms over her head, and he pulled her to her feet. Then when he dipped her, she kicked him in the jaw.

The judges, three women wearing stern expressions (including Miss Harshwhinny, the head of the Flimflam Brothers’ Human Resources department, and judge number three), wrote notes as they viewed the performance. After three minutes had gone by, Suri kicked Garble square in the nuts, forcing him to his knees (for a brief moment), and they finished with her wrapping one of her legs around his back.

The judges displayed their scores: an eight, a seven, and a nine from Miss Harshwhinny. That was going to be tough to beat.

“And now, ladies and gentlemen -- dancing for the Flimflam Brothers’ Casino Resort: Spike Drake and Applejack Smith,” Sassy said.

Applejack could feel Spike’s body heat radiating through his tuxedo as he led her out on to the dance floor.

“Do you trust me?” he whispered to her.

“With my life,” she replied.

“Then just follow my lead,”

Applejack nestled closer to Spike, and he felt her soft breasts press through her dress, into his chest.

“This may have been a big mistake,” Soarin said.

“Oh, just tell me when it’s over!” Discord bawled as he buried his face into his hands.

The Dazzlings nodded to Sunset as she placed a hand on the microphone.

“G Minor,” she told Vinyl. “Give me a G Minor.”

Vinyl nodded as she chose a record from her collection and Sunset began to sing, “Holding Out For A Hero.”

When Spike spun Applejack around, the women in the audience glanced down and saw that Spike was pitching a more than noticeable tent, but he didn’t care. Applejack’s face ran hot as Spike moved his hands to her legs and hoisted her off the ground, balancing her so that her back was pressed against his chest. Then he gently set her back down again.

“Oh, my--!” Pinkie gasped from the crowd. “They’re amazing!”

“How is he lifting her?” Starlight thought. “Her legs alone must weigh at least--”

“Did she just touch his ass?!” Twilight asked.

“Wow! They are really good!” Dash stated.

“Yeah, if you wanna dance that way,” Zephyr commented (even though he couldn’t see).

“I would love to dance that way!” Fluttershy told them.

After about one minute, the Dazzlings started crooning in time with Sunset’s words. Meanwhile, out on the dance floor, Spike and Applejack were continuing their conversation.

“Spike, this is a side of you I’ve never seen before,” she whispered.

“There’s a lot about me that no one knows,” he whispered back. “And this may sound pathetic, but you’re my first real dance.”

“What? But all your dance lessons, all those times you taught--”

“Are just that,” he said. “I’ve never had anyone to dance with before... Not like this.”

“I’m your first?” she asked.

Spike flushed a bit as he led her into a spin before he grabbed a rose from a nearby vase and he held it between his teeth. As Spike and Applejack danced, she felt safe in his arms. Like he wanted her to know there was no reason to be afraid. They shared smiles as they continued to move together. Spike twirled the rose between his teeth before letting it fall to the floor as he dipped her. Applejack picked up the rose and held it between her teeth, and Spike lifted her to her feet again. The rose exchanged lips several times for the next minute before Spike finally threw it over the crowd and Fleur picked it out of the air, held it under her nose, and sniffed it.

Spike dipped Applejack one last time as Sunset’s song finished, and the ballroom went quiet. There were five seconds of uncomfortable silence. Then everyone applauded at their performance, everyone except Twilight Sparkle.

“That should have been my song!” she cursed under her breath. “The masses should be cheering for me!”

“Spike Drake and Applejack Smith!” Sassy Saddles cheered. “Now if the judges have regained their collective composure, let’s see what they have to say. That’s a nine! And a nine,” Miss Harshwhinny grabbed the second judge’s ten card and held it up with her own. “And a ten... No! A thousand and ten! That’s the highest score in the history of dance!”

Spike and Applejack embraced as the audience cheered, Discord hugged the Flimflam Brothers, and Miss Harswhinny handed Spike the gold trophy. A girl from the crowd ran up to Spike with a camera, he winked at her and she fainted.

“Spike, Applejack, I have never seen moves like that!” Rainbow Dash squealed. “That was so awesome!!”

“We did it!” Starlight exclaimed. “We won!”

“You really pulled it off!” Firelight told his daugther. “And you even took over a housekeeping job in addition to your waitress duties to get it done!”

“So, do you I think I’m ready to--” Starlight began.

“No,” he cut her off.

Starlight hung her head. So close.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t catch you, Rarity,” Soarin apologized. “As soon as you have the use of both legs again, I promise I’m gonna take you out for dinner.”

Applejack looked at Spike and asked, “You okay?”

“I’m getting better,” he smiled. And he was getting better. “Thank you.”

They shared another faint smile as Spike turned toward the ballroom doors and left, trying to outrun the crowd.

Spike returned to his suite and immediately locked the door behind him. He had just finished taking off his tuxedo when he heard a knock at the door. It was a soft knock, but it was a knock nonetheless. He walked to the door, looked through the peephole and saw Fleur in a pink bathrobe standing out in the hall. He unlocked and opened the door.

He meant to say something, but any and all words died on his lips as he saw the passion blazing in her eyes. She all but forced her way in and her hot kisses were covering his mouth, cheeks and forehead. She pulled back to shut the door. Then she grabbed the back of Spike’s head before kissing him again, forcing him to walk back towards his bedroom. Spike was hard in an instant and Fleur felt him brush against her hip.

“Ooh la la,” she murmured. She gingerly bit his ear before adding, “Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?”

Fleur didn’t give Spike a chance to respond as she pulled the top of her robe open just above the tie, so that her breasts were encircled by the fabric on both sides. She untied her robe and it dropped to the floor. Then she pulled the knotted string in her nightgown and it fell to her ankles. Spike almost passed out from the shock and candor of her ease of undress. She wore high-cut, virgin white panties with three little fleur de lis (one gold, two violet) patterned on the front, and when Spike tried to reach for them, Fleur grabbed his hand and brought it to her mouth. She drew one of his fingers into her mouth, then a second, and then she plunged her mouth down and sucked hard at them up to his knuckles.

“Mon Cher...” she breathed as she put a hand on Spike’s shoulder.

Then she forced him to sit on the edge of his bed. She knelt between his legs, forcing his knees apart. She tugged his black briefs down and his cock stood straight up.

“Oh!” she exclaimed. “Vous n’êtes pas une petite Crêpes Suzette. Vous êtes un roi!”

Fleur drooled as she gently wrapped one hand around the base, then her other hand around the shaft, on top of the first. The head was still visible, and she bit her lip. She kissed the tip, and then took it into her mouth.

“Shhhh,” she said, briefly looking up, and then returning with gusto to the task at hand.

She removed her top hand and took him so deeply that her lips kissed the top of the hand at the base of Spike’s throbbing erection. Then she started pumping, taking more and more into her mouth, deeper and more lustfully, until she gasped, finally coming up for air. Then, seeing the expression on Spike’s face, she cooed, realizing he was close.

She licked his entire cock before gently climbing atop him. She pushed down on his chest, forcing him onto his back. Unfortunately, this caused her to slip off his lap and onto the carpet.

“You know what they say,” she said huskily. “Once you are thrown by the horse, you must get right back on and ride!”

She slipped off her panties and straddled Spike again, and his back arched as he balled the sheets into great fistfuls with his hands.

“Giddy-up, my little pony of love!” she screamed.

When Fleur had finally worked herself into a rhythm, Spike snaked his hands around her body and he slipped a finger up her derrière. And when he did so, she squeezed hard around his cock and she completely lost control. He shot grand hot bursts into her and she took every last drop as he rotated his finger around inside her and held her steady with his other hand. When she finished convulsing, she fell forward onto Spike’s chest with his cock still deep inside her.

“C’était fantastique,” she breathed.

Meanwhile, a trio of college girls stood before the Flimflam Brothers, in their office, ready to unveil their latest piece of technology.

“You mean it?” Flim asked.

“It’s ready after all this time?” Flam added.

The three coeds nodded as they stepped aside and showed the Brothers their creation.

“The ship is finally leaving port and it’s your time to shine... Sweetie Bot!”

Author's Note

Next time, the Flimflam Brothers reopen a casino originally designed to fly into the sky. Meanwhile, back on the ground, Spike, Chrysalis and Feather Bangs square off against Filthy Rich’s daughter in a game of Blind Man’s Bluff.

The Casino in the Sky

The next morning, Spike awoke with Fleur naked in his bed. Her panties slipped off the lamp on his nightstand as he turned to look at the sleeping beauty.

“Oh, man... Look at her... Wait! What is she even doing here? Damn, I drank way too much...”

Spike was so wrapped up in thought that he didn’t notice Fleur stir.

“What’s wrong, Spike?” she asked. “Are you angry with me?”

“No, just surprised,” he replied.

“I couldn’t keep myself away,” she said. “Last night was... amazing... It was the first time I’ve ever done anything like... that.”

Fleur seemed almost embarrassed.

“Wait. What did we do?” Spike asked.

“You’re going to make me say it? You’re so kinky!”

Fleur told him about the events of the previous night. After Spike ran out of the ballroom, trying to avoid his screaming fans, she followed him upstairs (after stopping at her suite to change into her nightgown and bathrobe). Then she regaled him with how she practically forced her way in when he opened the door to her. She even delighted in the fact of how bold he was to slip a finger up her rear (Spike still couldn’t believe he even did that).

Finally, Fleur told Spike how he said that he wanted her out on the balcony. So, she led him out onto the terrace naked. They were very high up and the night air was gusting as he bent her over the ledge and slammed into her from behind. The desert night was so cold Spike grew harder and Fleur became even tighter, but it made their lovemaking that much better. Then Fleur told him that they noticed a young couple watching them from one of the nearby high rises.

“Great...” Spike sarcastically groaned in thought. “We had an audience, so we could perform.”

And perform they did, adding much more movement and exaggerated expressions than they would have had they been alone. That’s why Spike wanted to step out onto the balcony in the first place. It was his way of saying, “Look, everybody! Look at the sexy, beautiful French babe I got! Watch me fuck her!!”

Fleur saw the frown on Spike’s face when she finished her tale, and she stroked his arm with her hand.

“Listen, I don’t want you to get the wrong idea,” she said soothingly. “I don’t just sleep around. I gave myself to you because I love you.”

“You mean... I was your first?”

Fleur nodded happily.

“But what about Fancy Pants?”

“Fancy’s just a good friend,” she said.

“But why?” he asked. “I mean, why me?”

“Spike, you’ve been so good to me, but you seemed to respect me too much to really do anything,” she admitted. “And, well, I got a little impatient waiting for you to make the next move. You’re too much of a gentleman.”

Spike grimaced again and this time Fleur stoked his cheek.

“But that’s what I love the most about you! I’m a little jealous of you,” she added. “You seem to live however you want. Your life is such an adventure.”

He finally smiled. “Yeah, it is pretty cool, isn’t it?”

Fleur dotted his cheek with little kisses before making her way to his lips. He didn’t resist, nor did he attempt to move away. He wished he could lie with her a little longer, and she wanted to stay with him forever. But she knew he had a job to do, and she had other engagements to keep, so she gave Spike one more kiss before she thrust her butt back to him, asking him to spank her, and he did. Then they got dressed and went their separate ways, promising each other that their little rendezvous was far from over.

As Spike rode the elevator down to the lobby that morning, he was joined by another young couple that had checked in a few days ago. And even though Spike had been up most of the night with Fleur, he felt incredibly refreshed.

The young woman gasped and then whispered to her boyfriend, “Hey, hey! Do you think he’s the one?”

“Yeah, there’s no doubt about it,” he whispered back.

Spike smiled as the elevator doors opened and he told them, “Have a lucky day.”

While this was happening, Twilight Sparkle cursed as she rolled out of bed.

“I can’t believe I overslept!” she screamed.

She was already late for her meeting with the Flimflam Brothers; she swore up and down that she set her alarm, but she never heard it go off. She went to get dressed, but couldn’t find anything to wear.

“Where’s my uniform?” she asked herself. “It’s still at the cleaners!”

She dug through her closet and her dresser until she eventually came across a blue strapless corset teddy with cat ears and a long cat tail. When she finally arrived at Flim and Flam’s office, Flim was on the phone while Flam was talking to Starlight and Rarity.

“Good grief, Twilight!” Starlight exclaimed. “You seriously had nothing else to wear?”

“I was in a hurry, so I grabbed the first thing I saw!” Twilight replied.

“Why do you have that lying around at all?” Rarity asked.

“Yes, that’s everything,” Flim said as he got off the phone. “Keep up the good work. Sorry to keep you ladies waiting,” he told them. “Now, I hope my brother and I don’t need to remind you that the Sky Resort is having its grand re-opening later today.”

“You mean that structure at the base of the mountain?” Starlight inquired.

“That’s right,” Flam confirmed. “That is our newest entertainment facility. We intend to promote it as the premiere tourist destination: the highest casino in the world.”

“This may seem sudden, but you three are being transferred there for the day to help with the grand reopening,” Flim told them. “It’s only right to aim for sky-high ratings, so make us proud.”

“Yes, sirs!” Rarity, Starlight and Twilight replied.

“We open at noon,” Flim said. “We’ve set up private rooms for you, so please move your belongings and get acquainted with the new place. We’ll be there as soon as we finish up here.”

“How do they expect me to get all my things moved in less than an hour?” Rarity asked as they got into the elevator.

“Come on! You don’t have that much stuff!” Starlight exclaimed.

As Starlight drove Rarity and Twilight down the highway in her jeep, Twilight was feeling very hesitant about the idea of Flim and Flam reopening another casino. Since the incident with Nightmare Moon, the Brothers had cancelled their plan to reopen her castle casino, so Twilight was certain that they would want to avoid another occurrence like that. The desert felt like it went on forever. After half an hour of driving, they came upon a brightly colored complex consisting of a twenty-five-floor hotel attached to a casino with almost thirty thousand square feet of gaming space.

“Flying fortress” would have been the perfect words to use in describing Mowed “Bugsy” Green’s original vision for the city of Las Pegasus. This place was supposed to be the test run of that big plan, but it never came to bear fruit. It was designed to levitate through a system of giant blimps, hot air balloons, reactors and propellers, hence its longer title “The Casino in the Sky.”

The Sky Resort, as it had been known, was an impressive structure with a festive atmosphere. It had drawn young, mostly suburbanite crowds back in the day. The key man in the multimillion dollar dream was a stand-up comedian who had unfortunately once regarded himself as indispensable. Upon the comic’s untimely demise, Green used his connections in the Equestrian government to have them build the floating resort. A smart man didn’t replace rented furniture out of his own pocket, so the décor of the Sky Resort remained a nightmarish mélange that resembled little more than a movie set on a studio lot.

It mattered little to the Flimflam Brothers that the decorators who had originally outfitted the place had prostituted their art by succumbing to the departed comic’s hideous tastes. Most of the furniture was comfortable despite their weird designs. When Rarity, Starlight and Twilight pulled up, people had already arrived and were lining up to get inside.

They went in through the staff entrance in the rear and were greeted by a trio of eighteen-year-old women: a redhead, one with long mulberry hair and pale skin, and one with extra short hair. Rarity instantly recognized the second girl as her little sister, Sweetie Belle, and the redhead as Apple Bloom, Applejack’s younger sister. Suddenly, a second Sweetie Belle stepped out from behind the first.

“Welcome!” the first one said. “We’ve been expecting you.”

“Sweetie Belle,” Rarity said sternly, “what have you done?”

“She’s quite the likeness, isn’t she?” the second Sweetie Belle asked.

Upon closer inspection, Rarity saw that the first Sweetie Belle’s skin wasn’t skin at all. It was metal!

“You built a robot of yourself?” Rarity asked.

“I am Sweetie Bot, the Sky Resort’s main computer terminal,” the robot said. “And my interface lets me move wherever I please.”

The third girl stepped forward and said, “My name’s Scootaloo. We’re the dealers here at the Sky Resort.”

“Flim and Flam instructed us to give ya’ll the grand tour of the place,” Apple Bloom told them.

“Right this way, and feel free to ask me anything about the Sky Resort,” Sweetie Bot added.

Their first stop was the Sky Resort’s casino. It was wide and roomy, with high ceilings, plenty of easy access to the exits, and everything from the tables to the slot machines was extra shiny. Sweetie Bot snapped her fingers and the lights immediately turned on. After that, they checked out the Hologram Theater. It was a big, spacious white hall that stretched for almost a mile.

“You can travel anywhere imaginable in no time,” Sweetie Bot said.

She snapped her fingers again and a tropical jungle seemed to take form right before their eyes. Another snap of the fingers, and they were on the top of a snowy mountain peak. They could explore all kinds of worlds from right there!

“Let’s keep moving,” Sweetie Bot said as she snapped her fingers, deactivating the holographic program.

“Wait, there’s more?!” Starlight exclaimed.

“All of that was an illusion?” Twilight asked.

“It looked so real,” Rarity said.

“Anything is real if you believe,” Sweetie Bot told them.

“What would have happened if we fell?” Twilight asked.

“It would hurt. A lot,” Sweetie Bot replied. “But there are safety measures in place, so you won’t die.”

“How reassuring,” Twilight remarked.

“Behold the Extreme Slides!” Sweetie Bot proclaimed.

Another one of the Sky Resorts popular attractions, it was a complex series of tubes that could take people anywhere in the resort... and it was Equestria’s longest waterslide.

“The Sky Resort really has everything!” Starlight commented.

“A few of the other attractions aren’t fully functional yet,” Sweetie Bot admitted.

“Her design doesn’t really scream high-tech,” Twilight commented.

“Well, she seems nice, just like my sister,” Rarity said. “Speaking of which, Sweetie Belle, does she know who I am?”

“Well, yeah, we programmed her that way,” Sweetie Belle explained. “She has most of my memories.”

Suddenly, Twilight tripped over herself and she bumped into Sweetie Bot. And when she did, Sweetie Bot’s head fell off. Rarity, Starlight and Twilight recoiled in shock as Sweetie Bot’s body picked up her head.

“The lock on my neck is loose,” she told them as she pulled herself together, “so if I lose my balance I lose my head.”

“Well, we’d love to keep hanging, but we have to do some work in the main unit,” Scootaloo said. “See ya!”

Flim and Flam arrived within the hour with a TV crew in tow and they began to broadcast from the Sky Resort’s entrance.

“It is a profound honor to welcome the newest member of the Flimflam Brothers’ Resort family: the legendary Sky Resort!” Flim began. “A cutting-edge facility with top-of-the-line technology, this new-age resort is sure to lead the entire entertainment industry. I promise it is unlike any you’ve seen before. Stories of the experiences you’ll have will be told for generations! We promise, Sky Resort with both shock and move you! Here, the sky is the limit when it comes to your enjoyment!”

“Ladies and gentlemen, the future of entertainment awaits you!” said Flam. “Flimflam Brothers’ Infinite is open for business!! So, let loose and shoot for the stars!!!”

Sweetie Bot issued a few commands into the building’s main computer and the structure blasted off like a rocket into the sky!

Back in Las Pegasus, down on the ground, Impossibly Rich watched the whole broadcast (along with Abacus Cinch, Indigo Zap, Sugarcoat, Lemon Zest and Sour Sweet) on the TV in her office.

“They love to hear themselves talk,” she said.

Just then, Sunny Flare walked in.

“Diamond Tiara’s right outside, demanding to speak with Spoiled Rich,” she told them.

“Filthy’s old ball and chain obviously isn’t here right now,” Sour Sweet mumbled in reply, “but I guess we can handle it. Send her in.”

Sunny Flare nodded as she stepped back into the hallway and said, “You may come in.”

Diamond Tiara was just as pretty as the next bratty little daddy’s girl. Her wavy hair was a pale, light grayish violet with white streaks, her skin was just as pale, and her teeth were remarkably white. Her clothes were of the highest, most expensive name brands; even her jacket had diamond zippers.

She walked into the office with a form letter in her hand.

“You need something?” Sour Sweet asked. “We’re busy, so keep it short.”

“I received this from my Mother this morning,” Diamond Tiara said, showing them the letter. “Just what is the point of it?”

“It means what it says,” Sugarcoat answered. “Everything that it says is exactly what’s going to happen. I am not going to explain it to you and I am not going to repeat myself.”

Suddenly, Sour Sweet swiped the letter from Diamond Tiara’s hand.

“Well, look who scored! You get to marry the son of a politician!” she cried. “Well, Chip Rockefillyer’s an arrogant, conniving, money-grubbing pig, I wouldn’t want to marry him, but still it could be worse. He’s got plenty of cash and connections, so at least you’ll be taken care of, right?”

“Think of the kind of life he can buy you,” Impossibly Rich told her granddaughter. “And you’re guaranteed that nothing will happen!”

“What do you mean by that?” Diamond Tiara asked.

“She means the decision has already been made,” Abacus Cinch said.

“Even if any of that was true, I’m not marrying Chip Rockefillyer!” Diamond Tiara shouted. “No way in Tartarus! I don’t even like the guy!”

“It doesn’t matter what you think,” Cinch stated. “Your parents’ decision is final. And believe me when I say there are a lot of ways to force somebody to do what you want. You are not eighteen yet, so you have to agree to everything that your parents tell you... including an arranged marriage.”

The Rich Family had heavy connections in the financial and political worlds, and if Impossibly Rich said she was going to do something, she would.

Diamond Tiara could see it all too well. She would get to spend every day shopping, playing tennis, getting facials, browbeating her husband... She would be just like her mother!

Diamond Tiara hated her mother. When she was a child, she would try to run away from home, but she never got far. Her father, Filthy Rich, did his best to protect his daughter and keep her from being sent to year-round boarding schools... but at a price. She couldn’t refuse her mother or grandmother anything else. They just wanted to use her abilities as a gambler for their own selfish ambitions.

“But, if you win against Spike, you’ll be free,” Impossibly Rich promised Diamond Tiara. “Free to live your life the way you want to. That’s if, and only if you win.”

“I won’t let you down, Grandmother,” Diamond Tiara said.

The Lucky Prince—that’s what people were starting to call Spike, the Flimflam Brothers’ newest rising star dealer. Ever since he and Trixie brought down Obscurity and he and Applejack crushed Garble and Suri in the staff ballroom dance contest, Spike Drake was quickly becoming a household name. Men and women would crowd around him just for a chance to shake his hand in the hopes that some of his good luck would rub off on them. Some even started asking him for photos, autographs, and autographed photos.

“Just another day in the life of a lucky man,” Spike thought. “Me.”

Feather Bangs ordered a cola from the casino’s bar as he, Applejack and Sunset Shimmer watched Spike handle his adoring fans.

“Hey, Feather Bangs,” Chrysalis said as she sat on the stool beside him.

“There you are,” he greeted her. “You don’t look like yourself.”

Chrysalis was wearing a pristine white dress and she had lost a bit of her tan but her skin shined. She looked more beautiful than ever.

“That obvious?” she replied. “I was winning right up until the tables closed last night.”

“You, too, then, huh?” he asked.

Ever since they’d gambled with Spike, their good luck had increased astronomically. Feather Bangs’ drink arrived as Spike strode over to the bar.

“Well, if it isn’t my two favorite narcissistic divas,” he bantered.

“Good to see you again, Spike,” Feather Bangs replied.

“Hey, cutie,” Chrysalis added. “That was quite the performance last night.”

“Well, I wouldn’t have won without my partner and new theme song singer,” Spike replied, looking at Applejack and Sunset (earning a blush from both of them). “So, you two know Fleur de Lis?”

Chrysalis and Feather Bangs both nodded.

“Well, she came to my suite last night after the competition... and I crèmed her brûlée, so to speak,”

Feather Bangs sputtered into his cola while Applejack and Sunset’s eyes went wide and Chrysalis put on a little girl’s pout, and Spike wondered at the fact that such expressions were not ridiculous in a grown woman.

Chrysalis quickly dropped her pout when she, Sunset, Spike, Applejack and Feather Bangs heard a commotion coming from the casino floor. Several people had crowded around a teenage girl in a golden jacket who was accompanied by an elderly servant with thinning white hair, blue eyes, and bushy eyebrows.

“If you would be so kind as to keep your grubby claws off my good luck charm!” the girl exclaimed as she clutched a fist around her necklace.

“Who’s she, the granddaughter of John D. Rockefillyer?” Chrysalis asked.

“Nnnope,” Applejack replied. “That’s Filthy Rich’s daughter. Last year, Filthy tried to buy Flimflam Resort and give it to his wife as a birthday present.”

“I didn’t know the Resort was for sale,” Feather Bangs commented.

“It’s not,” Sunset and Applejack both said.

“Filthy Rich’s mother, Diamond Tiara’s grandmother, Impossibly Rich, owns the casino across the street. And she’s rapidly gaining influence in the gaming and entrepreneurial worlds,” Sunset went on. “She wants this Resort more than anything, but Flim and Flam refuse to sell. She has several powerful allies and Diamond Tiara’s a pretty good gambler herself. Rumor has it she’s completely undefeated at card games.”

“Oh, really?” Spike asked.

He raised a quizzical eyebrow as he studied the seventeen-year-old, who was smiling (seemingly rather anxiously, to Spike) as she walked up to him.

“Spike Drake, I’m Diamond Tiara, nice to meet you,” she introduced herself as she held her hand out. “I heard you mopped the floor with Twilight Sparkle on your first week. You’ve become the talk of the town.”

Spike accepted the handshake after a tiny hesitation.

“And I know all about you,” he replied. “I know about your family and their connections. A lot of loot and rough people to cross... But I still reserve the right to dislike you!”

Diamond Tiara placed her hands firmly on her hips.

“All right, big boy,” she said. “If that’s the way you want it, fine. Let’s see how big you get tangling with me.” She reached into her jacket and produced a pair of playing cards with the Sun on one side and sapphire numbers on the other—the first was a four, the other a Jack. “I challenge you to a Gate Battle!”

“She’s a Gate Holder?” Spike thought. “And she’s betting two Gates?”

“What’s your game?” he asked her.

“A personal favorite of mine: Blind Man’s Bluff,”

“All right,” Spike accepted. “But we’ll need two more players.”

“Do you have someone in mind?” Diamond Tiara asked.

Spike turned with an outstretched arm and hand and motioned to Chrysalis and Feather Bangs.

“All right,” Diamond Tiara said, “but why?”

“We want the opportunity to play against Spike again,” Feather Bangs said.

“Do you accept our counter-challenge, cutie?” Chrysalis asked.

“I do,” Diamond Tiara stated.

The news of the Gate Battle quickly spread throughout the resort. It traveled the fastest to the High Rollers’ Lounge via Bushel.

“Filthy Rich’s daughter just challenged one of the employees to a Gate Battle!” he proclaimed.

“For real?” Silver Waves asked. “Which one?”

“Guess,” Bushel said.

“Spike Drake?” Haakim asked.

“None other!” Bushel replied.

“Where?” Amira inquired.

Everyone exited the High Rollers’ Lounge and clamored to the casino floor, where a table had been set up in the center of the colossal room.

An unconventional game, Blind Man’s Bluff was a two-card version of poker in that each person saw the cards of all the players except their own.

The rules were pretty straightforward: they would be using a 40-card deck with all the Joker and Face Cards removed. The standard version was simply high card wins. Each player was dealt two cards, one of which they displayed to all other players (traditionally by holding it to their foreheads while it faced outwards). This was followed by a round of betting. Players attempted to guess if they had the highest cards based on the distribution of visible cards and how the other players betted. The strongest hand was if the numbers on both cards matched, a pair; the second strongest hand was a suit, which was self-explanatory; and the weakest hand was called a “pig”, where neither the suit nor number matched. If multiple players had the same hand, then the largest number won.

Sunset passed out the first cards (the ones they could look at) to Spike, Diamond Tiara, Chrysalis and Feather Bangs; and then their second cards (the ones they could not look at)—one visible card and one hidden card—they would be their tools for the game. Then they decided on how much they wanted to wager.

“Thank you, Randolph,” Diamond Tiara said to her butler as he pushed her chair in for her. “Let’s not bet too little,” she told them. “That would be boring.”

“Okay, how about my two Gate cards, plus $40 million in cash, against your two Gates?” Spike asked. “If I lose, I’ll give you my Gates and the money, but if I win you give me yours. How does that sound?”

“Excellent,” she agreed.

“I should warn you, I’m not a very patient man,” he told her.

“For your sake, I hope that doesn’t come back to bite you,” Diamond Tiara smiled in reply.

“Spike, I can’t watch this,” Applejack said. “It’s stupid to gamble with such a massive amount of money.”

“Relax, you have no reason to worry, so stop,” he said to her. “Money is nothing to me.”

Sunset gave Spike, Feather Bangs, Chrysalis and Diamond Tiara 10 golden chips apiece, each worth $1 million. Normally, the number of chips wasn’t important in Blind Man’s Bluff, it was their sum. The player with the highest value of chips in their possession by the end of the game was the winner.

The game would take place over ten turns—which meant Spike had that many rounds to rake in as many chips as possible and win those Gate cards—and all four players were required to pay one chip to participate. And they could only bet up to five chips at once.

Diamond Tiara would be worried if she wasn’t a three-time champion at Blind Man’s Bluff. To her, it was like picking money off the ground.

“I’m not going to lose to you,” she thought while looking at Spike.

“Be careful, Lucky Prince,” she said out loud. “Do not underestimate my luck!”

The first round of betting began. They all had to pay their fee of one chip, and then they looked at their first cards and placed them face down in front of themselves. But they couldn’t look at their second cards. Instead, they placed them on their foreheads.

“You have the honors,” Sunset told Diamond Tiara.

“It would be boring to fold on the first round,” she said as she bet one chip.

Feather Bangs called with one of his own, as did Spike.

“You can’t play a game if you don’t play at the start,” he agreed.

Chrysalis folded and the calls were completed. Then they showed their hands. Spike had the Seven of Clubs and the Eight of Hearts, a pig. Feather Bangs had the Three of Spades and the Six of Diamonds, another pig. Diamond Tiara showed the Three and Nine of Clubs, a suit.

“I win,” she said.

She collected her winnings and they moved on to the second round. Feather Bangs started by betting a single chip while Spike and Chrysalis folded. Then Diamond Tiara raised four chips, causing Feather Bangs to fold.

“These guys aren’t even worth my time,” Diamond Tiara thought.

The third round began and Spike bet a single chip. Chrysalis folded and Diamond Tiara raised Spike two.

“After wagering four chips last round, isn’t that a little cowardly?” he asked.

“I prefer to call it strategy,” she replied.

Feather Bangs folded and Spike raised her three.

“All right, I’ll call,” Diamond Tiara said. “Two chips.”

She showed the Two and the Five of Diamonds, another suit; and Spike showed the Four and the Ten of Hearts, a higher suit.

“How did he--?” she thought.

They moved on to turn four; Chrysalis had the deal.

“Spike’s right,” she thought. “At some point, you have to play the game.”

“I’ll wager one chip,” she said.

Diamond Tiara called with one chip, Feather Bangs folded, and Spike called with one of the chips he had collected from Diamond Tiara.

“You know, Diamond Tiara, you should be embarrassed by the way you play,” Spike told her.

“What did you say?” she asked.

“I will repeat myself. You play terribly and you ought to be mortified. You’re the one who originally suggested this game, right? Giving Chrysalis and Feather Bangs a whisper of hope when they’re so desperate to beat me and then plunging them even deeper back down the hole, you’re no different than your loan shark grandmother. I don’t know how good a gambler you are, and frankly I don’t care, but you’re the worst kind of human being... Your whole family’s shit, and you know it!”

“Well I’ll be, you really are an intriguing son of a bitch,” she replied.

“Stop, you’re making me all warm and fuzzy inside!” he laughed.

Diamond Tiara glared at him. She was definitely pissed.

“Raise!” Chrysalis exclaimed. “Three chips!”

“Are you stupid?” Diamond Tiara asked. “What, did you think that once Spike won, I’d get scared and fold? Even I’m not that dumb!”

Chrysalis smiled.

“You think I don’t know what you’re doing?” Diamond Tiara went on. “It’s obvious that you three are working together! The whole point of this game is that you can only ever see one of your cards. But no matter how big the number is, you’ll always lose to a suit, and the odds of that occurring are one in four. There’s no way you could know that! And there’s even less chance that you’d bet that kind of money on something so uncertain. You only took that risk because you knew for sure that you’d have a suit. It’s obvious you’re cheating! I will fold!”

“I’ll fold as well,” Spike said.

“You’re sharp,” Chrysalis told Diamond Tiara. “I guess when you’re on the wrong side of life, you get good at figuring out when someone’s out to get you. Anyway, I’m glad I went big on this round. It gives me a bullet to fire.”

Spike grinned and Chrysalis laughed as she showed her cards: the Ace of Clubs and the Eight of Spades.

“My hand was a pig the whole time, you brat!!”

Diamond Tiara’s mouth hung open.

“Spike’s win in turn three was so obvious I’m surprised you didn’t catch on,” Chrysalis smiled. “Don’t feel bad, it was painful for me too.”

“What makes you think you’ve got me beat?” Diamond Tiara asked. “You’ve only won one round.”

“Keep your panties on. As long as I’ve got something to bet with, I’ll never worry about losing to a child,” Chrysalis provoked her.

“What did you call me?” Diamond Tiara shouted.

“Spike, Chrysalis, stop provoking her,” Sunset said, “now, on to round five.”

“I’m betting one chip,” Diamond Tiara said.

Feather Bangs folded while Spike raised the bet with four of the chips he’d collected from Diamond Tiara.

“No way, he’s just bluffing!” Diamond Tiara thought.

She called with one of her chips plus two she’d collected from Feather Bangs. Then they revealed their hands. Diamond Tiara had a pig—the Seven of Clubs and the Nine of Diamonds.

“If Spike was bluffing, I should win,” she thought.

Spike won with a suit—the Two of Diamonds and the Five of Diamonds.

“If you were offended by what I said before, I truly apologize,” Spike said to Diamond Tiara. “I had to stretch the truth a bit in order to up the ante. Please forgive me.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Why?” he echoed. “I’ll tell you why, because it’s painfully obvious YOU are the one who’s cheating here.”

Diamond Tiara gasped.

“Are you sure?” Sunset asked.

“Dead sure,” Spike stated.

Turn six began and Chrysalis bet the three of the chips she got from Diamond Tiara—another high-stakes wager.

“I’ve got a pig,” Diamond Tiara thought. “I can’t risk it.”

She folded and Chrysalis showed the Six of Diamonds and the Three of Hearts.

“Lucky me!” she said. “I had a pig and I still won!”

Spike and Chrysalis’s gameplay went way beyond being good at reading tells and being able to bluff.

“I have to say, you’re dumber than you look,” Chrysalis told Diamond Tiara.

“Randolph,” Spike addressed her butler, “we all know that you’re signaling to her, so you can stop.”

“You might think that the position of your hands is subtle enough to tell her she has a suit, but I can tell you it’s a dead giveaway,” Feather Bangs added.

“From what we’ve seen you do so far, both hands at your sides means spade,” Spike said.

“And rubbing the back of your neck with your right hand clearly means that it’s a club,” Chrysalis went on.

“Tugging your left ear means a diamond,” Feather Bangs continued.

“And if you fold your arms in front of your chest, it’s a heart,” Spike finished. “It’s pretty handy having a servant faithful and loyal enough to do whatever you tell them to, no matter what... especially if they’ve been doing it for years,” he admitted to Diamond Tiara. “I knew you wouldn’t play fair, so I thought it wouldn’t hurt to have a pair of spotters on my side.”

That’s why Spike had asked for Chrysalis and Feather Bangs to play with them... and Chrysalis provoked Diamond Tiara just to make sure that she cheated.

Randolph was sweating when Sunset said, “It seems that you were right about the cheating.”

“But that’s no other reason to stop the game, is it?” Spike asked.

“So, you’re just fine with playing a game compromised by cheating?” Sunset inquired.

“Isn’t that the point of any card game; to be able to outbluff your opponent?” Spike replied. “But Diamond Tiara basically told us what was in her hand. And besides, I’m just getting warmed up.”

“Fine, you got me,” Diamond Tiara confessed. “Let’s just finish this.”

“Very well,” Sunset said. “Then the game will resume—moving on to round seven!”

Diamond Tiara continued to lose as Spike, Chrysalis, and Feather Bangs bluffed their way through the game. Spike was in the lead, but only the best liar among them would emerge victorious.

“I can’t lose this!” Diamond Tiara thought.

On turn eight, she called with one of the chips she’d got from Chrysalis, and Chrysalis threw down the Two of Diamonds and the Two of Hearts.

“Too bad, so sad!” she said.

“A pair?” thought Diamond Tiara. “What the Tartarus is going on here? How can this be happening to me?”

Turn nine began and Feather Bangs put down his last chip. Spike called with one of Diamond Tiara’s chips, and Chrysalis folded.

“Spike must have a good hand,” Diamond Tiara continued to think. “But I’m not done yet! There’s no more bluffing here! This is just a pure bet of the actual cards!”

Diamond Tiara showed a Seven, Five suit in Clubs. And Spike had a Six, Two suit in Spades.

Diamond Tiara started laughing.

“This game is mine!” she cried. “Starting tomorrow, I’m making your life Tartarus!”

“It’s easy for you to look down on other people, isn’t it?” Spike asked. “You’ve had everything you’ve ever wanted since you were a baby. You ever make a buck yourself?”

“No, but I have plans,” she answered.

“You know what I had when I was a kid? Nothing! A lot of nothing. Now, I’ve got a little of everything. You wouldn’t believe it, looking at me now, but my birthmother was so poor I used to walk Manehattan barefoot in the winter and summer. One day, I was swimming in the East River. When I came out, I saw a row of shoes on the wharf, one pair brand-new. I put them on, they fit. Then some kid yells, ‘Hey, them’s my shoes!’ So we fought. I won!”

Sunset started wondering how badly Spike had beaten the other kid for him to go home without his brand-new shoes.

“It’s been that way ever since: fight, fight, all the time... but you? Your family owns half of this city, so you’ve always had plenty of money to play around with. A few million dollars is nothing to you. Even if you have a 100% win ratio, I can tell that you don’t win as much as you’d like. Over hundreds, even thousands of games, you can keep winning stable amounts at a slow compounding rate. But, clearly, that isn’t enough for you, is it? You didn’t need to win every time, just a little more than your opponents so that nobody would get suspicious. That’s why nobody could ever catch you in the act. Cheating is no guarantee!”

Diamond Tiara was speechless.

“Not only have you been rigging games in your favor, your family is stockpiling Las Pegasus’s wealth... but for what?” Spike went on. “We should both feel the same pain. My total wager was forty million, but those cards are priceless.”

Diamond Tiara was sweating bullets now.

“Even though I’m rich, I can’t afford to lose the Gates!” she thought. “If I-If I lose this, I lose everything. I’ll be ruined! I-I have to talk him down.”

“Let’s finish this,” Spike stated.

Turn ten began and Spoiled Rich entered the casino.

“You mind if I watch?” she asked.

Diamond Tiara’s face went pale, her mouth ajar, and her eyes aghast.

“Mother!” she exclaimed.

“This looks like more fun than you should be having,” Spoiled Rich said. “I see you’re betting two Gate cards. At times like this, trouble is bound to occur. So we’ll be supervising from here on out.”

“There’s no need for you to bother! I can handle this myself,” Diamond Tiara said. “I’m sure you have better things to do.”

Spoiled Rich leaned in close to her daughter and Diamond Tiara went whiter than a sheet.

“That’s enough,” Spoiled Rich stated. “Just shut up and play.”

“I’m getting tired,” Spike yawned.

“Let’s finish this up already,” Chrysalis added.

“Why are they acting so casual?” Diamond Tiara thought.

She was going to fold, so she would win for sure. But if she was wrong, one of them could easily win. Chrysalis could bet all four of the chips she’d won from Spike, or Spike could bet the two he’d got from Chrysalis.

“You can scheme all you want,” Diamond Tiara thought, “but bet or no bet, you’re not going to win!”

She gasped when Spike called with one chip.

“Did he just do what I think he just did?” Applejack whispered.

“What are they doing?” Diamond Tiara thought.

Then Chrysalis raised three chips.

“I find easy wins to be quite irritating,” Spike said.

Then they revealed their cards.

Diamond Tiara had a pair of nines, Hearts and Diamonds... and Spike had a pair of tens, Spades and Clubs. He couldn’t have asked for a better last round hand.

“Spike is the winner!” Sunset declared.

Diamond Tiara lost. And not only did she lose, she fell for their bluffs hook, line, and sinker. They still couldn’t believe it.

“I didn’t think you’d have a snowball’s chance in Tartarus at winning,” Spoiled Rich told Spike. “Lady Luck was on your side this time. I’m impressed. As for you, young lady,” she said to Diamond Tiara, “I am incredibly disappointed.”

Chrysalis put a hand to her mouth.

“Don’t laugh,” Spike told her. “It’s rude. Especially since Diamond Tiara is so sensitive.”

“I never thought it would have ended so well,” Chrysalis said.

“Part of it was just luck, but a lot of it was thanks to your acting,” he replied.

“Oh, thanks,”

“Game... Set... Match,” Feather Bangs smiled.

Spoiled Rich started to leave, and then waited for Diamond Tiara to join her.

“Are you really okay with her abusing you like that?” Spike asked. “Or are you just telling yourself you have to suck it up until graduation, when you finally get your freedom?”

“Shut up!” Diamond Tiara snapped. “You don’t know anything about me!”

“I can tell that you’re a good person and you have no choice but to play by other people’s rules,” he told her calmly. “If you can’t find the strength to stand up for yourself and the courage to fight back against your abusers, then nothing will change. You have a chance to get even, and if you don’t take it then you’re just a puppy who cowers when someone opens the kennel door, proving that you are nothing but someone else’s punching bag. Is that how you want to live? You’d rather suck up to your mother and grandmother so that they might be a little nicer to you? Do you really want to live your entire life with your head down forever? A life lived in fear is no life at all!”

Diamond Tiara stared at Spike with an open mouth. He was speaking the truth. And every word he said was like a breath of fresh air.

“Think about what I’ve told you,” he advised. “And remember, the world doesn’t run on one person’s standards. Everyone chooses to do things in their own way. There are some things they can forgive and some things they can’t. But no one will ever obey someone 100 percent of the time. That’s the beauty of free will. And it’s what makes life great.”

Spoiled Rich called for her daughter and Diamond Tiara finally followed.

She had lost, but she wasn’t angry about it because Spike saw something in her that nobody else did.

Spike watched them leave, keeping his eyes on Diamond Tiara until the last.

“I’m amazed you won after taking a really big gamble like that,” Applejack said. “Congratulations, all of you.”

“It’s almost hilarious how honest she is,” Chrysalis thought.

“Well, I’ll see you later, I guess,” she told them.

Suddenly, Spike hugged Chrysalis from behind, his hands on her breasts.

“Hey! What are you--?” she began.

“I want to thank you,” Spike said. “The game was more fun with you there, and I feel so much closer to you because of it.”

“I guess I could say the same thing about you,” Chrysalis admitted shyly.

“Well, friends are supposed to stick together, right?” he asked.

Chrysalis was surprised by that.

“We’re friends?” she asked.

“Of course,” Spike said. “And since we are, would it be all right if I called you Chrissy?”

“Sure. Now get off me! Do you realize where your hands are?”

“Oops. Sorry, accident!” he laughed.

Upstairs, Impossibly Rich, Flim and Flam had watched the entire game from the security monitors in the Brothers’ office.

“Outstanding,” Impossibly Rich said. “He’s an extremely gifted player... but, of course, you already knew that. That’s why you hired him, right?”

“I have no idea what you mean,” Flim replied.

“You must be doing quite well for yourself, to have so many skilled and talented dealers working for you, Lady Rich,” Flam added, changing the subject. “We would very much like to meet them.”

“Oh, you will, in due time,” she replied, almost darkly. “And please, don’t call me that. I can’t imagine it’s anything but sarcastic coming from you.”

“If you say so,” Flam answered. “Come now, full disclosure, how many Gates do you have? And who gave you them, anyway?”

“We are both curious how you suddenly acquired so many,” said Flim. “It must have been tough.”

Impossibly Rich didn’t answer.

She finished her drink and left their office saying, “Thank you for the entertaining game, gentlemen.”

“No Impossibly Rich, the pleasure was all ours,” they replied.

The Brothers breathed a sigh of relief. The game ended just the way they had expected it would. But it didn’t matter. Either way, the outcome would have been acceptable. Diamond Tiara was the youngest member of one of Equestria’s oldest families, and Spike Drake was now on their list of people to keep an eye on.

All they wanted was for one of them to beat the other—either way, it would have been a win. And, of course, it was a success. But was it the right thing to do?

It was obvious that Spike wasn’t driven by money. It was the simplest way to control people, and he was unaffected by it.

“I hope we were right about letting him roam so freely,” Flim said.

“Or have we unleashed another monster?” asked Flam.

The Brothers hoped, for Spike’s sake (as well as their own), that this would be the last Gate Battle... at least for a while. They knew that Impossibly Rich was ruthless and she would do whatever it took to win.

“She isn’t just after our Resort,” they thought. “She must want more... but what?”

Impossibly Rich was awfully interested in Spike. Did she want his Gates? Or did she want Spike himself? Either way, the Brothers were about to find out what kind of monster was hiding under that heavy makeup.

Author's Note

Next time, the gang makes plans for a little late-night gambling only for the electricity for the entire city to go out, leaving Spike stuck in the elevator with Sunset and Applejack... and Discord goes on a blind date!

Ups, Downs, Ins and Outs

The following afternoon, Flim and Flam were at the Sky Resort while Discord stayed behind in the city. Currently, he was searching the hotel for his employees, trying to round them up for some overtime, but he couldn’t find them anywhere. Rarity was not at the front desk, Rainbow Dash wasn’t cleaning any of the bedrooms or bathrooms, Sunset, Pinkie, Starlight and Fluttershy weren’t serving tables in the restaurants or bussing drinks on the casino floor, and according to the cameras in the surveillance room (which head of security, Applejack, usually watched) none of them were in any of the hallways, either. Discord finally checked the staff locker room and saw their uniforms strewn about, this way and that. He had just missed them.

“Oh, no, you don’t!” he declared.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash led Soarin, Zephyr Breeze, Sunset Shimmer, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and the Dazzlings through the casino to the swimming pool with Discord hot on their trail.

“Hurry up!” she shouted.

“Out of my way!” Discord commanded as he barreled through groups of guests. “You’re mine now punks!”

The group reached the pool... as did Discord.

“Stop!” Discord ordered. “Do not enter the water!”

“Soooooo busted,” Pinkie groaned.

“I have a job for you,” he panted. “Get dressed and meet me in the lobby.”

The gang dragged their feet as they returned to the staff locker room.

“Discord caught you too?” Rarity asked Applejack.

“Eeyup,” she replied.

“I was going to work on my tan today,” Sunset said. “It is pathetic!”

“You think that’s bad?” Soarin complained. “I haven’t had a good gambling session in three days!”

“Do you guys ever stop and wonder, I mean really wonder, if things could get any worse?” Zephyr asked.

“Seriously, it’s not like we came out here to just work,” Dash commented. “We need a day off! We deserve a day off!”

A light bulb went off in Zephyr Breeze’s head.

“I’ve got it!” he exclaimed.

“Got what?” Dash asked.

“Discord may own our days, but we own our nights. And tonight, we’re getting our gamble on. Eight thirty, the casino floor -- be there!” Zephyr told them.

“Great,” Dash replied. “Except for one thing -- what are we gonna do about Discord? He never leaves. This resort is like his life.”

“The dude needs a vacation,” Pinkie said, “or a girlfriend.”

“Or maybe just a date,” Soarin replied. “Adagio, how are your sweet-talking skills?”

“I don’t know,” she said as she strode up to him. “But your hair is looking sooo good today, handsome,” she added huskily as she ran her hand through it and stroked his chin.

“Whoa...” Soarin mumbled weakly.

“She’s good,” Zeph complimented. “She is very, very good.”

“I have a mission for you,” Soarin told her.

Later that day, Adagio and her sisters approached Discord at the front desk.

“Wow, you look stressed,” Sonata observed.

“Don’t remind me,” he replied. “The Hooffields don’t want to be on the same floor as the McColts, and the Prince of Yakyakistan doesn’t want anyone near him...”

“Maybe this isn’t a good time,” Adagio told her sisters.

“Come on,” Sonata said, “we promised her!”

“Wait -- Promised who what?” Discord inquired.

“Well, there’s this woman and she’s really pretty and super sweet and she has a major crush on you,” Adagio said.

“What? Fo-fo-for real?” Discord stuttered.

“Oh, yeah,” Aria replied. “She can’t stop talking about you!”

“But we said you were way too busy to go on a date,” Adagio added.

“Aww... She’s going to be so crushed,” Sonata went on.

“Well, maybe I could squeeze her in,” Discord replied half-heartedly.

“Great! Tonight, eight o’clock, at The Hive Casino and Grill,” Adagio told him. “She’ll be holding a red rose.”

“And so will you,” Sonata added as she handed him one. “Have fun!”

“Thanks,” he said. “So... someone’s digging on the Discord? Nice.”

The Dazzlings smiled as they walked away. Adagio pulled out her cell phone and dialed Soarin once Discord was out of earshot.

“He bought it!” she said triumphantly. “He actually bought it!”

“Roger that,” Soarin replied. “Target is in my sight. Hey, Fluttershy, what are you doing tonight?”

Soarin approached the driver’s window of the shuttle bus as Fluttershy boarded it that evening. Discord was already onboard, in the far back, but he didn’t see her get on. It hadn’t taken much for Soarin to convince Fluttershy to go on a blind date, even though she told him she already had her heart set on Spike. He told her it was just for the evening and that the man in question was just as nervous as she was... all without telling her it was Discord.

“So remember, keep Discord and Fluttershy out as late as you can,” Soarin told Cheese Sandwich.

“You got it, man!”

Soarin watched the shuttle until it was out of sight, headed down the street. Once it was gone he mass-texted Rainbow Dash, Zephyr Breeze, Starlight Glimmer, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and the Dazzlings, and they quickly spread the word.

“The fish is in the net. Repeat, the fish is in the net!”

“Discord has left the building!” Zephyr Breeze declared. “Let’s get this par-tay started! Wooo-hoo!”

Night fell and Soarin popped a Champagne cork as Zephyr Breeze picked up a martini. Dripping in diamonds, Rarity picked a raspberry out of her Champagne glass as Zephyr took another martini and handed it to Starlight. Plates of delicious food came thick and fast, along with lots of cake, chocolates and other sweets, all washed down with endless glasses of Champagne.

The Dazzlings crowded around Zephyr Breeze at the Roulette wheel as more Champagne was poured. Zephyr was up a thousand dollars when Rarity knocked her glass of Champagne over, but the game went on. She wasn’t quite drunk, but certainly a little tipsy; her cheeks were red and she was throwing chips out recklessly when she raised her bets.

The atmosphere of the casino didn’t distract them; instead, the crush of people and the ambient noise bolstered their energy. So many smiling, laughing faces, so much gambling adrenaline flowing... they found it hard to catch their breath. Soarin won three hands of two thousand dollars, followed by two hands of twenty-five hundred at blackjack, as the blinking lights and spinning wheels wreaked havoc on their senses and the Champagne flowed.

“I won again!” Zeph shouted.

Soarin upended one of the Champagne bottles and it fell in a foamy waterfall into Pinkie’s open mouth. She made frantic slurping sounds, and some of the women applauded while the men whistled, and everyone screamed with laughter.

Applejack wove her way out of the eating, drinking throng, talking to herself while she inspected her uniform. She almost never wore a skirt and she was wondering if Spike would like seeing her in it.

“Howdy, Spike! Do you like--? No! Hey, Spike! No, that’s all wrong. Hi, Spike, I thought you might want to--that’s so lame...”

She sighed as the elevator doors opened and she heard Spike’s handsome voice call out, “Hold the elevator!”

“Oh, my gosh!” she thought. “He’s coming my way!”

“Thanks,” he said.

Applejack pushed the button for the 26th floor—Spike’s floor—as he stepped inside, smiling at her as the doors shut. Applejack smiled back, her eyes drinking in the sight of him clad in his purple board shorts with a towel over his shoulders. He had just come from the pool and he looked handsomer than ever.

“EEEE!! This isn’t happening!” she continued to think. “Spike and I are alone in the elevator and he has no shirt on!!”

Spike shook his head and tiny drops of water flew from his hair and onto her chest. “Oops! Sorry about that.”

“He shook on me. That has to be a sign. He wouldn’t just shake on me if he didn’t like me,” she thought. “Okay, say something. Don’t just stand there!”

She tried to, but when she opened her mouth, the elevator doors opened. They had stopped at the third floor—the staff’s floor—and Sunset Shimmer got on with them.

“Hi, Spike,” she smiled at him.

Spike opened his own mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

Back in the casino, the rest of the crew raised their drinks in a toast.

“That. Was epic,” Dash began.

“Legendary,” Zeph added.

“Sick!” added Soarin.

“We are the kings and queens of night gambling!” Pinkie declared.

They clinked their glasses together and, at that exact moment, the lights went out all over Las Pegasus.

Meanwhile, Spike listened to the sounds of the elevator, finding the hum of its motor and the cables somewhat comforting. Suddenly, the humming ceased, followed by a loud clank, a rattling bang, and a thump. Then there was a grating, screeching sound as the elevator came to an instant halt and its lights went off.

“What was that?” Sunset asked.

“I think we’ve stopped,” Applejack replied.

“Oh, no,” Spike said as he pressed the emergency call button.

“This is an emergency suspension due to a blackout,” a recording said over the speaker. “There is an official on the way, so please wait momentarily.”

“A blackout,” Sunset purred. “How romantic.”

“This is not good,” Spike and Applejack both thought. “Not good at all.”

A blackout in Las Pegasus was literally (and not just in Rarity’s words) the worst possible thing: it was the perfect time to steal anything from a kiss to a bunch of casino chips.

In the casino, Miss Pommel turned on a flashlight. Lit from below, her face glowed like a menacing ghost.

“Whoa!” Zephyr Breeze exclaimed.

“Uh-oh...” Dash breathed.

“Wow. Did not see that coming,” Pinkie said.

“Pinkie!” Twilight shouted. “You -- the entire resort -- all dark, all dark! Can’t breathe... Can’t breathe!”

“Twilight, it’s going to be okay,” Adagio said.

“Yeah, we can fix this,” Sonata added.

“Fix this?!” Twilight screamed. “You-- I-- what-- Oh, my-- I’m so-- this-- I’m getting fired! I’m a dead woman! You’re dead, too! We’re all dead!”

“Stop panicking!” Aria told her.

“What else is there to do?” Twilight shouted.

“She’s hyperventilating!” Coco cried.

“Deep breaths, Twilight, that’s it,” Starlight said as she handed her friend and roommate a brown paper bag to breathe into. “No one’s getting fired tonight.” She turned on the rest of the group and added, “If we don’t fix this, I’ll be stuck in the staff quarters until I’m thirty!!”

“It’s cool,” Soarin said. “I used to work for an electrician.”

“You can fix a circuit breaker?” Twilight asked, finally calmed down.

“Piece of cake,” he reassured her.

“You know what your problem is, Twilight?” Zephyr Breeze put in. “You worry too much. You keep it up and you’ll have a stroke.”

“Discord will be back soon, and he can kill a man at ten paces with one blow of his tongue!” Twilight replied. “How am I supposed to not worry?”

“By reminding yourself that there’s always someone worse off than you,” Zephyr told her.

“Is there?” she spat. “Well, I would love to meet them!”

Just then, the lights flickered back on, only to flicker off again. Soarin looked out to the street and saw that the lights had come on in the rest of the city, but they were still without power.

“If everyone will just stay where they are,” he told the groaning guests, “I’ll go check the circuit breaker.”

“It’s in the basement,” Adagio said. “We’ll go with you.”

“No, Starlight and I will go with him,” Rainbow Dash told her.

“Me too,” said Zeph.

“I’ll get more flashlights,” Miss Pommel promised.

“And some candles!” added Pinkie.

“Adagio, you and your sisters keep the guests calm,” Soarin said to them. “And Coco if your cell’s getting a reception, use it to call Cheese Sandwich. Tell him we need as much time as we can get.”

“Yes, sir,” she said agreeably.

Soarin moved slowly through the lobby, waving his hands in front of him until he found the door to the basement. He twisted the doorknob hard. Only then did he remember that doorknobs are hard, not soft. He also remembered that doorknobs aren’t at almost chest level. And they aren’t covered in fabric.

“What are you doing?” Rarity screamed. “Let go of my breast!”

“Sorry,” he said as he let go. “I can’t see a thing!”

“Don’t worry. I’ll stay right by your side,” Starlight promised.

“That’s reassuring,” Soarin said sarcastically.

“You don’t need to be nasty,” said she. “I’m only trying to be helpful.”

She tried to run her fingers through his hair but, because of the darkness, she missed and poked him in the eye.

“Ow!” he exclaimed.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized.

Starlight linked her arm through his. Soarin started toward the door leading to the basement. He found the doorway and went through.

“Oof!”

Starlight, still by his side, had walked straight into the wall.

“Sorry about that,” he said, helping her back to her feet.

And they headed downward.

Discord entered The Hive at eight o’clock on the dot. He was wearing his best brown suit coat, his pressed black slacks, an off-white collared shirt, red vest with a steel gray tie, and he was breathing hard. It was the first time he’d done anything like this, he was so nervous. He also witnessed the city-wide blackout and instantly thought that something was wrong. He reached for his cell phone and was about to dial Rarity when the lights came back on. He looked at the phone in his hand. Then he thought of his date, and placed his cell back in his coat pocket.

“You’re getting yourself worked up,” Discord told himself. “If there’s an emergency, they will call you.”

There were about two dozen people in The Hive that night, most of them Changelings. Pharynx was directing the wait staff while Thorax walked around, close to the bar, and mingled with the guests. That’s when Discord saw her—his blind date—sitting at the end of the bar with a cup of tea, the single red rose right next to the saucer. She was wearing a pretty yellow sundress, which complimented her fantastic body (especially her breasts); black open-toed sandals, and she had a pink butterfly barrette in her hair.

“Oh, no, she’s been waiting!” he cursed himself in thought. “I hope she hasn’t been waiting too long! Maybe she hasn’t noticed... Just breathe, Discord. You can do this. Okay, it’s showtime!”

She turned her head and Discord realized who she was. They both gasped.

“Fluttershy?” he asked. “You’re my date?”

“John de Prancie?” she addressed him by his real name.

Meanwhile, back at the resort, Coco dialed Cheese Sandwich on her cell.

“Come on, Cheese Sandwich, pick up. Pick up, pick up!”

Cheese Sandwich, who was sitting at the other end of the bar (far from Discord and Fluttershy) answered, “Big Cheese Sandwich here.”

“Mr. Sandwich, we have a Code Red!” Coco said. “The blackout blew out the power. Soarin’s working to fix it, but we need you to keep Discord and Fluttershy out for as long as you can.”

“No problemo! Operation Stall the Chaos Man is in effect,” he replied.

And then he hung up.

He turned to face the room and announced, “Just a reminder, the shuttle bus is parked for the next two hours. I’m double booked tonight: got a bar mitzvah going on next door and a bat mitzvah right after. Anyone who wants to check ‘em out is more than welcome. We got a karaoke machine and kosher hotdogs.”

“I’d rather tear my eyeballs out of my skull,” Discord replied. “And then eat the one eye while I watch myself eat it with the other eye.”

“Your loss, dude,” Cheese said casually.

“Now what?” Discord asked.

“Well, you could join me for dinner,” Fluttershy suggested.

“Fine, but this is sooo not a date,” Discord told her. “Wait, aren’t you a vegetarian?”

“Yeah, but I can make it work,”

“No. No, no. I am not going to make you compromise your principles for me,” he said strongly. “Let’s... go get... vegan food.”

“Are you sure?” Fluttershy asked sincerely.

“The Hive has a vegan menu,” Thorax informed them.

“Sounds like a love letter to my colon,” Discord replied.

Pharynx turned to Ocellus and said, “A table for two.”

“Right this way,” she told Fluttershy and Discord, and led them to a secluded table close to the stage.

Discord pulled Fluttershy’s chair out for her before taking his seat and Ocellus handed them the menus. Then she asked if she could start them off with something to drink. Fluttershy asked for a peppermint tea and Discord had the sauerkraut juice on the rocks.

A silence fell between them as Ocellus left, saying that she would be back to take their orders. The vegetarian menu had quite the selection: prime ribs of celery, spinach loaf, soy bean sherbet, daffodil and daisy sandwiches, dandelion salad with mineral oil dressing, and 27 flavors of yogurt.

Ocellus came back with Discord’s drink, which he quickly downed, and a pot of hot water and a teabag for Fluttershy. She poured the water from the kettle as Fluttershy looked at her menu.

“Oh. I don’t really like soy beans,” she said. “This is hard for me.”

“It’s hard for all of us,” Discord whispered to Ocellus.

“I’ll come back,” Ocellus replied. “Can I get you another?”

“Never stop getting me another,” he said, handing her his empty glass.

He and Fluttershy fell into another awkward silence.

“You weren’t who I was expecting,” Fluttershy said quietly.

She didn’t look at Discord when she spoke; she was staring at the table.

“Me neither,” he admitted. “So, what sort of company were you expecting?”

“Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect,” she confessed, finally looking into his eyes. “They didn’t tell me it was you.”

“Same here,”

Ocellus returned five minutes later, much to Fluttershy and Discord’s relief.

“Have you made your decision?” she asked.

“I’ll have the fruit salad with the vanilla yogurt on the side, please,” Fluttershy said politely.

“The soy bean hamburger with French fried soybeans,” said Discord.

“It also comes with a kale shake,” Ocellus told him.

“Perfect,” Discord replied.

Ocellus smiled as she took their menus and dashed off to the kitchen. As they sat in silence, Discord came to the decision to give Fluttershy the night of her life. She was going to have a good evening, a nice meal, and he was not going to ruin it for her. That included no flirting. He was not going to flirt with her!

“You know, you’re a lot friendlier when you’re not on duty,” she told him.

“Well, I’m a lot more able to fire someone when I’m on duty,” he replied. He sighed. “I’m sorry, Fluttershy. I believe you don’t like me, and frankly, I don’t care. I manage over a hundred employees; and I know that many of them don’t like me. I also know that most of them think I’m a troll. I have to be to run the resort in the manner the owners expect.”

“That’s not true,” Fluttershy said. “Well, maybe, but I don’t hate you.”

“They’re a bunch of clowns,” he said. “I like clowns, but they should be funny. It’s a clown’s business being funny. I ask you: and be frank with me... what have I done to earn contempt? Why should I be treated like I am stupid and they are smart? There isn’t a man in all of Equestria with my reputation. So why don’t they respect me?”

“Discord, I get the feeling that you’re not upset about my friends disrespecting you,” Fluttershy said as she placed a hand over his. “What’s really bothering you?”

She was visibly concerned. Her sincerity almost made him break down and cry, right there in front of everybody. The truth was that his job had gotten so stressful that he had been changing everything from his diet to his cleaning habits.

“I even started sleeping on the other side of the bed,” he told her.

“I sort of lie down wherever,” Fluttershy shared.

“What are you, a farm animal?” Discord shouted. “Even I have a side of the bed I always sleep on! Please, walk me through this. You get ready for bed. You put on your pajamas, whatever...”

“Actually, I sleep naked,” Fluttershy said.

“I’m sorry, what?” he asked.

“Totally naked,” she repeated.

“So there’s no barrier between your business and your bed?” he inquired. “Basically, your sheets become a giant pair of panties? No sides, no clothes, no rules. Normally, I would say you’re a woman after my own heart, but I draw the line at filthy, naked hippies!”

Fluttershy gave Discord a rather admiring glance.

That was one of the things she liked about him, those bizarre things he said every once in a while. Call him a dope in so many things, a screwball that flipped on the hour every hour over the least little go-wrong, a patsy for the oldest gag, but he sure could handle the language when he wanted to.

Ocellus exited the kitchen a minute later, balancing a bowl in one hand and a plate on the other.

“Soy bean hamburger with French fried soy beans for the gentleman, and for the lady, fruit salad with the yogurt on the side,” she said.

“Took long enough,” Discord complained.

Fluttershy started to peel an orange as he tore into his burger... and immediately wanted to spit it back out. But he put on a smile and kept chewing as Fluttershy gave him a concerned look.

“Mmm... Mm-hmm...” he hummed.

Then he swallowed and almost vomited as Fluttershy picked up a banana (that was still in one piece), peeled it, and started licking the tip... rather erotically.

Ocellus came back with another sauerkraut juice for Discord and asked if everything tasted okay. Fluttershy nodded happily while Discord smiled.

“How was your meal?” he asked Fluttershy a few minutes later.

“Oh, that was so good,” she replied. “How was yours?”

“Nothing better than mung beans, a kale shake and a shamburger,”

“Really? Because it looks like you barely touched it,”

“I’m saving room for dessert,”

Ocellus returned again and asked, “Is there anything else I can get for you?”

“Yes, we will have the chocolate soufflé for dessert,” Fluttershy told her.

“Just a reminder, it’ll take 45 minutes to prepare,”

“No, no,” Discord protested. “We need something that’s ready right now.”

“Don’t listen to him. He’s just being silly,” Fluttershy said as she shot a smile to Discord across the table.

“One soufflé coming up,” Ocellus replied.

And she disappeared once more.

“While we’re waiting, why don’t we have some fun?” Fluttershy asked him.

“Fun?” Discord replied, like the word was new to him.

“Why don’t you go up there with me?” she asked as she nodded to the stage. “I love karaoke.”

“Sounds spontaneous,” he said. “I like spontaneous!”

Fluttershy waved Thorax over, whispered something into his ear, and he smiled as me led her and Discord up to the stage.

“Ladies and gentlemen please help me in welcoming back Fluttershy!” he announced.

The crowd clapped as she sang “Somebody to Love” and Discord’s eyes bulged to the size of tea cups. They sang a few more songs; Fluttershy had them eating out of her hand.

“Thank you,” Fluttershy said after she finished. “And now, for your listening pleasure, a little something called ‘I’m Cute’.”

Fluttershy’s bangs fell over her left eye as she held the microphone and started singing again while Discord, Thorax and Pharynx provided the backup.

After a few verses, Discord was starting to get bored but he kept singing. When Fluttershy finally caught on to what he was doing, she got right in his face.

“You’ve ruined my entire cute song!” she shouted. “I am angry! I am furious! I am enraged! I! Have! HAD IT!!”

She started breathing heavily and Discord smiled.

“You’re awfully cute when you’re angry,” he said.

Fluttershy blushed and asked, “You really think so?”

Discord’s grin widened as he finished the song with one final, “She’s cute!”

The crowd burst with applause as they returned to their seats and the chocolate soufflé came out.

“I’ve never felt so alive!” Discord said. “I should have cut loose years ago. That was awesome! Keep the change,” he told Ocellus as he paid the bill.

“Oh, Pharynx doesn’t permit tipping,” she replied. “But if you like, I can put it in the building’s renovation fund.”

“You do that,” he smiled.

Spike, Sunset and Applejack sat on the floor of the elevator, wiping the sweat from their faces with Spike’s towel. The girls had taken off their jackets and their shoes, but they were still perspiring. Spike never thought that this would happen to him. And yet, here he was; stuck in an elevator between floors with two beautiful women. Not only were they trapped in there, it was getting hot; so hot that Sunset started clinging to Spike for support.

“We’ll be all right,” he thought. “Someone will come.”

Sunset had pushed the emergency call buttons two more times, hoping that someone would answer, but all they got was the same recording from before. Spike tried to keep calm, but it was difficult. He had hummed most of the songs he knew, partially to entertain the girls but mostly to take their minds off their current situation. Unfortunately, that just made him even tenser.

Applejack started looking Spike over. Her mind registered every detail, starting at his toes, his long, muscular legs, his broad shoulders, and finally his handsome face. His eyes were closed, features relaxed. AJ couldn’t help but smile at the sight of him sitting there, clad in only a pair of swim trunks, looking calmer than an undisturbed pond.

Just as Applejack finished admiring the Adonis before of her, she saw that Spike was now looking at her. AJ blushed as she realized that she had been caught staring like an idiot. Spike couldn’t help but smile as AJ’s face got redder and redder by the second. She tried to say something, but she couldn’t find the words.

“Oh, no, he saw me!” she thought. “Quick! Pretend to be interested in something else! Damn, it’s hot!”

“They’re not coming,” Applejack said as she loosened her tie and undid the first two buttons on her shirt, exposing ample amounts of cleavage.

Spike caught sight of her black lace bra and his face almost flushed. He felt so weak that he didn’t remember if what happened next was a fantasy or reality, but Sunset saw him struggling to stay awake and she placed his head against her breasts. They were going to pass out before help even arrived.

“It’s so hot!” they all thought.

“I can’t take it anymore!” Applejack exclaimed as she got to her feet and her hands fell to her waist.

She blushed again and she looked at Spike over her shoulder and said softly, “Please look the other way.”

“Sure,” he said.

Applejack unzipped her skirt and it fell to her ankles, revealing a pair of black lace panties. She sat down next to Spike again, and her eyes fell to his shorts.

“You don’t have to bear it,” she said to him. “Just take it off.”

“I’m fine,” he replied.

“You’re sweating too much to be ‘fine,’” she observed.

Spike was fading in and out as Sunset pulled her shirt over her head, unclasped her bra, and threw them both aside. One of Spike’s hands found the firm weight of Applejack’s left breast and he began to stroke it through her shirt. He continued to stroke it, rubbing the ball of his thumb gently over the nipple. His strong hand on her breast felt soothing. Applejack let out a soft sound—in reaction to his gentle pressure on her breast. He raised his hand slightly and undid the third button of her shirt. Applejack shifted her legs slightly. Suddenly, her panties seemed too tight, slightly irritating in a pleasant sort of way.

Spike’s hand dropped to the fourth button, slipped it, and more of her cleavage was exposed. He unbuttoned the next two buttons and he slipped her breasts into the wide V of the open shirt, pulled down her bra, bent, and molded his lips around the stem of a nipple. He slipped his tongue slowly back and forth across it in a way he didn’t know she liked. Applejack moaned a little and arched her back. Spike raised his head slightly and then settled against the other nipple.

She was totally excited now, leaning over him, her breasts tumbling out of her shirt as Sunset pulled off her jeans and her panties. Sunset pulled Spike away from Applejack and told him to lick her nipples, giving AJ a chance to fully undress. Spike tried to stop, but he couldn’t.

One part of him was arguing that getting all hot and bothered while it was already hot in the elevator was just going to increase their collective body heat and accelerate their chances of collapsing from heat stroke, while the other half countered that if they were going to die in the elevator it would be nice to make out with someone one last time.

Applejack licked her lips as her bass player hands slipped over the front of his crotch and felt the bulge beneath.

“Looks like I should bring down the heat here, too,” she said.

Sunset helped raise Spike gently off the floor so that Applejack could pull down his board shorts. She slowly slipped them off and her mouth watered.

“I knew it was big, but I never imagined it was this big,” AJ thought.

“S-Spike... You’re so hard...” she said.

“AJ...” he said weakly.

“Just lay back and leave all the work to us,” Sunset told him.

Applejack wrapped her fingers around the shaft and immediately took the tip into her mouth.

“Taste good?” Sunset asked.

“Mmmm!” AJ moaned in reply and she started bobbing her head furiously.

“I want a taste, too!” Sunset pouted.

Applejack pulled back and let Sunset take her turn.

“Mmm-mm!” Sunset moaned. “That was delicious, but I think we should take this to the next level.” She wrapped her breasts around Spike’s cock. “I’m not trying to keep him to myself!” she said to Applejack. “Join in!”

AJ crawled up alongside Sunset and they each placed a single breast on either side of his cock, sandwiching it between them.

“Oooh! It’s too good!” he thought.

Sunset closed her mouth over the top and Spike moaned at what he knew was sure to come. Then she started bobbing her head up and down his shaft, sucking hard, bringing him closer to climax. He finally came in her mouth and she gratefully swallowed every drop of the steaming hot liquid.

Applejack climbed atop Spike and started nibbling his shoulder as he cupped her ass in his hands. Then Sunset got up and positioned herself between them, placing her bum in front of Spike’s face. Giving each thigh a quick slap, Spike began to push Sunset’s legs open a bit further. He leaned in close, ran his tongue up the inside of her thighs, and found the object of his desire.

AJ kept gnawing at Spike’s collarbone while Spike licked Sunset’s honey, and Sunset moaned, sighed, whined and whimpered until both women fell on top of him, panting.

While all that—Spike’s time in the elevator with Applejack and Sunset, and Discord’s blind date with Fluttershy—was going on, Soarin led Starlight, Rainbow Dash and Zephyr Breeze down to the basement.

“Follow me!” he told them.

“Boy, it’s dark,” Zephyr said. “Wow, it’s really dark. Seriously - it’s dark.”

“Yeah, we get it. It’s dark,” Dash replied. “Wait... Are you scared?”

“The Zephster does not get scared,” he answered.

“Oh, you are scared! Awww! Zeph’s scared of the dark!”

“That’s actually funny,” Soarin added.

“I am not scared of the dark,” Zephyr replied.

Zeph took a few steps down the corridor before Rainbow Dash grabbed him around his waist and said, “Gotcha!”

“AAAAAHHH! You can’t get me, vampire!” he cried and he jumped into Soarin’s arms.

They all laughed at him until they heard a metallic creaking.

“What was that?” Starlight asked.

Soarin dropped Zephyr and shouted, “Every man for himself!”

And they all ran off screaming. They ran for a whole minute before Rainbow Dash shouted for them to stop.

“What are we running from?” she asked.

“I don’t know!” Starlight exclaimed.

“Bet you ladies are glad I’m here to protect you,” Zephyr said.

Rainbow Dash groaned in reply.

“Where’s Soarin?” Starlight asked.

“The vampires got him!” Zephyr shrieked.

“There’s no such thing as vampires,” Starlight told him. “Come on! I think it’s this way.”

For the next ten minutes Starlight opened doors, looking for the circuit breaker. The first was the walk-in freezer where the cooks kept all of the meat. There were 15 rib roasts, 12 whole turkeys and 40 whole chickens, 50 sirloin steaks, two dozen pork roasts, and below them were racks and legs of lamb (20 each)... all hanging from rows of hooks along the walls. Hamburger in 30 ten-pound plastic bags, 12 packages of sausage, the same number of bacon, a dozen canned hams stacked up like poker chips, five pounds of rainbow trout, ten of turbot, and fifteen cans of tuna. A long wallboard, covering one whole wall, hung with cutting instruments all the way from knives to two-handed cleavers hung beside a four-basin sink.

The next bin was the bread—thirty loves of white, twenty of wheat, and twenty pounds of butter. Real butter.

“You know I was just kidding about that vampire stuff,” Zephyr told them. “I’m not scared.”

Suddenly, they heard a disgusting slurping sound coming from behind them.

“I’m too pretty to die!” he cried.

They ran again until they hit a dead end. The slurping approached and Zephyr put Rainbow Dash in front of him as a shield as a dark shadow came around the corner.

It was Soarin. And he was holding a tub of chocolate ice cream.

“Yo, you guys find the breaker yet?” he asked.

“Dude! You’re alive! Oh, dude!” Zephyr cried happily. “Where’d you get the ice cream?”

“AHHHHHHHHHH!” Soarin exclaimed as he fell to his knees.

“Oh, my gosh! Soarin!” Starlight cried.

“Ah, brain freeze!” he said. “That’s better. Come on, let’s move!”

And they followed him further into the basement.

Meanwhile, the bat mitzvah had ended in the building next to The Hive, and Cheese Sandwich started up the shuttle bus as Discord and Fluttershy got on.

“Okay, both coming-of-age parties are over,” Discord told him. “And we’re going back now.”

“Sure thing, boss man,” Cheese Sandwich replied. “But I have some bad news and some good news. The bad news is that the bus is stuck in first gear.”

“What’s the good news?” Discord asked.

“I just got a wicked new party mix CD for us to listen to on the way back,”

Discord sat in the very back next to Fluttershy, and he closed his eyes saying, “Serenity now. Serenity now. Serenity now.”

Starlight led Soarin, Zephyr Breeze and Rainbow Dash through the storeroom where all the dried and canned goods were kept. Fruits (everything from peaches and apricots to raisins and prunes) and vegetables (potatoes, onions, tomatoes, turnips, squashes, and cabbages), fish and meats, rice, macaroni, spaghetti, a bushel of fresh apples, hot and cold cereals, a dozen gallon jugs of molasses, a hundred boxes of dried milk, and thirty 12-pound bags of sugar. Zephyr found a roll of aluminum foil, and not only did he make himself a hat out of it, but he actually wore it. Dash asked him about it.

“It’s so the aliens can’t hear my thoughts,” he said.

“Oh, they’d have to listen really hard to find one of those,” she replied.

Starlight stifled a giggle.

“Does it protect against brain-eating zombies?” Soarin inquired.

“Darn. I didn’t think of that,” Zeph said.

“Okay, it has to be this way,” Starlight told them.

“You don’t know where it is, do you?” Dash asked her.

“No clue,” she confessed.

“I knew it!” Zephyr cried. “We’re all gonna die! And then we’re going to die at the hands of vampires and aliens and brain-eating zombies and then we’re gonna get fired! And then we’re gonna die all over again! HEEEEELLLLP!!!!”

Soarin slapped Zephyr across the face.

“Dude, what’d you do that for?” he asked.

“You were wigging out,” Soarin replied. “And Dash gave me fifty bucks.”

“Guys!” Dash shouted. “I think I found something!”

It was a big metal door with a lightning bolt in the center.

“That’s it!” Starlight exclaimed.

“Okay, Soarin, you’re up!” Dash said as she pushed the door open.

Soarin stepped into the room and his eyes panned across a panorama of over 50 different levers, buttons and knobs.

“Where’s the ‘on’ switch?” he asked.

“SOARIN!!!!” they shouted.

Starlight pulled out her cell phone and dialed Cheese Sandwich.

“Great Cheese Sandwich here,” he answered.

“Cheese, it’s Starlight Glimmer. We need your help! We’re at the breaker switch but we don’t know what to do!”

Cheese glanced in the mirror over his head and saw Discord nodding off in the back seat of the bus.

“Okay, listen very carefully,” he whispered so that Discord couldn’t hear him. “One false move and the whole system will go down for good.”

“As if we weren’t under enough pressure!!” Dash exclaimed.

“Oh, and I’m almost back,” Cheese added.

“Oh, that’s just great!” Zephyr shouted. “This is everyone else’s fault! If the vampires don’t get us, Discord will! We are so dead! We are beyond de--”

This time, Rainbow Dash slapped Zeph across the face.

“Yeah, I deserved that one,” he admitted, rubbing his cheek.

“Okay, Cheese,” Starlight told him, “I’ve got you on speaker.”

“First, power up the pump,” he began.

“Got it!” Zephyr said. “What’s next?”

“Flip the switches in this order,” Cheese instructed. “Orange, yellow, pink, blue, then...”

“Cheese?” Starlight asked. “Cheese can you hear me?”

“Hold on -- incoming Discord,” he whispered in reply.

“Who was that you were talking to?” Discord asked.

“Who, me?” Cheese answered. “I wasn’t talking.”

“I heard you talking to someone on your cell phone,”

“This cell phone? Naw man, the battery’s dead,”

Cheese showed Discord his phone—the battery had indeed died.

“See? Dead,”

“Who. Hired. You?!” Discord asked. “And where is the hotel? We should be able to see it by now.”

“You got me, bro,” Cheese Sandwich replied.

“All right, that’s it! Something’s up! Move over!”

Cheese Sandwich pulled the bus over and Discord took control. With a punch of the clutch and a jerk, he dropped the bus’s stick shift into second gear, then back up into third.

“Ha! I thought you said only first gear was working!”

“It’s a mechanical miracle!” Cheese Sandwich replied.

“Then what?” Starlight shouted into her phone. “Cheese, then which one?”

She waited for a reply, but she heard nothing.

“He’s gone,” she breathed.

“Okay, two choices,” Rainbow Dash said. “Red or purple?”

“I can’t work with this kind of pressure!” Soarin exclaimed.

“There’s only one way to solve this,” Zephyr Breeze said. “Eenie-meenie-minie-mo.”

“Seriously?” Dash asked.

“You got any better ideas?!” Zeph shouted.

“All right, just pick one!” Dash yelled. “Quick!”

Zephyr flicked the red switch up... and the lights came on all over the resort.

“They did it... They did it!” Coco cried. “We have light!”

In the elevator, the silence was finally broken by a hard, clanking, metallic rattle. Then there was heavy grinding and a mechanical humming. The elevator started moving again and Spike, Sunset and Applejack cheered.

Starlight, Soarin, Zephyr Breeze and Rainbow Dash all exchanged hugs and high fives (including one really awkward, and uncomfortable, hug between Dash and Zephyr) before making their way back upstairs, just in time to see Discord and Fluttershy enter the lobby.

“Anything happen while I was gone?” he asked Rarity.

“Nothing I can think of,” she slurred.

“Something seems off,” Discord said.

“It’s been really quiet,” Rarity answered.

“Well, I’m going to bed,” Discord yawned. “Oh, and Rarity...”

“Yes, sir?” she asked.

“Don’t forget to turn off the lights in the lobby bathrooms. Thanks,”

“You got it, boss,” she hiccupped.

Once Discord was out of earshot Zephyr let out a big, “Woo-hoo!”

“Okay, double or nothing one of ‘em gets fired by tomorrow night,” Tex told the other guests. “Any takers? Anyone? No?” They all walked off. “Crap!”

Three seconds later, the elevator on the far side of the lobby sighed opened and Spike, Applejack and Sunset stepped out of the car, fully clothed, and glistening with sweat.

“We’re free!” Sunset exclaimed. “Free at last!”

“Spike, I’m sorry,” Applejack apologized. “I bit you in the shoulder.”

Spike looked down and he saw that she had given him a hickey.

“It was so hot I couldn’t even think,” she said. “My mind was so clouded I was about to--”

Spike placed his hands on her shoulders and smiled at her. He spoke not a word, but the look in his eyes told her that she was forgiven. The elevator doors sighed shut as he walked to the stairwell and she smiled as she watched him go.

“Man, I really hope I remember this in the morning,” Spike thought.

“So... Did you enjoy your evening?” Fluttershy asked as she followed Discord to his office.

“I did, actually,” he replied.

She chuckled. “If you’re free tomorrow, perhaps you’d consider going out with me again?”

“This wasn’t a date!” he re-reminded her.

“It’s okay, John,” she told him. “Everybody needs a little fun sometimes -- even you.”

“You’re right,” Discord admitted. “I could use a little more fun in my life.”

She raised herself on tiptoe to brush her lips against his cheek. She smiled at him as his cheeks went red and she skipped merrily away.

Author's Note

Next time: Rainbow Dash’s gross roommate habits get her kicked out of her room by Rarity and Fluttershy... and into Spike’s. But when they realize how much they miss Dash, they beg her to return.

Meanwhile, Starlight and Pinkie (afraid that Twilight received a bad evaluation, which would lead to her third strike) try to track down the paperwork before it reaches Discord.

Deep Impact

One night, Fluttershy awoke to a horrid smell coming from outside her bedroom. She shuddered as she pulled on her white bathrobe and tiptoed to Rarity’s room while Rainbow Dash snored loudly on the sofa in the living room.

“Oh...” Rarity mumbled in her sleep. “Are those pancakes I smell? Mmm, how divine... spiced warm apple cider... Ooohh!!” she gagged, now wide awake. “What is that repulsive odor?” she asked Fluttershy.

“If I had to guess, I would say either a toilet backed up or it’s...”

They both looked at Rainbow Dash, still passed out on the couch. Rarity grabbed one of her slippers, threw it at Rainbow Dash and it bounced off her head.

“Soarin, why’re you head-butting me?” Dash murmured, still asleep.

“Rainbow Dash, wake up!” Fluttershy shouted.

She yawned and said, “What’s up?”

“You were snoring again!” Fluttershy whined. “Louder than ever.”

“I obviously don’t hear anything,” Dash replied. “And don’t say it’s because I’m awake now,” she added at Rarity.

“And not only are you loud, you smell worse than a rhinoceros fart!” Rarity complained as she propped a window open. “Take a shower!”

“I would, but you two always hog the bathrooms in the morning, so I don’t have time to shower,” Rainbow Dash replied. “And even if I did, all the hot water is gone by then.”

“Rainbow Dash, you’re my friend, and I love you, but could you maybe not be so nasty and revolting?” Fluttershy asked as she reached under the couch and pulled out a bowl of moldy cereal. “You can’t live like this. And I definitely can’t live like this!”

“I hate to interrupt,” said Rarity, “but have either of you seen my new lingerie?”

“Were they black and frilly, with white lace around the edges, and cut really high on the hip?” Dash inquired.

“Yes...” Rarity said slowly. “Why?”

“Hold on,” Dash replied.

Rainbow Dash twisted beneath the sheet. After a few seconds of struggling, she pulled out a pair of frilly panties with a matching bra.

“Here,” she said as she handed them to Rarity. “I kept them warm for you.”

Fluttershy bit her bottom lip to keep herself from smiling.

“Your girls have trespassed on my girls’ property,” Rarity replied. “My girls no longer want to be there. You know what? Keep them.”

“Hey, don’t talk about my girls like that!” Dash told her as she cupped her now bare chest. “You’ll hurt their feelings.”

“Oh, I’ll hurt a lot more than their feelings if you don’t keep them out of my brassières and other intimates,”

“What is your problem?”

“You are my problem!” Rarity yelled. “I must confess have seen many gross things in my life. I have roughed it out in the wilderness with Applejack for ten straight days. I have used public bathrooms that should have been declared toxic waste dumps. I have witnessed my father excavate things out of his own navel that I do not even want to think about, much less attempt to describe, but I refuse to share space with a woman who can’t respect that sanctity of another lady’s unmentionables!!” She took a deep breath and said, “Rainbow Dash... I think you should go.”

“What?” Dash asked.

“What?” Fluttershy repeated.

They were both shocked.

“I’m sorry,” Rarity said, “but either clean up your lifestyle or get out.”

“Fluttershy?” Dash attempted.

“I have to agree with Rarity,” she replied.

“Fine, I’ll just get my junk and go!”

She pulled on one of her Wonderbolt Academy sweatshirts, threw the rest of her clothes and her toothbrush into her duffel bag, slung her electric guitar over her back, and reached for the YBOX that was under the TV.

“Unh-unh!” Rarity exclaimed. “The video game system came with the room. It stays!”

Rainbow Dash picked up her bag, walked out into the hall, and slammed the door behind her without looking back.

“That was cruel, Rarity,” Fluttershy said.

“Your panties could be next, darling!” Rarity told her.

“Good point,” she replied.

The first place Dash went to was Applejack and Sunset Shimmer’s room. Inside, AJ was (metaphorically) spanking Sunset in their latest video game session. That night’s game was Ogres and Oubliettes: Selena’s Gate.

“I win again,” Applejack said.

“I don’t like to lose!” Sunset grumbled.

Suddenly, there was a knock at their door.

“Who could that be?” they both wondered as it opened.

“Hey, girls,” said Rainbow Dash. “Got room for one more?”

Sunset and Applejack immediately covered their noses.

“Not a chance!” Applejack exclaimed.

“And no offense, but you stink!” Sunset added.

Rainbow Dash left them to their games and tried the room across the hall.

“Yo Dazzlings, guess who’s your new roomma--” she cut herself short.

Dash had walked in on the three women, naked, and kissing a body pillow with an image of Spike on it. Well, Aria and Sonata were making out with the pillow while Adagio was riding a massive purple dildo that was attached to it.

“Does no one know how to knock in this day and age?!” Adagio shouted.

“I’m sorry, I was just leaving...” Dash said and closed the door behind her.

Rainbow Dash attempted to bleach her mind of what she had seen by thinking of who would be willing to take her in. If Applejack and Sunset said no, then chances were that Twilight, Starlight and Pinkie would too. She thought maybe Soarin would since they were old pals from the Academy; but she definitely didn’t want to crash with Zephyr Breeze. Then Dash’s thoughts strayed back to the image of Spike’s face on that full body pillow.

Then she thought, “Maybe...”

So she rode the elevator up to the 26th floor and approached the door to Spike’s suite. She thought about using her master key like she had on the girls’ doors, but she decided to be a little more polite and waited for an answer after she knocked. It opened and Spike stood in the doorway, a bewildered look on his face.

“Fluttershy and Rarity kicked me out,” she began.

Spike’s expression turned to shock as he let her in.

“They took my videogames and Rarity even yelled at me,” she went on. “I don’t want to put you out, but please, can I stay here?”

Spike paused for a moment, then said, “Sure, you can stay... on one condition.”

“Name it!” she replied.

“Help me try out my TV’s new sound system,” he told her.

Spike led her by the hand until she was right in front of the living room TV.

“Stand right there,” he said. “My buddy’s cousin hooked up the speakers for me, but I haven’t tested ‘em yet. He said they’re supposed to be so strong and so loud that they’ll kill birds and small animals. Don’t tell Fluttershy I said that.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” she replied.

Spike turned the TV on, cranked the volume all the way up to the max, and pushed play on a disc that was already in the DVD player. The soundwaves hit Dash so hard that her sweater flew from her body, leaving her naked.

“Oh, and blow women’s clothes off!” Spike smiled triumphantly.

“You are dead!” she shouted, and she tackled him.

They wrestled around on the living room floor and in the scuffle, knocked over the coffee table. It ended with Spike on his back while Dash scooped up her sweater, guitar and duffel bag, marched into Spike’s bedroom, and locked the doors behind her. Spike reached for the remote, turned off the TV, and then climbed onto one of the couches, closed his eyes, and fell asleep.

He awoke the next morning to find his bedroom doors wide open.

“Oh, what the Tartarus?” he groaned.

He walked into his bedroom to find the bed unmade (no real surprise there) and Rainbow Dash gone. Then he walked into his bathroom, and it was a mess. Dash didn’t turn the exhaust fan on, so the whole room (including the mirror) was fogged full of steam, so Spike couldn’t shave; there was no hot water left when he turned the faucet on in the shower, and she finished the toilet paper and didn’t replace the roll.

“If she left the toilet seat up she’d be an honorary dude,” he thought.

He skipped shaving and immediately dressed for work.

When he got to the staff locker rooms, Discord was already going over the staff evaluation forms from yesterday. Nobody even noticed Spike come in.

“Unacceptable! Completely unacceptable!” Discord shouted. “Look at these! Rainbow Dash! Seven point five out of ten!”

“You said anything above a seven is okay,” she said.

“Do better! Soarin! Four! Says ‘needs to spend less time flirting with the customers and actually serve drinks,’”

“The girls I ‘flirt’ with are no less than nine out of ten,” Soarin replied.

Discord threw the forms to the floor in disgust.

“That’s it!” he yelled. “From now on, anyone who gets less than an eight on a staff eval gets a strike! And you know what three strikes means...”

“We. Are. Out of here,” they all droned.

Spike looked over his shoulder and saw Twilight enter with a towel crudely wrapped around her head.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Discord said (not feeling sorry at all). “Did I schedule the staff meeting during rubber ducky time? You just earned another big, fat, strike!” he shouted as he stormed out. “And let that be a lesson to the rest of you!”

Twilight slumped onto one of the benches with her face in her hands.

“No! That’s my second strike!”

“It’s not that bad,” Starlight told her. “Just do a perfect job from now on and Discord has to forgive you... eventually. By the way, you’re out of conditioner.”

“Yeah, I know,” Twilight grunted as removed the towel from her head to reveal her hair in a very high poof.

Later, at the front desk, Rarity smiled over the newspaper, studying the front page article. Shining Armor had arrested the group that was responsible for the city-wide blackout the other night—a gang of criminals that had planned to hit a bank in Las Pegasus. But how did they knock out power to the entire city? They used a pinch; a device that was created to cause a cardiac arrest for broadband electrical circuitry. Basically, it was a bomb but without the explosion.

When a nuclear device was detonated, it released an electromagnetic pulse, or a wave jammer, that shut down any power source within its blast radius. But that didn’t matter because a nuclear weapon usually destroyed everything that would need power anyway, whereas a pinch created a similar pulse but without the mass destruction and death. There was only one pinch in the world big enough to work; it had been stolen from the Califoalnia Institute of Advanced Science two weeks before and Shining Armor was in charge of that investigation.

The Las Pegasus city workers didn’t back the main power lines so the robbers managed to not only knock those out, but also the backup grids, one by one, like dominos. The city-wide blackout lasted only 30 seconds, and the power game back on, but the pinch had also knocked out the backup generator that the Flimflam Brothers had installed in their resort just for emergency blackouts. That’s why Soarin had to reroute the power through the circuit breaker the night Discord went on a blind date with Fluttershy while Spike, Sunset and Applejack were stuck in the elevator.

Each member of the gang had a cover while they were in Las Pegasus—some had jobs while others were on vacation—but Shining Armor and the EBI tracked them down and arrested every single one of them. And not only that, but now that the City of Las Pegasus knew its weakness, they were quick to fix it.

“Wow. You’re chipper this morning,” Fluttershy observed as she strolled up to the front desk on her way to the casino.

“Oh, I had a great night of sleep last night!” Rarity replied. “I actually got up early and I went to a yoga session. You have got to come with me next time. The new instructor is a hottie!” She sighed. “And with the Grand Duchess of Slobula gone, the air was so fresh! Hey, you’ve got the afternoon off too, right? We should do something together.”

“Okay. What do you want to do?” Fluttershy asked.

“I don’t know. What do you want to do?” Rarity replied.

“We could always call Rainbow--” Fluttershy began.

“No! She’ll think we want her back. I’ve got a taste of fresh air and I am not about to give it up!”

Speaking of which, Rainbow Dash walked by them with her maid cart, shot them a hateful glare, then stuck her nose in the air and kept on walking.

“Oooh - the Silent Treatment,” Rarity said. “Like I care.”

Spike followed close behind, from the ballroom, and stopped to say, “S’up.”

“Wow, look at you,” Rarity said. “What’s on your face?”

Spike brushed the tip of his middle finger across the corner of his mouth. Then he lifted his hand to his eye to see what had been on his face.

“Blood, apparently,” he replied. “My couch was lumpy, thanks for asking.”

“I didn’t,” Rarity said. “Wait, you slept on your couch last night? Why?”

“Because I fought Dash for my bed,” he answered.

“She stayed with you last night?” Rarity inquired.

“Yeah, thanks for that, by the way,” Spike said shortly.

“I assume you know why,” Rarity replied.

“You should have seen my bathroom this morning,”

He gave Fluttershy a brief glance and walked away.

Later that afternoon, Starlight (dressed as a Bunny Girl) was keeping an eye on Twilight while she (Starlight) helped bus drinks on the casino floor.

She saw one of the players at Twilight’s table write a “1” on his staff evaluation card and she gasped.

“If Discord gets that eval, that’s Twilight’s third strike!”

She had to do something.

Starlight approached him after he cashed out.

“Let me put that staff evaluation form in the box for you,” she said to him.

“Thanks, but I think I can handle it,” he chuckled.

“But you shouldn’t be working while you’re on vacation,”

“I’m not working,”

“I’d call using your fingers work,”

“Are you trying to interfere with my staff evaluation?”

“Why would I ever do that?” she asked. “Gimme that form!” she exclaimed.

Starlight tried to tackle him, but he dodged her and deposited the form into the comment box. She looked at the box and noticed the big padlock on the front. And she didn’t have the key. She reached down between her breasts, pulled out her cell phone, and dialed Applejack.

“Applejack, got anything that’ll cut a lock?” she began.

“What for?” AJ inquired.

“I need to cut the lock off the comment box,”

“No,” AJ stated, and she hung up.

Starlight returned to the comment box, only to find it already open... and the staff evaluation cards gone.

“Where did they go?” she asked.

“The forms?” Fluttershy asked. “Adagio took them to Discord’s office.”

“No!” Starlight screamed as she pushed Fluttershy out of the way, knocking her tray of drinks into the air.

Fluttershy shrieked as she caught one drink with the tray she was holding in her right hand, another glass in her left hand, one on the top of her head, and the fourth one with her left foot... all without spilling a single drop.

“My whole job just flashed before my eyes!” she said.

“Thanks,” one of the patrons told her as he took the glass that she caught with her foot.

Starlight ran out of the casino, to the Sweet Snacks Café just as Pinkie Pie was coming off her shift.

“Pinkie! Emergency! Twilight got a bad staff eval and we have to stop it from getting to Discord’s office!”

“Whoa!” Pinkie replied. “She must have really messed up.”

They saw Adagio on the far side of the lobby with the stack of staff evaluation cards. She looked at one and smiled.

“Discord doesn’t need to see my little five out of ten,” Adagio said as she folded it up and slipped it down the front of her blouse, between her breasts.

“Stop that lounge singer!” Starlight exclaimed, and she and Pinkie chased after her.

“Aria, get these to Discord. I’ve got to rest up for tonight’s show,” Adagio said as she handed her sister the staff evaluations.

“No problem,” Aria replied.

Pinkie and Starlight would have caught up with Aria if they hadn’t been blocked by Zephyr Breeze and Bulk Biceps, who were pulling their luggage carts through the lobby.

“Discord doesn’t need to see my little four out of ten,” Aria said as she pocketed one of the eval cards.

“Stop that backup singer!” Starlight shouted.

She and Pinkie continued to chase after Aria, who handed the staff evals off to Sonata.

“Sonata, get these to Discord,” she told her.

“Discord doesn’t need to see my little nine out of ten,” Sonata said. “Oh, wait... Maybe he does.”

“Stop... that...!” Starlight panted. “Just stop her!”

They followed Sonata down the hall to Discord’s office. She took the forms inside and several beams of red light shot out of the walls the second she shut the door behind her.

“Good luck getting by that laser field,” Pinkie said. “You’d need the biggest I.T. geek in the world.”

“Or the casino’s head of security,” Starlight replied.

She pulled out her cell phone and dialed Applejack again.

“Applejack, you’ve got to shut down the laser grid around Discord’s office!”

“Are you off your rocker?” Applejack asked. “Do you have any idea how much trouble I’d get in if--?”

“It’s to save Twilight’s job,” Starlight said.

“No!”

“Did I say Twilight? I meant Spike. It’s to save Spike’s job,”

“Done!”

AJ typed a few commands into her computer and the lasers around Discord’s office door quickly vanished.

“Way to go, Applejack!” Pinkie said.

When Starlight opened the door, it was obvious from a quick glance at Discord’s office that his world revolved around chaos, a chaos that he controlled. And the décor was right in tune with his usual disheveled appearance.

There were a few framed photographs that hung on the walls. One of which was Discord, when he was much younger, shaking hands with Flank Sinatra. Another was of Discord dressed like Sinatra, standing on the Las Pegasus Strip and selling everything from 29 cent shrimp cocktails, to tickets to Foxy Boxing and fake IDs. There were two mismatched couches facing each other in the center of the room, as well as a torn, aging leather easy chair. The shelves were so cluttered they buckled in the middle like they were about to collapse, and 20 stacks of evaluation sheets, all higher than their heads, covered the floor.

“This might take a while,” they both groaned.

While Starlight and Pinkie went through the forms in Discord’s office, Fluttershy and Rarity spent their afternoon at the spa.

Aloe and Lotus Blossom, the curvaceous twin sisters who managed the place, smiled when Rarity walked in and asked for her usual: a manicure and a pedicure (complete with polish), an avocado face mask, a bikini wax, and a seaweed skin wrap... in other words, the full treatment (aka the works).

Rarity was currently enjoying a deep tissue massage from Aloe while Lotus Blossom rubbed Fluttershy’s feet.

“Darling, could you get between my shoulder blades?” she asked. “That’s where I carry all my tension.”

Aloe smiled as she applied more pressure to Rarity’s back.

“Fluttershy, what’s wrong?” Rarity asked when she noticed her friend wasn’t enjoying herself.

“I had a lot more fun when Rainbow Dash came with us,” she admitted.

“We do not need Rainbow Dash to have fun,” Rarity told her. “And besides, it is much nicer to be at the spa with someone who doesn’t crack up every time she hears the word ‘facial.’”

“Facial,” Fluttershy chuckled. “Sorry.”

As much as Rarity hated to admit it, Fluttershy was right – a day at the spa wasn’t the same without Rainbow Dash.

She sighed. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to check on her.”

So, they allowed Aloe and Lotus Blossom to finish their massages, got dressed and went to see how Dash was doing.

Spike had so much cash lying around his suite that he didn’t know where to put it all. When he dug through his bedroom closet, he’d find stacks of hundred-dollar bills on the floor—as much as a hundred thousand held together by tight rubber bands. When he reorganized his music record collection and cleaned out under his bed, he uncovered several shoe boxes full of orange casino chips hidden behind one of his stereo speakers and beneath the bedframe. And when he went to eat at the restaurants, he always paid with hundred-dollar bills; not to show off but to get rid of some of them.

“Hey, check out this beanbag I found out in the alley,” Rainbow Dash told him. “Can you believe somebody just threw that out?”

“Well, that’s great,” Spike remarked as he poured himself a drink at the bar, “but what are all those homeless cats gonna pee on now?”

He was almost thankful when he heard a knock at his door as Rainbow Dash hooked her electric guitar up to the speakers and started tuning it. Spike opened the door and his frown deepened.

“Oh,” he said. “Hello, Fluttershy. Rarity.”

“Rainbow Dash is not still mad, is she?” Fluttershy asked.

“No, she’s not mad,” Spike answered. “She’s pissed.”

Suddenly, they heard rock music blaring from inside Spike’s suite. He ushered them in and they saw Rainbow Dash standing on one of the sofas, rocking hard. Her light strumming had quickly turned to wild windmill strokes with her arm and wagging her tongue.

“Of all the--You get yourself kicked out, and then you have the nerve to have fun without us?” Rarity hollered over the music.

“Don’t act so high and mighty, Miss The-Other-Side-Music-Video!” Dash countered as she leapt off the couch to look Rarity right in the face. “You don’t need to say a word for me to know that you two went to the spa without me!”

Rarity recoiled and was about to try and lie her way out of it when Dash added, “The smell of sweat that doesn’t come from a workout, your teeth are so bleached that they almost match your skin, and not only are your nails filed, but the polish is still drying!” She jumped back onto the couch and she went right back to playing. “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

“Well, it’s late and I’m really tired, so could you, please, keep it down?” Rarity asked.

“Sure thing, Mom!” Dash shouted in reply.

“I mean it, Rainbow Dash! I have a double shift tomorrow, and you know how grumpy I get without my beauty sleep!”

“Sounds like someone wants me back in bed,” Dash said huskily.

“Fine, if that’s how you feel, why don’t you just stay here and sleep in your own filth, and Fluttershy and I will enjoy our nice, garbage-free room, all by ourselves,” Rarity told her.

“You think that’s punishment?” Dash scoffed. “Confining me to Club Spike? Where, every night, all Spikes drink for free! You see that?” she asked Spike after Rarity and Fluttershy left. “They’re on the verge of cracking. Eventually, they’ll give in, beg me to come back. And then I’ll be the winner!”

Spike just rolled his eyes as he finished his drink.

Dash noticed his upset expression and she unplugged.

“If this is about the mess I left in the bathroom, I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I meant to clean it up.”

Spike didn’t respond.

“Look, I know I haven’t really shown my appreciation,” she added. “And because you’ve been so great to me...”

She reached into a bag she had brought back to the suite earlier and pulled out a bottle of Wild Dragon bourbon.

“Dash, you didn’t have to--Wait... ‘Made with Flash Bee Honey’? Dash, this is really expensive stuff! How could you afford this?”

“I dipped into my rainy day fund,” she replied. “It’s the least I can do.”

Rainbow Dash ran her hand down Spike’s arm, to his belt. Then she knelt down in front of him and unzipped his pants.

“Whoa!” she exclaimed. “You’re hung like a stallion!”

She began to stroke him lightly. Then she licked the tip before taking him into her mouth. She stroked him a bit more, and then she began to suck, bobbing her head up and down as she did so.

“Oh yeah...” he groaned.

Spike began to relax as Dash’s hand squeezed around his shaft. He started to zone out as she drooled down his cock; making sloppy, wet sounds as she sucked harder and deeper.

“Just a bit more...” he said.

“Mpghph!” Dash exclaimed when she sensed Spike tense up.

Her eyes went wide for a second and she stopped bobbing with him halfway down her throat. She closed her eyes as Spike’s seed dripped from her lips and he continued to thrust into her mouth. Dash pulled back, coughed for a moment, then licked some of his nectar off her fingers and guided the last of it into her mouth.

“You mind if I take a shower?” she asked as she got to her feet.

“If you’re gonna do that, maybe I could join you and wash your back,” Spike suggested.

“And by ‘back,’ you mean ‘boobs,’ right?”

“Potato, tomato,” he replied, “by the way, nice melons.”

Rainbow Dash chuckled as Spike followed her through his bedroom and into the bathroom.

“Let’s get in that shower so I can wash you,” he said. “All of you.”

They quickly disrobed and turned on the hot water. Less than a foot of space separated them as Dash looked at Spike’s face... then down at his crotch. Then she turned away and grabbed a bottle of shampoo.

“Would you?” she asked as she motioned to her hair.

Spike nodded with a smile as the tip of his fully engorged cock rubbed against the small of her back. He gathered her hair behind her head and began to run his fingers through it.

“Mmm... That feels good,” she sighed.

Spike felt the firm cheeks of her bottom brush against his balls as he heard her take a quick breath and felt her tense up as he slid snugly between her cheeks. After Dash rinsed her hair, he worked up a good lather with the soap and placed his hands on her shoulders, squeezing them as an almost overwhelming feeling of pleasure washed over him.

He moved his hands over her shoulder blades as she arched her back slightly and brought herself up onto her tiptoes, lifting herself an inch or so higher. The water cascaded over them as Spike soaped Dash’s breasts while he stood behind her. He kissed her neck as his hands slipped over the smooth curve of her waist to her hips and his shaft slipped into the small gap between her thighs, making her shudder. He took a sharp breath as the tip slid over the lips of her pussy and she let out a soft moan. But he didn’t penetrate her. Instead, he knelt down and started sucking her pussy, much to her delight. She came hard and sighed deeply.

When they were done, Rainbow Dash stepped out of the shower, wrapped a towel around her body, and tucked the edge in right next to her breast.

Spike was enamored by that.

Every woman knew how to do that. They also knew how to do the weirdest thing: how to do that head wrap with the towel right out of the shower.

A typhoon couldn’t blow that thing off her head.

He followed her out of the bathroom and she walked to the bed.

“They say size doesn’t matter,” she told him. “But we both know that’s a load of horseshit, don’t we? You’ve got nothing to worry about in that department, you stud!”

Rainbow Dash cast her towels aside, pushed Spike back onto the bed, crawled on top of him and straddled his waist.

“What are you--?” he began.

He was silenced as she placed a finger over his lips.

“I’m gonna rock you like a hurricane!” she whispered.

She reached over to the nightstand, picked up a tiny remote control, hit a button, and “Rock You Like A Hurricane” started playing from the speakers.

Dash lifted her rear a bit, reached underneath her and grabbed Spike’s cock. She guided the tip to her pussy, and rubbed it back forth over her folds without letting him enter. Then she moaned as she prepared herself to take him in. She braced herself, and then slammed down hard, taking him all the way to the hilt.

She cried out in pain, and after taking a few seconds to adjust to the sensation of being full, Dash balanced herself by leaning down with her hands on Spike’s chest. She lifted her butt an inch or two off of him, only to slam it back down again. After a few minutes, she had worked herself into a rhythm, keeping the same pace as she slammed down on him again and again, enjoying the feeling of his cock stimulating every centimeter of her insides. Spike himself was lost in a feeling he had never dreamed even existed. The feel was almost too much for him to handle. Every time she lifted herself up, he wanted nothing more than for her to lower herself again so he could experience the all-encompassing warmth of her around him.

He came hard, over and over, sending Dash over the edge. She arched her back, her hands shot from his chest to her own, as she squeezed her small bosom tightly. She fell forward and rested her head on Spike’s chest, his cock still deep inside her. A few minutes later, Rainbow Dash lay beside Spike; then looked at him through a wisp of blue-black smoke, a cigarette in one hand, a glass of Wild Dragon bourbon in the other.

“Spike, I don’t do this kind of thing very often,” she told him.

“What? Smoke, drink, or fuck?” he inquired.

“All of the above,”

She set her glass on the nightstand and snuffed her cigarette out in the ash tray beside it before she ran her fingers through the small tuft of hair on his chest.

“I really am sorry for the way I’ve treated you,” she said. “Making a mess in the bathroom and leaving it, spilling your blood after you blew my clothes off--”

“Hey! That last one I deserved,”

“Well, I’m still sorry. Hitting you was totally uncalled for. Hitting you until you bled was...”

She looked like she was about to cry.

“What’s wrong, Dash?” he asked.

“It’s just... I was looking forward to one last break after graduation before the real world hit me in the face,” Dash said. “I just want to see something so awesome that I throw up from all the awesome, ya know?” she asked.

Spike kissed her forehead.

“Dashie, has anyone ever told you that you have beautiful eyes? Because you have beautiful eyes,”

“You really think that?”

“I don’t generally say things I don’t mean. You’re cute,”

“He really thinks I’m cute!” she thought.

“Well, you’ve got the most mesmerizing eyes I’ve ever seen,” she replied.

“Aww, Dash, I bet you say that to all the guys,” he teased.

“No, I mean it. Your eyes are more beautiful than the finest emeralds from Zebrabwe,” She looked over at Spike’s dresser, and the Fabergé egg that held his four Gate cards... and his mother’s Fire Ruby necklace. “And that is the biggest ruby I’ve ever seen that wasn’t protected by a uniformed guard.”

Spike smiled.

“Think you got enough in you for one more round?” he asked her.

“I think I can rally,” she said as he kissed her again.

Two hours later and Starlight and Pinkie Pie had barely gotten through three stacks of staff evaluation cards.

“Hurry!” Starlight told her. “Discord could walk in any minute!”

She picked up one of her own score cards, pulled out a pen, and started writing on it.

“What are you doing?” Pinkie asked.

“Just fixing a couple of my scores,” Starlight replied. “Goodbye, three, hellooo eight!”

“We don’t have time for this--Oh! This is it! I found it!”

“Ahem!”

Both girls bolted upright and turned to see Discord standing in the doorway.

“Uh, housekeeping?” Starlight attempted.

“Okay, ladies, hand over the form and nobody gets canned,” he told them as he held out his hand.

Discord wasn’t smiling, but his tone was amicable. Starlight had expected anger, or, at the least, disappointment.

“Really?” she asked.

“No. Somebody is very likely getting canned,” he replied.

“Better do what he says,” Pinkie advised.

Starlight complied and gave Discord the paper.

“Well, well, well. What have we here?” he asked.

“Please, John! It was my fault!” Starlight said. “Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please don’t fire Twilight!”

“Why would I?” he asked. “It says, ‘excellent poise in the face of chaos.’ He gave her a ten out of ten.”

“So she didn’t get a one?” Starlight asked. “I am so happy! You would not believe the day I’ve had!”

“No,” Discord chuckled. “But I’ve got a pretty good idea of the night you’re going to have... filing every single one of these forms.”

Pinkie and Starlight groaned.

“Oh, and by the way, STRIKE!”

The first thing Rarity did when she got back to her room on the third floor after her argument with Rainbow Dash was grab a pillow, press her face into it, and scream. She hated admitting defeat, but she knew that she would ultimately have to choose between her pride and her friendship with Rainbow Dash. So, a few hours later, she and Fluttershy returned to Spike’s suite and knocked on the door.

Rainbow Dash, wearing one of Spike’s shirts, answered and saw Fluttershy waving a little white flag and Rarity carrying an olive branch.

“What do you two want?” she snapped at them.

“Rainbow Dash! We’re sorry!!” Rarity bawled.

“We want you to come back,” Fluttershy added.

“You can have the couch back, and permanent dibs on the game system, I’ll feed you grapes from a bowl and rub your feet, whatever you want!” Rarity begged. “Just come back to us!”

“I don’t want to,” Dash replied.

“There’s no reason not to,” Fluttershy attempted.

“Oh, no?” Dash challenged them. “What about my stink and my snoring?”

“Well, we’d rather put up with it than be alone,” Fluttershy said.

“Just come back to us,” Rarity sobbed. “Pleeease!!!”

“Well, I admit I was kind of a slob,” Dash confessed. “All right, I promise to do a better job of cleaning up after myself if you girls agree to join me and Pinkie for some free climbing tomorrow.”

Rarity and Fluttershy thought it was a small price to pay... until the following afternoon when they actually climbed all the way to the top of the rock climbing structure that stood next to one of the outdoor swimming pools. Rainbow Dash wanted to dive off the top.

“Did I mention I have a fear of heights -- and dying?” Fluttershy asked.

“Oh, come on, chicken!” Dash said.

And she took the plunge.

“Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!” Pinkie cried.

And Rarity and Fluttershy jumped after them and into the pool.

“That was awesome!” Dash exclaimed after she resurfaced.

“I’ve got a wedgie,” Pinkie said as they got out of the water.

“Me too,” Fluttershy added. “I think I just tasted my bottoms.”

“I’ll pull yours out if you pull mine,” Pinkie offered.

“Ew,” Fluttershy replied.

“Just asking,” Pinkie said.

The four girls joined Sunset and Applejack, who were lounging by the pool and listening to Spike explain his Champagne theory to them while Twilight was reading a book.

“And so I said, ‘that’s why they make the top explode, so you can’t put the cork back in and return it,’” he concluded.

Applejack, Sunset, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash and Rarity all laughed.

“What album do you want to jam to tonight?” he asked Dash.

“Why don’t you pick the album, Gramps? It’s your Victrola,” she replied. “Well, I’ll catch you later,” he told her as he kissed her on the cheek. “I told Flim and Flam that I’d help test some new equipment.”

The girls (minus Twilight) bid him farewell and Rainbow Dash told them about her and Spike’s latest “sex-capade”.

“Sex on the sink?” Twilight asked, finally looking up from her book. “How does that happen?”

“We were getting ready for bed, sharing a mirror, one thing led to another and... well, you know,” Dash said.

“Yes, nothing says ‘take me’ like the sight of spit and used dental floss,” Twilight retorted.

She didn’t think so, but the rest of the girls (particularly Rarity and Fluttershy) wanted to know every detail, err on the side of way too graphic.

Author's Note

Next time: during a prank war with the Rich Casino and Resort, one of the Richs’ employees, Indigo Zap (a girl from Rainbow Dash’s past) comes to work for the Flimflam Brothers, apparently due to the Richs’ crummy treatment. Everyone starts treating her like she’s one of them... except for a left out Dash, who believes her old rival is up to no good. When Spike starts dating her, Dash conspires with Starlight and Twilight to take Indigo down.

Evil Women

The following week, Flim and Flam called an emergency meeting in their office with several of their key employees. The resort had become a laughingstock, courtesy of Impossibly Rich and her cretinous underlings. It all started one morning at breakfast when Twilight asked Rarity to pass the sugar. Twilight put some on her cereal and when she took a bite, she threw up because someone had switched the sugar with the salt!

Somehow, several of the Richs’ employees had managed to infiltrate the Resort and put salt in all the sugar bowls and sugar in all the salt shakers. Not only that, they also snuck into the staff laundry room and threw a single red sock in with all of Spike’s white shirts (turning them pink) AND took a picture of Zephyr Breeze while he was getting a spray-on tan.

“Where did you get that?” Zephyr shouted after Spike showed him the picture on his phone.

“Those jerks from across the street took it and sent it in a mass e-mail,” Spike said. “The entire staff has it.”

“There is no way--” Zephyr began.

“Oh, good Luna!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she dropped her own cell phone and started clawing at her eyes.

Adagio read the caption that came with the photo out loud. “‘Must be chilly in the tanning booth’?”

“That’s not funny!” Zephyr stated. “It was very cold in there!”

“Nowhere is it that cold,” said Aria.

“Well, it’s not exactly a flattering angle,” Sonata commented.

“I have to figure out how to delete that from everyone’s phones,” Zeph said.

“Yeah, I don’t think that will be a problem,” Spike told him after he deleted the one that had been sent to him.

And one by one, so did all their coworkers.

The pranks had quickly escalated from there: everything from dismantling golf carts to setting off bug bombs. But the final straw was when some of the Rich employees somehow turned Discord’s entire office upside down AND painted tiny wieners on the gold statues of Flim and Flam.

“This... is... WAR!” Discord yelled furiously.

“Impossibly Rich has played us for fools for the last time!” Flim shouted.

“I was a prankster myself back in the day, so I can appreciate a good gag,” Discord admitted, “but that is beyond the pale!”

“We are ordering all of you to drop everything and prank Impossibly Rich like she’s never been pranked before!” Flam commanded.

“Yes, sirs!” the group replied.

“Are we talking mildly hard-core prank or really nasty prank?” Pinkie asked.

“Really, REALLY nasty!” Discord answered. “We are going to need a prank to end all pranks. So... anyone have any ideas?”

Pinkie looked at Rainbow Dash.

“No!” Dash stated.

“But you’re the Queen of Pranks!” Pinkie said.

“NO!! Not anymore!”

“I used to get pranked all the time, until I got my tormentors to stop,” Spike said. “I could come up with something. I’ve been in the trenches. I’ve seen things.”

“All right, you obviously have a story to share, so share it,” Discord said.

“It all started when some guy stuck a ‘Kick Me’ sign to my back,” Spike recalled with a scoff. “So, I put his contact information in an ad for an S&M magazine.”

“Wait. ‘Blond Caucasian seeks dominant professional type for late-night spank sessions’?” Rarity inquired.

“How’d you know?” Spike asked.

“Lucky guess?” Rarity replied, almost sheepishly. “That was you? You put that in about Grape Crush?”

“Yep,” Spike said, almost proudly. “Then there was the whole calendar shoot incident.”

“Calendar shoot incident?” Applejack asked.

“It was a fundraising-slash-charity project when I was working as a model,” Spike explained.

Sunset Shimmer and Fluttershy remembered hearing about it from their own modeling days.

“One of the guys had to drop out, so they needed a new man for October,” Spike went on. “Grape Crush, who was already Mr. April, took a cheap shot at me by saying to Persnickety, ‘I assume you want to sell a couple of these things, so that lets him out, so sure, I’ll do it.’ Naturally, I asked Grape Crush what he meant by that, and he said, ‘It means blond Caucasian is probably a better choice than scary Dragon boy.’”

“Ouch,” Rarity thought.

“So, we competed for the last spot. We both sent in our bio applications, his snapshots, I sent in professional glamour shots, and they chose me. I rubbed it in Grape Crush’s face for a couple of days. And then, on the day of the photo shoot, I got the photographer to punch me in the nose,”

“You what?!” the girls (minus Sunset) asked.

“It was all part of the prank. It freaked Crush out and that was the end of it,”

“Wow,” Pinkie breathed.

“But this obviously calls for something a bit more drastic,” Spike said. “I’ve got one, but it’s big, real big, all-hands-on-deck big.”

Everyone (minus Rainbow Dash and Twilight) leaned in to listen to Spike, like he was about to share top secret information for their ears only.

“We steal some Rich company uniforms and dress up in them. Then we tape ourselves doing all kinds of nasty things in them and put the video online. The video goes viral, and Impossibly Rich’s reputation goes down the crapper,”

“Do it,” Discord stated. “And do a good job -- or you won’t have a job. If you fail, heads will roll. Am I clear?”

“No, you’re opaque,” Spike replied. “But yeah, we understand.”

“And do something with your hair!” Discord added. “Jeez!”

Spike smiled as he led the gang out of the Brothers’ office.

“Last chance to join me in some epic pranking,” he said to Rainbow Dash.

“Forget it!” she snapped in reply.

Spike shrugged and said, “I tried.”

After they all left Flim and Flam’s office, Trixie accompanied Discord to his own office.

“Shh! ICDG agents are watching us,” she said quietly.

“What? The Casino Guild?” he replied.

Discord cautiously shifted his eyes around the casino as they walked together, and sure enough, he picked out several pairs of men in suits and sunglasses trying (and failing) to look and act inconspicuous.

“We’re safe in here,” he said once they were inside his office. “What is going on? Why is the Casino Guild here?”

“They arrived the same day Sky Resort took off into the clouds,” Trixie said.

“Well, that’s pretty convenient, isn’t it?” Discord asked. “I wonder if the Dealer’s Agency is trying to make it in the casino business.”

“I’m not so sure, but I’m certain that Impossibly Rich is the one behind all of this,” Trixie shared. “I’m also worried about Spike... and Twilight. Every prediction shows her future shrouded in darkness and death.”

Later that morning, Moon Dancer was making her rounds when she was stopped by Coco, Dear Darling, Fond Feather, Swoon Song, and the Dazzlings.

“Come on, Moon Dancer!” Adagio told her. “It’s showtime!”

“What?” Moon Dancer asked. “Where are you going?”

“To the loading bay,” Sonata replied.

So Moon Dancer followed them across the Resort and through the service doors that opened out to the back of the building. Outside, Soarin was helping unload cases of Crystal EmpireTM bottled water from a truck while Spike was being filmed for a television ad for said water. Moon Dancer stared awestruck with the rest of the women as Spike took off his tight T-shirt, reached for one of the bottles, wiped his brow with the back of his hand, and chugged the liquid.

“Ah... Oh, my...” they all sighed. “What a hunk!”

While Spike was posing for the film crew, Soarin was trying to figure out how they were going to get their hands on some Rich company uniforms. After the shooting for the commercial ended, Spike thought about Rainbow Dash. Even before the prank war started a week ago, she seemed to be in a remarkably bad mood and nobody could figure out why. At first Spike thought it was that time of the month, but it wasn’t; the girls’ cycles had almost completely synced up with one another’s since they started working together.

“So, you plan on seeing Dash again tonight?” Soarin asked Spike.

“Nah,” he replied. “After her, Fleur and Sassy, I think I might take a break for a while.”

“Wait, Sassy? As in, Sassy Saddles, the pit boss? That Sassy?” Soarin inquired.

“The same,” Spike confirmed.

“Since when?”

“Remember the day you asked me to help you test the new rock-climbing equipment?” Spike asked.

Soarin recalled.

Three days ago, Soarin and Spike headed to the roof of the Resort and Soarin helped fit Spike into a harness before he tied the end of the rope securely to the railing. Spike climbed over the ledge and began his descent down the side of the building, gently pushing himself back with his feet like he was spelunking while Soarin held the line, and Spike looked up every two to three stories to signal to Soarin that he was okay. Spike eventually stopped on the balcony of Room 520—Fleur’s suite—and peeked inside. When he did, he saw Fleur doing naked yoga with Sassy Saddles.

“Yoga is the perfect way to work up an appetite,” Fleur said. “And now inhale, cobra; exhale, downward dog.”

“S-so m-much s-skin!” he whimpered happily.

Spike called Soarin on the walkie-talkie Soarin had given him, telling him that he was safe and that he was stepping out of the harness. Once he freed himself from the gear, Spike tugged on the line and Soarin hauled it back up. Spike quietly slid open the balcony door and snuck inside.

Spike was thankful that their backs (and behinds) were to him or they would have seen him come in. Alone, each lady was formidable in her own right, but together, they are a lot of woman. I mean a lo-o-o-t of woman.

They spread their thighs further apart as they bent over, so much that Spike had a direct line of sight to their tight little anuses. He took off his shirt and unzipped his jeans before sneaking up behind Fleur and penetrating her.

“Ooh!” she squeaked. “I was wondering when you would drop in.”

Spike wanted to do her right there, right on the yoga mat. But, in an attempt to be a little romantic, he swept Fleur into his arms and onto the sofa, shoving his tongue down her throat the way she liked. Fleur moaned into Spike’s mouth as he gave her derrière a hard squeeze and he reentered her. His cock felt like steel and Fleur moaned even louder as Spike thrusted harder and harder until she constricted around him.

After her climax had subsided, Fleur asked Sassy to sit in front of her on the sofa and Fleur spead Sassy’s legs apart. Spike knelt between Sassy’s legs and she gasped when Spike’s tongue made contact with her silky vulva, and her legs clamped around his head. Sassy shook as she threw her head back and arched against Fleur before she slid off the couch, back onto her yoga mat. But Spike was far from done with her. He slid into Sassy from behind before sticking a finger up her backside. Once her anus started to soften and open from the fingering he pulled his cock out of her vagina... and shoved it into her ass.

“Oh, my stars and garters!” Sassy cried out.

“Did I hurt you?” Spike asked.

“No, I love how you feel inside me. I already feel so full...”

Spike’s hands held Sassy’s hips in an iron grip as he pounded into her from behind, keeping her in place long enough for him to deposit his seed, erupting with one final thrust into her velvety confines. Sassy moaned and slumped forward onto her yoga mat, smiling at Spike over her shoulder as he retrieved his clothes.

Spike was broken from those thoughts when he heard someone scream.

“What was that?” Moon Dancer asked.

“It sounded like Rainbow Dash,” Soarin replied.

“And it sounds like it’s coming from the pool!” Spike added.

Soarin and the women followed Spike as he made a beeline for the pool area just in time to see Dash tackle someone into the deep end of the pool. The brawl continued underwater and ended when Spike dove into the pool, little concern for his jeans, and pulled the woman Dash was fighting with out of the water.

Applejack helped Dash out of the water while Sunset, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity, Starlight, Twilight, Soarin, Coco, Adagio, Aria, Sonata, Dear Darling, Fond Feather, Swoon Song, Moon Dancer and Discord all crowded around Spike as he hauled the other woman out and laid her onto her back. She had blue hair and was wearing a maroon jacket with a plaid skirt. Spike recognized her as one of the women from the audience at the dance contest weeks ago—Indigo Zap.

“She’s not breathing!” Spike exclaimed.

As soon as Applejack heard those words, she was down on her knees and began giving Indigo chest compressions while Spike took a deep breath, clamped his lips over Indigo’s, and gave her a kiss of life. Indigo’s eyes shot open and she gasped after Spike and Applejack revived her.

“Are you okay?” Spike asked.

“Yeah, I’m great,” she replied. “Thanks.”

The hotel doctor arrived soon after, and made sure that Indigo had sustained no other injuries.

“What were you doing here?” Spike asked.

“I’m miserable working for Impossibly Rich,” Indigo said. “I just never had the guts to quit.”

“Yeah, right,” Dash scoffed. “Then why’d you punk us all those times?”

“I had to. You don’t know what the Riches are like. Impossibly Rich is a tyrant wrapped up in a slave driver! If you don’t do what she says, when she says it, she puts you on solitary garbage duty for a month! And you don’t even want to know what they feed us!”

“That’s awful!” Fluttershy said.

“Please, let me stay,” Indigo begged. “I’ll even be a Bunny Girl!”

“Now, that’s my kind of employee,” Discord said. “You’re hired!”

“Are you sure about this?” Rarity asked him. “I mean, how do we know we can trust her? She could be a plant.”

“I know I have done a lot of bad things,” Indigo told them, “but please, let me make it up to you.”

“I’ll get you a Bunny outfit,” Discord said.

Rarity glanced over at Rainbow Dash, who was a little red in the cheeks as she watched Spike escort Indigo inside.

“Somebody’s jealous,” she said.

“Jealous? Of an old rival who is probably gonna give Spike head and have steaming hot shower sex with him after I already have?” Dash retorted. “As if!”

“Because if you were, you could always flirt with someone else and make him jealous back,” Rarity suggested.

“Like I need dating advice from you,” Dash added as she stormed off.

“Suit yourself, darling,” Rarity replied. “She’s totally jealous,” she told Pinkie Pie.

“No doubt,” Pinkie replied.

Spike took Indigo up to his suite and gave her a towel to dry off with.

“Whoa, this is your room?” she asked. “Who do you share it with?”

“Nobody, it’s all mine,” he said.

“Seriously?” she chuckled.

“Yep,” he replied. “So, now that we’re away from the others, what’s it really like working for Impossibly Rich?”

“Ugh, it’s totally lame!”

“You don’t have to keep lying. It’s just us in here,”

“No, I mean it. The other girls, Sour Sweet, Sunny Flare, Sugarcoat, Lemon Zest, they don’t raid the minibars, they never skip work... they seriously have no idea how to live!!” Indigo confessed.

“Were those the four gals I saw you standing with at the staff ballroom dance contest?” he inquired.

“Yeah... Now you, you look like you know how to have a blast!”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” he said modestly.

“I’m serious. I watch your dance instruction videos on the Resort’s website, and I saw you mop the floor at the dance competition. You’re really good. No! You’re the man!”

“Yeah, well, that was a next-level prank you guys did with the upside-down office bit,” Spike said. “That was brilliant!”

“Thanks. Hey, this might sound a little crazy, I mean, I know we just met, but would you maybe want to go out sometime, maybe after work tonight?”

“I would be honored to take a fine lady out for a night on the town,”

“Great! See you later,”

And she headed down to the staff locker room while Spike changed.

Later, Rainbow Dash asked Soarin if he had seen Spike since he (Spike) pulled Indigo out of the pool.

“Nope,” Soarin replied.

“You were that last one to see him, you know where he is. Spill!”

“He’s in the casino with Indigo!” he blurted. “Darn it!”

Dash immediately headed to the casino, and sure enough she found Spike, clad in new jeans and a clean T-shirt, test running the Filmflam Brothers’ newest toy—a video poker machine that had a minimum of ten dollars a hand.

Spike put in five one hundred dollar bills and kept his bets low so that it would last longer. He had a few small wins early on, but eventually found himself eighty dollars down so he thought “Screw it” as he hit the maximum bet button and put down two hundred dollars. Spike knew his chances were slim, but he figured what the Tartarus. He pressed the deal button and watched the cards pop up on the screen. He got a pair of Queens, held them, and two more Queens appeared!

Indigo Zap, clad in a blue bunny suit, white tail and matching bunny ears, brought Spike a ginger ale and looked at the screen over his shoulder.

“Looks like you’ve got a loose one,” she told him.

“No such thing. These machines run on random number generators; no brain, no bias,” Spike explained. “That’s why the Brothers are thinking of replacing the dealers and tables with them... best odds in the house, though.”

“I thought that Craps had the best odds,” Indigo said.

“Normally, Poker odds are slightly worse at 0.7% in your favor, but if you employ optimal strategy and always draw for the Royal Flush you can push those odds to a solid two percent,” Spike replied.

“Smart and handsome,” she said.

Spike smiled shyly.

He had stayed pretty close to even after that last win, but the video poker machine had other ideas. So he hit the max bet button again to try and end the game as quickly as possible, but something amazing happened—he hit a Royal Flush! And the pay out totaled one hundred thousand dollars!

He and Indigo stared at the machine in disbelief as people gathered around them. Then several attendants appeared, led by Sassy Saddles. By the time Spike had shook hands with everyone who had witnessed his win Sassy happily placed a check for ninety thousand dollars and another ten thousand in cash in his hands.

“I love Las Pegasus,” Spike thought.

“Here,” he said as he gave Indigo the check.

Indigo’s mouth hung open as she held the slip of paper while Rainbow Dash pulled Spike aside.

“You just gave ninety percent of your winnings to the enemy,” she said.

“Indigo is not ‘the enemy,’” Spike replied. “In fact, she’s been really sweet.”

“Look, Spike, Sunset and I used to compete against Indigo on the motocross circuit, so she and I know what she’s really like,” Dash shared.

“Oh, really?” Spike asked as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“All right, if you want to learn it the hard way, fine! But don’t say I didn’t try to warn you,” she said.

“Oh, I won’t,” he replied.

Later that afternoon, Twilight was pacing the floor in the staff locker room while Rainbow Dash and Starlight Glimmer watched her.

“You girls have to help me end whatever this thing is that’s going on between Spike and Indigo,” Twilight said.

“On the one hand, you’re my friend and I want to help you,” Starlight replied. “On the other hand, if Spike gets close to Indigo, we get free dirt on Rich.”

“Oh, she is going down!” Rainbow Dash stated. “It’s one thing to play Discord and the others like a guitar, but I will not just stand by and let her make moves on Spike! I’ll help you, if you can get Spike to admit that he’s only seeing her to make me jealous.”

“He’ll never admit to that!” Twilight replied.

“No confession, no help,” Dash said.

“Fine,” Twilight growled. “But we are going to have to fight dirty by being sneaky and conniving. And this time, we’ll win!”

“Twilight, I’ve never seen you this angry,” Starlight said. “I like it!”

“Oh, I’m not angry. I’m determined. The claws are coming out!”

“Shh!” Dash whispered. “Someone’s coming!”

The three women ducked into one of the changing stalls and peeked around the curtain to see Indigo walk in with her cell phone in hand. She didn’t even notice Twilight and the others hiding in the changing stall.

“He plays like a titan, he sweats awesomeness, and... he’s totally generous, loyal and kind... Spike just might be my ticket to freedom!” she thought.

Once Indigo thought she was alone, she dialed her superiors at Rich Casino and Resort and their faces appeared on the screen. Rainbow Dash whipped out her own cell phone and started recording Indigo.

“Report,” Abacus Cinch began.

“Guess who just scored a date with Flim and Flam’s favorite employee,” she began. “Oh, and Spike -- stud -- said I was totally his type!”

“That’s great!” Sour Sweet began pleasantly. “Do not lose focus!” she added with a shout.

“We’ve gotten the photos of the mess in the kitchen you sent us,” Sunny Flare added, “but using Spike to sabotage the place will really seal the deal.”

“One look at those nasty pics and the health inspectors will shut them down for good,” Sugarcoat said.

“Leaving me free to move in and take over,” Impossibly Rich stated. “Good work, Miss Zap.”

Indigo nodded as she hung up.

“I knew it!” Rainbow Dash whispered. “We have to tell Spike!”

“Have you lost your mind?!” Twilight asked.

“If they shut us down, we’re all out of jobs!” Dash told her. “You can do what you want, but I’m going to do what’s right!”

So she pulled the curtain aside and confronted her rival.

“Stay away from Spike or I will make your life worse than it already is!” Rainbow Dash threatened her.

Indigo didn’t seem at all shaken by their sudden appearance.

“You know, all I wanted from Spike was a free meal, maybe a kiss, but now that you said that, I’m going to make him fall in love with me instead,” she said.

“You won’t get away with this,” Twilight told her.

“Just try and stop me,” Indigo scoffed, and walked away.

“Come on,” Dash told her friends. “We’ve got some date-wrecking to do!”

Later that evening, Spike took a quick shower, shaved, put on some cologne and a black suit, minus a tie. He was debating on whether or not it was too formal for his date when he heard a knock at the door. He opened the door to find Indigo waiting for him. She was wearing a little black dress with a matching pair of high heels that had a single small strap that buckled around the ankle, and a black purse.

“Wow, Spike, you look ace!”

“Thanks. You look beautiful, yourself. Shall we?”

Smiling, Indigo hooked her arm through his as they got into the elevator.

Grabbing a cab, they headed to the Hive and entered just as Cornicle was playing ragtime on the grand piano.

“Reservation, Drake,” Spike told Thorax.

“Yes, sir,” Thorax replied formally. “Ocellus will seat you.”

“This way, please,” Ocellus said with a smile.

She asked them if she could start them off with something to drink—both asked for water—then she asked if they knew what they wanted to eat.

“We’ll have two of tonight’s specials,” Spike said. “Is that all right, dear?”

Indigo smiled. “And an order of chili cheese fries to split.”

Ocellus nodded as she wrote down their orders and returned to the kitchen.

Rainbow Dash, Starlight and Twilight entered the Hive five minutes later.

“Thanks for helping us with this,” Twilight said to Starlight. “But are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

“What? You think this is my first sabotage? Please!” Starlight replied. “Now, here’s what we’re gonna do--”

“Wait! I’d rather not know,” Twilight said.

“Fine, but I’ll need some cash,”

Twilight handed over a small stack of twenties.

“Okay, go. Dash and I’ll keep our eyes on Spike and Indigo,”

Twilight and Rainbow Dash sat at one booth and they saw Pinkie and Fluttershy sitting at another booth on the other side of the room. Apparently, they’d had the same idea—to spy on Spike while he was at dinner with Indigo.

Meanwhile, Starlight approached Pharynx and spoke to him in a whisper.

“Pharynx, I’m cashing in a favor you owe me,” she began.

“All right, but what’s in it for me?” Pharynx asked.

Starlight gave him the money Twilight had given her and said, “You get to make someone blow chunks... from both ends.”

“I’m in!” he grinned.

Starlight told him who his target was, and then took her seat at Dash and Twilight’s booth while Pharynx ducked into the kitchen and poured half of a large bottle of liquid laxative onto Indigo’s order of chili cheese fries. Unfortunately, while his back was turned, a second dish of chili cheese fries—Rainbow Dash’s order—was placed right beside it. Pharynx couldn’t tell which order of fries he had tampered with and tried to “fix” his mistake by pouring the rest of the bottle onto both orders. Ocellus served both dishes, but Spike and Indigo were so caught up in conversation that they didn’t even touch the fries. Meanwhile, Twilight was slowly munching away at Rainbow Dash’s fries as she, Starlight and Dash watched them.

“So you like makeup sex?” Indigo asked. “When a girl’s still hot and in her makeup?”

“Yeah,” Spike replied. “When we were done the pillow looked like it had been used to suffocate a clown,” he recalled, almost fondly. “Now, before bed, Dash puts on this ratty old robe I refer to as ‘The Shrinker’.”

“Ugh, man, did you talk to her about it?” she inquired.

“Yes, I made that rookie mistake,” he admitted. “I talked to Dash about The Shrinker and it was swiftly replaced by another robe I refer to as ‘The Termite’.”

“As in the little insect that destroys wood?” she asked.

“Exactamundo!” Spike stated.

“So, the robe that Dash wore into the lobby that night I snuck in and pulled the fire alarm... was that The Termite?”

Spike gave Indigo a courtesy laugh. “No, no. That was just The Shrinker.”

“Oh, Faust!!” Indigo gasped.

After about ten minutes, Twilight’s stomach gurgled.

“Um... was that you?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Twilight shook her head and her stomach gurgled again.

“Are you okay?” Starlight asked.

“No. Clear a path!” Twilight shouted.

And she rushed to the ladies’ room.

“Are you finished?” Ocellus asked Spike and Indigo about their food.

They both said yes and Ocellus asked if they were interested in dessert.

“I’ll have a vanilla gelato,” Indigo said.

“What?” Dash thought. “That’s my favorite!”

“I’ll have a chocolate soda with three scoops,” said Spike.

Ocellus smiled as she took their unfinished meal back to the kitchen and returned with their ice cream. Spike paid for them both and they exchanged bites of their desserts, smiling and giggling. Then, when Spike’s back was turned, Indigo took one of the fries she had swiped from her dish, and aimed it at Starlight Glimmer. She flicked it like a paper football, and it flew across the restaurant and into Starlight’s open mouth.

Starlight coughed and gagged as it went down her throat. Then she groaned when her stomach gurgled.

“Oh, no. Out of the way!” she cried.

“That’s it!” Dash yelled as she got up from her table. “Spike, Indigo Zap is a spy for Impossibly Rich! And I can prove it!”

She pulled out her cell phone and showed Spike the video she had taken earlier that afternoon.

“We’ve gotten the photos of the mess in the kitchen you sent us, but using Spike to sabotage the place will really seal the deal,”

“One look at those nasty pics and the health inspectors will shut them down for good,”

“Leaving me free to move in and take over. Good work, Miss Zap,”

Suddenly, Cornicle came up behind Dash, carrying a bowl of macaroni and cheese. She stuck her foot in his path and he tripped. As he fell, the bowl of food flew up to the ceiling. The round metal bowl landed on Spike’s head like a hat, its contents slopping onto his face and shoulders.

Everyone in the restaurant stopped and stared. Indigo rolled her eyes and put her hands over her mouth to stifle her laughter. Spike took the bowl off of his head, gooey mac and cheese matting his green hair.

“Excuse me...” Spike leveled a serious gaze at Indigo, “did you just snort?”

She shook her head... then snorted again.

“I suppose you think this is funny,” he said. “Well, maybe you’ll get a little chuckle out of this.”

And he flung a bit of butter at her.

“Food fight!” Indigo screamed.

She threw a handful of macaroni at Spike and the Hive’s restaurant erupted into a giant battle with kids and adults hurling foodstuffs at each other. Laughing, Pinkie and Pharynx joined the fight with gusto, pelting everyone with handfuls of food. Salad and peach cobbler flew everywhere, coating the floor and the tables. The food fight raged on.

It wasn’t until Fluttershy got hit in the face with a slice of pie, which coated her with gunk that Thorax yelled for everyone to stop, and they did. Spike looked around for Indigo, but didn’t see her. Somehow, she escaped in all the confusion, leaving Spike to apologize to Thorax and pay for the damages.

“Rainbow Dash, are you okay?” Spike asked as they, Pinkie, and Fluttershy left the Hive.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she replied.

“You were right. I should have listened to you. I’m sorry,” he apologized.

“Eh, forget it. Getting a bowl of mac and cheese dumped on your head is punishment enough,”

“Dashie, we’re all sorry for not believing you,” Pinkie added.

“And ignoring you,” said Fluttershy.

“Thanks, girls,” Dash smiled.

Meanwhile, back inside the Hive...

“Hoo! Ho-ho!” Ocellus exclaimed as she exited the ladies’ bathroom. “Whoever’s in that stall should really see a doctor.”

“Aah! Mnh! Ugh!” Twilight grunted.

“O-M-G! I’m out of toilet paper!” Starlight gasped.

“Oh, my gosh! Me too!” Twilight added.

And they spent the next half hour “re-spackling the toilets.”

Earlier that day...

Spike walked with Indigo after he had collected his video poker winnings from Sassy Saddles.

“You took a big risk coming here,” he said. “Why?”

“I want to join up with you, but when I started working for Impossibly Rich, she made me sign a contract that basically says she owns me,” Indigo replied. “She’s not named ‘Impossibly’ for nothing!”

“So, you’re willing to go against her for me, someone you barely even know?” Spike inquired.

“You saved me from drowning. It’s the least I can do,”

“All right, I’ll help you,”

“Do you think your luck will hold out?” she asked.

“As long as you’re with me, you’ll always have good luck,” he told her.

Indigo gave Spike one last smile as she entered the staff locker room and prepared to call her employer.

Author's Note

Next time: Discord and the management staff go away for the weekend and leave Sunburst in charge of the resort... and to judge the staff bikini contest. But things go awry when Sunburst’s mom, Stellar Flare, decides to stay behind... and she starts spending time with Spike.

Meanwhile, Twilight, in an attempt to make amends with Spike, joins Pinkie and Rainbow Dash on an errand to buy some tasty pastries... and end up lost in the bad part of town.

A M.I.L.F. and A Luau

Spike awoke one Friday morning to a burning hot Sun. After he took a cold shower, he dressed in his lightest clothes and went to the staff quarters, where he found his friends sprawled out on the sofas. The girls were wearing their swimsuits under crop tops and short shorts while Soarin and Zephyr Breeze were dressed in their work pants but wore their button up shirts open.

“You sure you don’t want a slice?” Applejack asked Twilight as she took a bite out of a piece of reheated pizza.

“For breakfast?” she replied. “You’ve got to be joking.”

“It’s better than beer,” Zephyr Breeze told her.

“Not for a hangover,” Soarin commented.

“I know something to stop hangovers,” Spike said.

“What?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Don’t drink so much,” he answered. “Now, come on or we’ll be late for Discord’s morning pscyh-up.”

The Flimflam Brothers’ Resort was abuzz when the group exited the elevator onto the lobby. Several pieces from Equestria’s Largest Items Museum (including Equestria’s largest pen and silverware, among others) were on loan to the Brothers and people from all over the world had come just to see them. But it wasn’t the Brothers’ idea, it was Discord’s.

And speaking of Discord, when they got to the staff locker room, he was already there, waiting to reveal his latest piece of “management genius.” He called it, “The Wall of Shame.” It was kind of like “Employee of the Month”, only the exact opposite. And the first inductee, for single-handedly dragging the Flimflam Brothers’ Resort through the mud, was Twilight Sparkle.

The gang couldn’t deny that Twilight had had a lot of bad luck recently. Earlier that morning, she had locked herself out of her room.

“I won the pool,” Pinkie Pie commented.

“Pinkie wins it three days in a row, that’s uncanny,” Rainbow Dash said.

“What did you have yesterday, Pinkie?” Sunset asked.

“Uh, it was scrapes and nicks and she cut herself shaving her legs, hence the dark nylons she was wearing,” Pinkie recalled. “The day before that I had stubbing something, and it was the big toe on the bed.”

“It still hurts,” Twilight shared.

“Tell me, what do you predict for tomorrow?” Soarin asked Pinkie.

“Uh... Uh, I see a mine shaft out in the middle of the desert,” she replied.

“Okay, mouth breathers, eyes front!” Discord interrupted them. “The topic for today -- love the guest more than you love yourself. Zephyr Breeze, if a guest asks you to use your hand to blow their nose, what do you do?”

“Uh... Run?”

“Wrong!” Discord yelled. “You say, ‘Here you go, sir. Do you prefer my right hand or my left?’ Twilight, if a guest tells you to go get fucked by one of Applejack’s male relatives, what do you say?”

“Ew!”

“Wrong! You say, ‘Madame would you like me to get fucked by Big McIntosh or Golden Delicious?’” he told her. “Remember, you are here for one and only one reason.”

“To ride the most awesome, epic, off-the-charts rollercoaster, play some of the just as awesome gambling tables, and have fun?” Rainbow Dash answered.

“Wrong, wrong, and WRONG!! To serve the guests and make their stay the best ever anywhere! You are here to sell fun! In exchange for the hard-earned money of your customers, you will deal out happiness. People will go home and dream of what they saw here and what they did here. I hope you all remember that when the work is hard, or when guests are rude, as they often will be, or when you feel your best efforts go underappreciated,”

“Sadly, one of his better pep talks,” Spike thought.

“Now listen up -- major announcement! The Flimflam Brothers, Mr. Glimmer, and I are going to Vanhoover for the weekend for a hotel-management conference, and we are leaving Sunburst in charge while we’re gone. He’s going to drive you losers like a rental car -- hard and without mercy. Right, Sunburst?”

Sunburst nodded.

“And if I hear that you’ve been slacking, I’ll come back cracking... skulls,” Discord warned them. “Now, go forth!”

After he sent everyone back out, Discord took one final walk around the Resort before he left.

“I’m gonna miss the place,” he said. “Goodbye my baby,” he told his surveillance golf cart. “Goodbye Equestria’s Largest Money-Making Vibrating Banana. Goodbye my aquarium full of fish. Be good while Daddy’s away.”

Discord looked toward the water fountain. Then he nodded once more in a businesslike way before making his way to Flim and Flam’s black limousine, which was parked out front, and where Starlight was seeing her father off.

“I’ll think of you every day,” Firelight told her. “Remember, Sunburst is in charge until we get back, so don’t even think about throwing another wild party!” He gave her one final kiss on the cheek as he said, “Goodbye, Pumpkin.”

The limo’s engine purred to life after he and Discord got in the back and the taillights flashed as it pulled away.

Once they were gone, Sunburst spoke to the crew.

“Okay, guys, as acting manager, I vow not to be anything like Discord,” he told them. “I vow to manage using unadulterated logic. Just follow these three simple rules -- take a break whenever you need to, have fun -- because if you’re having fun, the guests are having fun -- and no strikes unless you smash the Brothers’ statue or something. But what are the chances of that happening?”

And they all cheered and went their separate ways.

Zephyr Breeze, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Starlight and Twilight were lounging around the outdoor swimming pools late that morning while Applejack was on lifeguard duty. It wasn’t even noon yet and it was already a hundred degrees in the shade (and getting hotter). And as if that weren’t bad enough, most of the hotel’s ice machines broke down and the kitchen ran out of lemonade. The pools were overcrowded as Sunset Shimmer (in her black bikini and sarong) ran this way and that way, trying to keep the guests’ cups full, while the rest of the girls tried to keep cool.

“We’re dying!” Dear Darling cried.

“Bring us some more water!” Fond Feather added.

“Hurry up with our drinks!” Chrysalis and Feather Bangs both shouted.

“Calm down!” Sunset replied. “I’ve only got two hands!”

“The service here stinks!” Swoon Song complained.

While Sunset served them, Rainbow Dash noticed Applejack (clad in a red two-piece uniform) looking off into space.

“Hello?” Dash asked her as she waved a hand in front of AJ’s eyes. “What’re you staring at?”

“The handsomest thing in the world,” Applejack sighed in reply.

It was Spike, shirtless, and wringing a wet towel out over his head.

Needless to say, Applejack liked what she saw.

“So, what are you waiting for?” Dash asked AJ. “Ask Spike out already!”

“Me ask him out? Are you nuts?”

“AJ, it’s the Twenty-First century. Guys like it when you ask them out!”

“Yeah, independent women rule!” Zephyr Breeze agreed chipperly. “That’s why I signed up to help judge them in the staff bikini contest tonight.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Dash replied.

“It’s sad, really,” Zephyr said, “that Discord had to be gone this weekend of all weekends. It’s the best idea he ever came up with--the most beautiful women on our payroll parading around, hoping to be chosen as ‘the fairest one of all’... Some of them are already bribing me to vote for them.”

“That is so sexist!” said Twilight. “I hate degrading female contests with every fiber of my being. I mean, where’s the men’s swimsuit competition?”

“Spike already won that,” Zephyr replied. “And he didn’t even have to wear a speedo!”

“You are so lame!” Dash retorted.

“If being a judge for a bikini contest is lame, then I don’t want to be cool!” Zeph said proudly. “Just think, in a few hours I will have a whole weekend to inspect one of the Seven Wonders of the World.”

“Bikinis are not one of the Seven Wonders of the World,” Twilight argued.

“One of my Seven Wonders,” Zeph corrected her, “as well as waves, Sun, sand, surfboards, sleep, and chili dogs.”

Twilight rolled her eyes as she turned to walk away. Then she screamed as she tripped over her own feet and fell to the ground.

“Oh, come on! Really?” she exclaimed. She had broken one of her flip flops. “These were new shoes!” she growled as she held the broken piece in her hand.

She huffed as she got to her feet and found herself staring at Spike as well.

“Don’t even think about it,” Rainbow Dash told her.

“Where’s that same support you had for Applejack a few seconds ago?” Twilight asked.

“Look, he’s clearly not interested in you, so why don’t you just give up?” Dash replied.

Starlight disagreed. “If you really want Spike in spite of his attitude and treatment of you, then you are gonna have to make an effort. Try to do something nice for him, something that he’ll appreciate. Maybe there’s a certain fantasy of his you could fulfill.”

“One idea, darling, might be in invite a friend and/or coworker over to watch or participate in the event,” Rarity added.

Twilight shot her a hateful look.

“Asked and answered,” Rarity replied, and she went back to fanning herself.

Spike was five feet away from them when he said, “Man, I’m hungry.”

“You can have half of my chocolate bar,” Dash offered.

“I could go for a creampuff,” Pinkie said. “Or a cupcake... No! A puffcake!”

“A what?” Spike asked.

“A puffcake: half cream puff... half cupcake,” Pinkie explained.

“Go on,” he said.

“They’re big, fluffy, doughy, sugary fireworks in your mouth!”

Spike’s mouth began to water and Rainbow Dash started to drool.

“Call Cheese Sandwich,” Dash told her. “We need him to get us some!”

“He’s setting up for the luau tonight,” Pinkie replied.

“Then it’s up to us!” Rainbow declared. “We’re going on a cupcake run! Any of you girls in?”

“Not me,” Sunset said, “gotta sneak in a motocross session before the afternoon shift.”

“Starlight?” Dash asked.

“Sorry, I just got beeped,” she said, holding up her cell phone. “Got to get to work; some kid rejected his food. And by ‘rejected’, I mean he threw up.”

“Twilight?”

“I don’t know,” she told Rainbow Dash. “I have a Poker game to deal for at 4:00 in the High Rollers’ Lounge... but, if we don’t make any extra stops we can be there and back by 3:45.”

“If I wasn’t on duty, I’d go,” Applejack said to Spike. “They have these cute heart-shaped cakes. Maybe you and I could share one?”

“I could go for something chocolaty,” Spike admitted.

“I’ll get you one!” Twilight said excitedly. “I was gonna go anyway, to pick up my swimsuit for the bikini contest tonight,” she added, like she didn’t care.

“Uh, thanks?” he replied.

Twilight turned to Dash and Pinkie and said, “Let’s roll! Move it or lose it!”

Meanwhile, Sunburst sat at the front desk, crunching numbers. He input them into his time-management software and came up with a spreadsheet that, if followed, would allow everyone to do their work in half the time and break early.

“They are gonna love this,” he thought with a smile.

He was about to print it off when he felt a pair of arms curl around him and a set of soft lips kiss his cheek. It was his mother, Stellar Flare.

“Mom, what are you still doing here?” he asked. “I thought you were going to Vanhoover with Discord and the others.”

“I wanted to surprise you, sweetie,” she said. “Now, let’s go get you something to eat. You’re nothing but skin and bones.”

“I’d love to, but they left me in charge until they get back. Why don’t you hit the spa while I make the rounds and we can have lunch after?” he suggested.

Stellar thought about it and said, “Okay.” Then she kissed him on the cheek again and headed off to the spa.

Sunburst exhaled, and then jumped when he heard Spike walk up to him and say, “Going out of your way to avoid your mom?”

“No, I really need to make the rounds,” Sunburst replied.

“Here’s a crazy idea,” Spike suggested. “Talk to her. Tell her how you feel.”

“You’re right. That is crazy,”

“No, I mean it, man. All you got to do is clear your mind and let the words come out. I do it all the time,”

“Or maybe you could talk to her,”

“Yeah, that’s not what I meant,”

“I’ll help judge the bikini contest if you keep my Mom busy,”

“Well, I was gonna spend the morning at the spa, race Sunset on the motocross track this afternoon, and maybe get in a quick lap or two around the pool before going to the luau tonight... but suppose I could work her in,”

“Thanks Spike!”

Spike led the way to the spa with Zephyr Breeze close behind. The spa’s reception desk was commanded by an exotic Kirin beauty named Fern Flare. She was a very attractive young woman, with brown hair and stunning crimson eyes, and wore a fitted white uniform.

“Reservation, Drake, Spike Drake,” Spike said to her.

She spoke not a word as Spike reached for his wallet.

“I got this,” Zephyr Breeze told him.

“No,” Spike started to protest.

“You’re my friend, you invited me, let me pay,” Zephyr said.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure,” Zeph replied as he gave Fern Flare his credit card.

She nodded to him, as if to say, “Thank you,” and then motioned for them to follow her, as if to say, “Right this way, gentlemen.”

She remained silent as she approached a divider in the wall and turned to face them. Again, she never spoke, but the look on her face seemed to ask, “Are you ready for what’s behind this door?”

“I’m ready,” Zephyr said.

Fern Flare pulled back the divider to reveal 30 of the tannest, most beautiful, voluptuous Kirin women they had ever seen.

“Oh, my goodness,” Zephyr Breeze gushed. “This place is off the hook! I love Las Pegasus!”

Finally, Fern Flare spoke.

“You get a massage from Kirin girl before?” she asked.

She had the slightest bit of an accent; it was subtle but very pretty.

“No, but I’ve heard wonderful things,” Zephyr replied.

“You can pick any girl you want,” she said.

“Any girl?” he asked.

“Any girl,” she repeated.

“I don’t know where to start,” he said honestly.

One of the Kirin women smiled at Zephyr as she cupped her breasts together and lifted them up as if she were offering him a better look.

“I’ll take her, right there,” he said quickly. “She’s got it going on.”

“Oh, yes,” Fern Flare said. “She’s very nice.”

“She is, but I’ve got some pain in my back, and my neck, so I’ll take her in the blue, too. And let me get her, and her... Is she good with feet?”

“Oh, yes,”

“What are you doing?” Spike asked.

“She said I could have any girl I want, man,” Zephyr replied.

“Well, hurry up!”

“What’s wrong with you? You don’t cut in front of a guy in a buffet line!”

“Please, follow me,” Fern Flare said after Spike had made his own decision.

She led them to a changing room just before the spa.

“Here you go,” she smiled as she handed them each a bathrobe, a towel, and a pair of flip-flops. “Put those on. I will wait outside. Then I will take you in.”

She gently closed the door, leaving Spike and Zephyr alone. They quickly undressed, wrapped the towels around their waists, and put the bathrobes on over them. They exited the changing room and followed Fern Flare again.

The ambiance was warm and relaxed as Spike and Zephyr entered the spa. It smelled densely of steam and sweat. Large pillars made of polished marble trimmed the high ceilings of the main chamber, which was decorated with pristine white furniture with gold accents. The room was crawling with women... and they were all practically naked. And as Spike drank in the oasis before him, the ladies drank him in likewise. There he was, Spike Drake, the man who had captured the hearts of infinite women, in nothing but a towel and robe.

“Enjoy,” Fern Flare told them.

Vera helped Spike into a chair while Aloe brought him a Mimosa and Lotus Blossom started rubbing his feet. None of the Kirin women spoke, and even with all of them on duty, the spa was understaffed that day—Bulk Biceps had been temporarily reassigned to massage therapy.

Zephyr Breeze couldn’t help but smile in pleasure as half a dozen Kirin women rubbed him down. He kept smiling as he closed his eyes; their hands were so soothing. Eventually, he reopened his eyes when he heard Spike talking about his last little camping excursion and how it was an epic failure.

“So it keeps raining for six solid hours, and the camping gear is totally soaked. So I finally threw everything into the S.U.V. and 20 minutes down the road, it breaks down. Luckily, my Mom was sailing nearby, and she picked me up in her yacht,” he concluded.

“Wow,” Zeph said. “Your mom is like a goddess.”

“So, how are you making out with Tree Hugger?” Spike asked.

“I’m not. She wants to take things slow, and I respect her decision,”

“Well, you’re lucky that you found a girl that’s relatively low maintenance,”

“What do you mean?”

“How much do you think the average woman spends on herself each month?” Spike asked him.

“I don’t know,”

“I do. Make up: $50, waxing: $40, haircut: $60, hair care products: $90, mani-pedi: $80,”

“Wow. That’s--”

“Over $300 a month just on beauty,” Spike replied. “And you wanna know how much they spend on skincare?”

“Yeah, I do,”

“No, you don’t,” Spike stated.

“How do you know all this stuff?” Zephyr asked.

“I study the female animal -- know your prey,” Spike answered. “And my Aunt Luna’s been a proud Cosmo subscriber since ’93. It’s like having the other team’s playbook.”

Just then, Spike heard a slight giggle. He looked slightly to his left and saw a woman sitting in one of the other chairs.

“Damn!” Spike thought.

She was a shimmering, diaphanous vision. Her skin looked warm and spoke of hours in the Sun. With luscious short hair (three shades of scarlet), chartreuse eyes, astonishing breasts and long, smooth legs, she was beautiful. A better word to describe her would have been foxy... and the exact opposite of a bitch. Her love and respect for others actually rivaled her beauty.

She had been watching Spike with a beautiful smile when he said, “You know, back in the seventeen hundreds a man could miss a stagecoach and wait two weeks for the next one with no sweat—now a man burns when he can’t even get the first space in a revolving door.”

She chuckled. “I know. Anything goes wrong now, from athlete’s foot to knocking up his girlfriend, and he blames it on anything but himself. So, you’re the famous Mister Drake that I’ve heard so much about?”

“Please, Mister Drake was my father. Call me Spike,”

“Okay, Spike,” she replied as she held out her hand to him. “Being called Mister Drake probably makes you feel the way I do when I’m called ma’am. I’m Stellar Flare.”

Spike noticed from looking at Stellar Flare’s fingernails that she had gotten the mega manicure. She was now getting a foot massage while her nails dried. He carefully reached out and held her hand above his. And when he did, he caught a glimpse of a gold wedding ring.

“I assume there is a Mister Flare?” he inquired.

“I’m afraid there isn’t,” Stellar admitted. “There hasn’t been for quite some time now.”

“You’re divorced?” Spike ventured a guess.

“I’m a widow,” she corrected him. “Twice, in fact.”

“Oh!” Spike gasped. “I’m so sorry. I thought with so many people--divorce being the new norm, I assumed--”

“I understand,” Stellar Flare said softly. “Are your parents divorced? Or worse, are you?”

“Me? No. And as for my parents, I’m an orphan,” he answered. “Or at least I was until Celestia Soleil adopted me. My father died on the job and my mother was murdered shortly after.”

Now it was Stellar’s turn to say sorry, and Spike gave her the same kind smile she had given him.

“Well, I’m glad to have met you, Spike,” she said. “Most men don’t like it when I’m around.”

“Are you serious?” Spike asked. “Sure, we just met but I already think you’re all around rockin’! I actually know a woman who tried to ban the staff bikini contest at tonight’s luau... And I use the word ‘woman’ very loosely.”

“Why would she want to stop the bikini contest?”

“Because she believes they’re ‘sexist’ and ‘chauvinistic’. That’s the only reason she even agreed to enter it: so she can publicly denounce it as such if she wins. If she wins,”

“Having a rockin’ bod is empowering,” Stellar replied, “as long as the lady has a rockin’ brain to go with it. I wish I had a rockin’ bod.”

“Oh, come on, you’re a total M.I.L.--!”

Spike clamped his hands over his mouth to stop himself talking.

“What was that, dear?” Stellar asked.

Spike’s face reddened; he felt like he was on fire.

“You were about to say ‘M.I.L.F. -- A Mom I’d Love to Fuck’,” she smiled.

“You don’t find that offensive?” he asked.

“Not at all,” she replied. “I’m flattered that you think I’m attractive. And frankly, too many people are way too uptight about too many things these days, that being one of them. Hey, would you like to join me for dinner tonight at the luau, my treat?”

“We just met and she’s already asking me out to dinner?” Spike thought. “Wait ‘my treat’? As in, she’ll buy? Well, I can’t say no to free food...”

So Spike, not wanting to be impolite, said, “I am starving! I haven’t had a decent meal for weeks!”

His stomach growled in agreement.

“It’s a date then,” she smiled again.

Stellar Flare saw Sunburst out of the corner of his eye, talking to Vera, making sure everything was running smoothly, and smiled even bigger.

“I am so proud of my boy, being left in charge of the resort,” she said.

“Wait, you’re Sunburst’s mom?” Spike asked (as if he didn’t already know).

“And Sunset’s,” she added.

Spike didn’t know that. He gasped, and not just from that new information. He looked down at Lotus Blossom, who was still massaging his feet, and he started grunting in pleasure.

“Are you all right?” Stellar asked.

Lotus Blossom wondered the same thing.

“No! Don’t stop!” Spike told Lotus Blossom. “Keep going! Keep going! Oh... Ooh... Oooh... Oh yeah, right there... Oh, yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yesyesyes, YES! YES!! YES!! Ooooohhh...”

Spike’s moans became louder and louder until he started howling and everyone else in the entire spa, men and women, stared at him.

One of the men said to Vera, “I’ll have two of what he just had, please!”

“Make that four!” said another.

“How much for a lifetime membership, or is that even possible?”

Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Twilight took one of the hotel golf carts to Fremount Street. They arrived at noon and spent the next three hours checking out the shops and trying on clothes, all while trying to find the perfect swimsuits for the bikini competition later that night.

“Oh! This is really, really, really cute,” Twilight said as she held up a tiny red two-piece. “Can I get this in a large top and small bottom?”

Then she freaked out when she looked at the clock on her cell phone and saw that it was 3:25.

“I thought I told you to watch the clock!” she told Rainbow Dash.

“Don’t be mad at me!” Dash replied. “I’m not the one who spent almost two hours trying to decide between two tops!”

“Fine, we’ve got 35 minutes to buy some cupcakes and get back to the hotel!” Twilight exclaimed. “Let’s go!”

Pinkie led them to a tiny bake shop with a pink door that was tucked away between two stores. Dash tried the door, but it wouldn’t budge.

“It’s closed!” she exclaimed.

“Not for long,” Pinkie said as she pulled a ring of keys out of her pocket and inserted one into the lock.

“Wait, how do you have a key to this place?” Rainbow Dash asked her.

“I used to work here,” she replied.

“You worked here?” Dash asked.

“Part-time,” Pinkie replied.

“Did you get free sweets?”

“Where do you think these sweet buns came from?” Pinkie asked as she swayed her booty back and forth.

“Nice! Righteous gig, girl!” Dash said.

Pinkie opened the door and she unlocked the cash register to pay while Twilight and Dash filled a basket with an assortment of muffins: one cinnamon sugar, one coconut, one banana chocolate, and one regular chocolate (for Spike).

While Pinkie, Dash and Twilight were filling up their basket full of goodies, Applejack was trying to work up the confidence to ask out Spike.

“Come on, Applejack. You can do this. Girls ask guys out all the time,” she said to herself. “I’m cute enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, it’s no big deal. I’m just a girl, and Spike’s just a guy... with a totally jacked bod.”

And speaking of Spike’s totally jacked bod, that’s what she saw when she saw him walking with Sunset and Stellar Flare... out of the hotel doctor’s office.

Spike was ecstatic when Sunset asked him if he ever raced on a motocross track before. He had, but it had been a long time since he’d ridden such a powerful bike. Finally, he had a chance to show off his skills.

Spike came around the corner on the last lap, doing sixty miles an hour as he shot into the air. He adjusted the throttle, tapped the brake and somersaulted fifteen feet up. The front tire hit the ground first when Spike came back down and he was airborne. He tumbled, and then rolled until he hit the wall. The helmet he was wearing didn’t split, but its visor shattered. The pain was instantaneous, but it lasted only a minute, and Sunset and Stellar were by his side in an instant with tears streaming down their beautiful cheeks.

“Spike, can you hear me?” Sunset cried. “Spike, talk to me!”

“Sunset, are you okay?” he asked, as if she was the one who got hurt.

Sunset and Stellar wiped the tears from their eyes. They were trying to smile, but they were still too overwhelmed with the initial shock of his crash. He had no broken bones, not even bruises.

He walked off of the course feeling extremely lucky.

But they still took him to the hotel doctor to make sure he hadn’t sustained any internal injuries, and everything checked out.

“Sick session, Spike,” Sunset said. “That was one dirty 360 you pulled.”

“Yeah, but after that wipeout I’ll be sneezing dirt for the rest of the month,” he replied. “I’m just glad you were there to make sure I was all right,” he told her and Stellar Flare.

Sunset and Stellar smiled as Spike gave them a quick look of pained regret with a promise of a future meeting. Zephyr Breeze walked up to Spike as the two women left, and Zephyr noticed him watching their butts the whole way.

“Really, Spike?” Zeph asked. “You’re checking out Sunset and her mom?”

“When I squint, I try and imagine what Stellar looked like when she was Sunset’s age,” Spike replied.

Zephyr tried it and said, “Try going back to when she just turned eighteen.”

They both reeled back and went, “Daaaaayumn!”

Then Spike turned with all his charm to Applejack. She was about to ask him out when he asked if she wanted to go to the luau with him later that night. Thrilled by Spike’s invitation, Applejack felt like she was walking on clouds.

She gasped and said, “Sure. Okay.”

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash weaved through traffic...

“If I’m late, I’m looking at a strike!” Twilight exclaimed. “Can this thing go any faster?”

Rainbow Dash did as she was told. She put her foot on the accelerator and the golf cart surged forward.

“Rainbow Dash, slow down!” Twilight screamed.

“You said, ‘go faster!’” Dash replied.

“You’ll smush Spike’s puffcake!” she said as she cradled it in her hands.

“Bringing back a sweet thing for your sweet thang?” Pinkie teased.

“What? Me and Spike? Ewww, no!” Twilight gagged.

“Why not?” Dash asked. “He’s got nice teeth, gentle eyes, remarkably well-sculpted abs... Not to mention he’s hung like a stallion... He’s a total stud muffin.”

“Bear!” Twilight exclaimed.

“Okay, he’s a little hairy,” Dash admitted, “but it’s mostly on his chest.”

“No! A bear!” Twilight shouted.

It was straight stretch of road with not much traffic, but several circus acts, including the trained animals, were crossing the street a block ahead of them. One of the bears caught the scent of the muffins, got free of its handlers, and proceeded to chase after them.

“He’s after our puffcakes!” Twilight exclaimed.

“He’s not getting mine!” Dash shouted.

“These’ll distract him!” Pinkie cried.

She threw her basket of puffcakes at the bear and it ate them in one gulp.

“Pinkie, you just made him even hungrier!” Twilight shouted.

Rainbow Dash weaved through alleys and down side streets until they finally got away from the bear.

“You did it, Dash!” Twilight shouted. “We’re safe!”

Dash checked the rear-view mirror. They had escaped, only for the golf cart to sharply turn and swerve off its course. There was a tortured scream of rubber from the tires and a horrible tearing of metal as the golf cart went over the curb, hit a taxi broadside, bounced off it and smashed into a streetlight. Twilight rolled out of the golf cart, Spike’s puffcake in one hand and her cell phone in the other.

“That was close,” she said. “I almost lost a piece of chocolate.”

She got to her feet, turned back to look at Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, and saw that they had lost their shorts and bikinis.

“Pinkie, Rainbow Dash! You’re naked!” she cried.

“We’re not the only ones,” Pinkie replied.

Twilight draped one arm across her breasts and covered her muffin with the chocolate puffcake as she blushed deep red. Somehow, in all the chaos, the zippers on their shorts must have split and the strings on their bikinis had come undone, was all she could figure.

The girls squinted as they looked back down the narrow street. They found themselves in the part of Las Pegasus the tourists and guidebooks never heard about: a spider web of winding alleys, boarded-up storefronts, decrepit tenement buildings, and dead ends.

Pinkie bent down to pick up something that was lying in the middle of the deserted side street.

“‘CHAOTIC,’” she said. “That’s weird. This golf cart has the exact same unnecessary vanity license plate as Discord’s. What are the odds?”

“Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said, “please tell me you didn’t borrow Discord’s. Personal. Golf Cart?!”

“They all look the same to me,” she replied.

They looked at the vehicle in question. The fender was hanging off, and the windshield was shattered. It was a miracle that, aside from losing their clothes, the girls weren’t hurt.

“We totaled Discord’s cart,” Twilight said.

“Naw, it’s just a little fender bender,” Dash replied.

“This was his prized possession!” Twilight shouted. “It just got delivered last night.”

“I know,” Pinkie said. “He made me throw a party for it.”

“We are so dead!” Twilight cried. “I’ve got to call Rarity!”

“So, she saved the cupcake and her cell phone, but not her clothes?” Pinkie thought out loud. “That girl seriously needs to get her priorities straight.”

Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement, and she and Pinkie tried to find something to cover up with.

“Thank you for calling Flimflam Brothers’--”

“Rarity, we got lost!” Twilight shouted. “There was a bear, we crashed Discord’s golf cart, we lost our clothes, and help!!”

“Okay, calm down, darling. I’m sending help,” Rarity said. “Fluttershy, take three sets of clothes and go find Twilight, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash! Follow the GPS in Discord’s cart, and hurry!”

“But what about my shift?” Twilight continued to shout.

Applejack, who had been standing by the counter, talking to Rarity, heard.

“Relax, Spike and I will cover for ya,” she told her.

“Really? You will?” Twilight asked.

“Sure. I’d do anything for Spike,” Applejack replied.

“Thanks, Applejack!” Twilight said. “Oh, and could you tell Spike I’ve got his chocolate cupcake and I’m on my way?”

“Yeah... Sure thing...”

Rarity hung up and Applejack went off in search of Spike. She found him in the staff locker room, naked from the waist up.

“Spike, do me a solid and pick up Twilight’s shift until she gets back?”

“Whatever. It’s not like she was going to do it anyway, right? We’re still on for the luau tonight?” he asked. “I got you a lei. I know it’s cheesy, but you’d look good in anything.”

Applejack giggled as Spike placed it around her neck.

The night air was heavy with the sound of drums, lightened by the flicker of tiki torches, and the scents of roasted pig and fruity cocktails in coconut-bowl cups. The courtyard behind the resort had been strung with glittering lights and the snack bar by the outdoor pools had been set up to look like a tiki bar. Applejack, scantily clad in her dark blue bikini, a leafy crown with matching bracelets and anklets, a grass skirt that hung just below her knees, a pink flower in her hair, and the lei Spike had given her, danced across the stage while Bulk Biceps and one of the other bellboys, a blue haired, blue eyed guy named Party Favor, beat on drums.

“Who scheduled Twilight for hula girl duty?” Applejack asked herself. “Oh, right, Discord.”

“Wooo-hoo! All right! Go, Applejack!” Sunset shouted.

“There better be a cupcake in this for me,” AJ muttered to herself.

Sunburst rubbed his sweaty palms down the sides of his untucked, bright red Hawaiian shirt as flames shot up from the barbecue pits and torch lamps. Then his jaw dropped when his mother showed up wearing the smallest bikini ever -- it was like three aquamarine postage stamps held together with fishing line -- with her arm around Spike, who was in his purple board shorts and shirtless.

“Sunburst, have you met my new boyfriend?” Stellar asked as she rested her head against Spike’s shoulder.

“It’s the Big Kahuna himself!” Cheese Sandwich proclaimed.

“What is wrong with you?” Sunburst whispered as he pulled Spike aside. “I told you to keep her busy, not get busy.”

“Calm down,” Spike replied. “Your mom and I aren’t dating; she just invited me to have dinner with you guys. That’s all.”

“I’m so happy to have my two favorite boys together for dinner,” Stellar Flare said as she slipped her arms through theirs.

“See?” Spike asked Sunburst.

Sugar Belle, dressed as a hula girl, bowed at the waist before offering them two bowls of poi.

“Apple or cherry?” she asked.

Spike looked at the bowls quizzically and noticed that there were no utensils to serve the poi with.

Stellar Flare said, “You eat it with your fingers, like this.”

She dipped two of her fingers into the apple poi and simply ate it off them. Spike tried to copy her and ended up with some poi on his chin, which Stellar wiped away with her own fingers and ate.

“No Mother of mine is going to be dating someone younger than me!” Sunburst thought. “I have to put a stop to this!”

Cheese Sandwich picked up a microphone after Applejack finished her hula dance and the crowd clapped.

“Thank you, thank you,” he said. “Now, before we dig into some tasty pineapple pig, who’s up for a little hula competition?”

Spike volunteered as he stepped up and joined Applejack on the stage. He clapped his hands together over his head before extending his arms to his sides and swaying his hips side to side.

“You call that dancing?” someone shouted.

Slightly perturbed by the outburst, Spike grabbed a pair of wooden torches roughly two meters long, lit both ends on fire, and started dancing with them.

“YEEEAAAHHH!” he yelled.

He twirled the firesticks around, tossed one into the air, and caught it behind his back. The drums quickened as Spike spun the torches faster. He then held both torches in one hand, grabbed a drink from one of the passing waitresses, filled his mouth with the liquid and spat it into the fire, causing the flames to shoot high into the air above him.

The audience gasped and applauded as Spike took a bow.

“Whoa,” Sunset said. “I don’t know whether to be impressed or disturbed.”

Spike looked at Applejack after he finished his routine. The first thing he noticed was the smile on her face. Then the lei draped between her breasts. Finally, he looked at her feet and saw that the flower had fallen from her hair. He knelt down to pick it up, and when he stood up straight he returned it to its original place, just behind her ear.

“Thank you, Spike,” she said quietly.

“You’re welcome,” he replied, smiling.

“Listen,” she said. “I was wondering if you’re not doing anything this--”

“Oh, great,” Rarity groaned. “Now the pig’s overcooked!”

“No, we can salvage this,” said Stellar Flare.

Sunburst finally had all that he could take and he lost it.

“That is it!” he shouted. “Mom, you’re driving me crazy! You’re embarrassing me and you’re embarrassing yourself, dating a guy who’s younger than I am!”

Stellar Flare ran off in tears and Spike and Sunset glared at Sunburst.

“That was really mean,” Sunset told her half-brother.

“Dude, your mom rocks,” Spike added, “and if you can’t see that, then I feel sorry for you!”

And he and Sunset went after Stellar Flare.

Rarity groaned again, wondering where Twilight, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were.

“Where are they?” she asked herself.

Moonlight glistened down on Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie as they shuddered; trying to keep themselves covered with discarded newspapers and metal lids they had stolen off the tops of trash cans.

“F-F-Fluttershy should have found us hours ago,” Rainbow Dash said.

“And n-nobody’s p-picking up at the h-hotel,” Twilight added.

“At least we’ve got food,” Pinkie said, eyeing Spike’s chocolate cupcake.

“No! Not this one!” Twilight shouted.

“So hungry...” Dash said. “So thirsty...”

“Water!” Pinkie exclaimed.

She and Dash fell to their knees and started drinking out of a puddle in the middle of the alleyway.

“No!” Twilight cried. “Don’t drink that!”

Too late.

The two women slowly stood up and when they did, their eyes went bloodshot and they started foaming at the mouth.

“So hungry,” Pinkie moaned.

“And she’s hoarding all our food!” Dash added.

“Oh, no! Cupcake fever!” Twilight exclaimed.

“Give us the cupcake!” Pinkie and Dash growled.

“Never!” Twilight cried.

And she took off running.

“Cupcakes! Cupcakes!”

Twilight tried to outrun them, but they cut her off at every turn until they had her cornered.

“Gotcha!” Dash snarled. “Now hand over that cupcake!”

“No!”

Twilight gulped when she turned and realized that she wasn’t backed up against a wall, but a bear. It was the same bear from before. And they knew it was the same one because it was wearing its little circus hat.

“AAAAAAHHH!” Twilight screamed.

The bear roared, snapping Pinkie and Dash out of their madness, and then Fluttershy appeared. She soared at the bear and knocked it to the ground with a back-breaking flying kick. Fluttershy then grabbed the bear by one of its hind legs and pulled it hard. Then she stomped on the creature’s back. Finally, she grabbed the bear by its neck and twisted it with a violent snap, rendering it unconscious.

“Are you girls okay?” she asked.

“Fluttershy!” they cried.

And she wasn’t alone. She was leading the troupe of circus performers and animal handlers who had been looking for the missing bear since the afternoon.

Fluttershy gave Twilight, Pinkie and Dash the clothes she had brought with her and led them back to the Resort.

“Finally!” Applejack exclaimed. “I almost had to take your spots in the staff bikini contest.”

“You got me a cupcake?” Zephyr Breeze asked. “Thank you!” he said as he snatched the pastry from Twilight’s hands and shoved it into his mouth.

Later, in the staff locker room, Rainbow Dash was arguing with Twilight while they and Pinkie Pie changed into better clothes.

“I have never been so humiliated in my life,” Rainbow Dash said angrily, “running around Las Pegasus butt naked, thanks to you!”

“Me?” Twilight replied.

“Yes, you! You wanted help, so I helped you. I would have gotten us back here in one piece if you hadn’t messed it up,”

“Stop,” Twilight stated. “I’m sick of your bullshit!”

“I’m sick of you! I’m not the one who’s going out of her way trying to impress some guy that she’s got no business trying to impress!” Dash replied. “You. Are. Pathetic. Pitiful! When are you going to realize, and accept the fact, that Spike is obviously not interested in you? I may be just a dim Wonderbolt Academy graduate and you’re a snob, but I can tell that you don’t really like Spike. And you know why I believe you don’t like him? He’s everything you’re not! He’s everything you could ever hope to be, but never can be, and never will be!”

Twilight didn’t reply. She just flicked another glance at the woman across the locker room from her, and then turned her attention to her clothes.

“Ever since he arrived, you have done nothing but gripe!” Dash went on. “Just look at yourself! You’re always tired and dirty, you never go anywhere, and you don’t have fun. Answer me, when was the last time you had fun? I mean some real fun? When’s the last time you took a night off, had a date, anything like that?”

“I have plenty of dates,” Twilight grunted.

“When?” Dash challenged her. “When was the last time you had a date? Huh? Let’s hear it, Sparkle! The Year of the Horse?”

The two glared at each other for a moment. Then Twilight stormed out, slamming the door behind her, leaving Rainbow Dash and Pinkie half dressed.

Twilight pressed the left side of her head in a spasmodic clutch while her face grayed. She wrestled with the pain that had stabbed her and finally fought her way back to her feet. She clung to the wall and reached into a side pocket of her jacket and pulled out a bottle of pills. She popped a few and then waited for the pain to pass, and when it did she drew the back of her hand across her forehead.

Ulrimately, Twilight didn’t win the bikini contest because of a facial tic that she had difficulty controlling... and Fluttershy won.

“And I didn’t even get to patch things up with Spike,” Twilight said.

The next morning, Sunburst walked into the Sweet Snacks Café and saw Spike talking to Stellar Flare. He waited until they were done talking before he approached their booth.

“It’s not you, it’s me,” Spike told her. “I mean, I’m young enough to be your son. Tartarus, I’m friends with your son. It would be just too weird.”

“I know, and I’m sorry if I led you on,” Stellar replied. “But I do want to thank you for last night. It’s just been so long since Sunset’s and Sunburst’s fathers both died, and it was the most fun I’ve had in years.”

“You’re welcome,” Spike smiled.

“Hey, Sunset and I are going to go to Fremount Street later today,” she said. “If you want, you can come and watch us try on bikinis.”

Spike went red.

“Just kidding,” Stellar laughed. “But seriously, if you ever need anything, don’t hesitate to come to me. I’ve always got your back.”

“Thank you,” Spike smiled again. He looked up and saw Sunburst standing by the table. “Do you have anything you would like to say?”

Sunburst sighed as he slid into the booth next to Spike.

“Mom, I’m really sorry I got upset, but I had to tell you how I feel,” he said.

“I know, honey, Stellar Flare replied. “And I see that my little boy is growing up. I mean, the Brothers wouldn’t have left you in charge of the whole resort for a weekend if they didn’t think you could handle it. And between you and me, they were right. You’re a young man now. You are responsible, successful, and you need your space.”

She and Sunburst reached across the booth and Spike smiled as they hugged. Then he saw Celestia walk into the Café. He excused himself and went to join her.

“There you are!” she said. “I’ve been looking for you! You disappeared last night after the luau.”

“I was with someone who made me realize that I haven’t been spending any time with you lately,” he explained.

“Spike, that’s okay--”

“No, it’s not okay!” he cut her off. “I’m sorry, Mom, but we’re family and we are on vacation, and we are going to have a great time. Together!”

Celestia smiled. “You’re right, Spike. I’ve spent more than enough time in meetings. It’s time I took a day off from business and had some fun!”

“And don’t worry, I won’t make us wear matching tacky Hawaiian shirts like Aunt Luna,” Spike promised her.

Sunburst stood on the curb Sunday evening as Discord, Firelight, and the Flimflam Brothers returned from Vanhoover.

“How was the trip?” Sunburst asked.

“Ugh, a total drag,” Discord said. “Nothing I didn’t already know... Look at this place! It’s so spick-and-span... Did people like the giant vibrating banana?”

“It was a huge hit,” Sunburst lied. “Huge!”

“I knew it!” Discord chuckled. “Good work, Sunburst.”

He was so impressed that he told Sunburst that he could be in charge every time he and the other bosses left town... but Sunburst didn’t agree to it, which Discord amiably accepted.

Author's Note

Next time: Spike continues to bond with the ladies while Zephyr Breeze and Tree Hugger leave out pot-laced cupcakes and an unaware Discord eats one.

Thrills, Cocktails and Cupcakes

Las Pegasus had no less than three hot air balloon services: Adventure Balloons, Las Pegasus Balloon Rides, and “Love is in the Air Ballooning”, the latter which was normally reserved for weddings and similar special occasions. Unfortunately, when Spike called to make a reservation for himself and his mother, that was the only one that had an opening... and it was early in the morning, which was perfect for Celestia! She loved the freshness of the dawn; the Sun coming up, the cool morning air, the silence at several hundred or thousand feet... it was bliss.

For as long as Spike could remember, Celestia was an adrenaline junkie. Even more so when her sister Luna got her a copy of “Thrill-Seeking Adventures for the Rich!” last Hearth’s Warming. Celestia had done almost everything in that book from mountain climbing to hang-gliding, skydiving to spelunking, zip-lining (her personal favorite), even running with the bulls and scuba diving with great white sharks. But that day, Spike surprised his adoptive mother with something she had never done before: bungee jumping from a hot air balloon!

Celestia entered the lobby from the elevator with a rush, arms outstretched. Spike caught her as she gave a girlish impetuous jump three feet from the front desk, and as he lowered her to her feet he looked at his adoptive mother with great affection. She looked sexy with her hair pulled back in a ponytail and wearing tight jeans, a plain white T-shirt and running shoes. She kissed Spike briefly on the cheek when Discord strolled up to them, munching on a chocolate cupcake that he had swiped from the kitchen.

“Well, there she is. The Ball-Crusher 2000,” he directed at Celestia.

“Spike, you didn’t tell me it was Bring Your Troll to Work Day,” Celestia countered with a smile.

“Enough with the pleasantries,” Discord said. “What are you doing here?”

“Does a mother need a reason to treat her son to a day of fun?” she replied.

Discord squinted shrewdly at them.

“All right, fine, but be back in time for the evening shift!” he told Spike. “It’s Ladies’ Night in the Midnight Lounge and Applejack’s going to need your help bartending since Soarin’s taking a ‘personal day.’”

Spike nodded as Celestia put on her sunglasses and they made tracks for adventure. Rarity, who had been standing behind the front desk and stuffing her face with chocolates, sighed as she watched Spike walk off with Celestia.

“Can you believe that?” she asked Coco. “How many young men would do something like that with their mother?”

“Hey, Gossip Girl, careful you don’t stretch your uniform out,” Discord said as he finished off the cupcake. “Who would leave a pair of cupcakes just sitting on the counter?”

After filling out the necessary paperwork, Spike and his mother got fitted into their gear: jumpsuits, helmets, goggles and harnesses. While Celestia adjusted her harness’s straps, Spike got a good look at her ample breasts as they peeked out of the top of her suit... and he suddenly wanted to touch them. He wanted to fit a finger or two between them and feel her flesh pressing back. Of course, no such thing happened. Once they made sure that everything was correct and secure, they were ready to jump.

The basket was big enough to hold Spike, Celestia and their pilot, and as the balloon rose with the Sun they saw everything. The rich, bold colors of the desert were even more striking from the air and they caught glimpses of the wildlife including foxes, wild horses, coyotes, and the elusive jackrabbit.

Spike and his mother pulled their goggles over their eyes as the pilot checked their cords one last time and they climbed over opposite sides of the basket. Celestia screamed happily as they fell together, towards the Earth at what felt like a hundred miles an hour, and then sprang back up toward the basket, sometimes going even higher than the balloon itself. After half a dozen dives, Celestia pulled out her cell phone and took a selfie as she took her last jump.

“That was intense,” Spike said once they were back on the ground. “I guess you’re used to it by now, though.”

“No, today was different,” Celestia replied. “I’ve never felt the rush quite like that before. This was wonderful, Spike. Thank you.”

She gave him another soft peck on the cheek, and her scent had him swooning for a second before they returned to the city.

Celestia was a social drinker; she may have a glass of wine or two, but that day she had three with her lunch. She didn’t know if it was the rush of adrenaline from the bungee jumping, or the fact that Spike was with her, but she felt like a young woman again. Then a tear fell from her eye as she remembered an evening years ago, when Spike was still a teenager, she was so tired that she fell asleep at the dinner table... and when she woke up she saw that Spike had draped a blanket over her. She had left a window open in the kitchen and it was getting cold outside.

Spike noticed the tear on her cheek and asked, “Is something wrong?”

“No, I’m just glad that I get to spend some time with you,” Celestia said. “I don’t like Bridleway musicals, going to museums, the beach, the opera, the spa, or on picnics in the park, and I don’t know how to play video games... and whenever I see you and Luna enjoying those things together, I get a little jealous because I can’t do them with you.”

Spike smiled as he recalled the first time Luna shared her theatergoing experiences with him. It was a cold winter night when Spike was seven-years-old. She bundled him up, and the next thing he knew he was transported to a beautiful place where people were singing and dancing and he fell in love with it.

“Yeah, but you try,” he replied. “That’s what I love about you: you don’t pretend to like everything that I do. And it’s good to have separate interests. I mean, there is such a thing as spending too much time together.”

Celestia looked away with a frown.

“That being said, I also like that you try to share your interests with me,” Spike added as he placed his hand over hers. “Some things just aren’t as fun to do when you’re alone. And if you do too many things separately, eventually you drift apart. It’s like any good relationship: give and take. You taught me that.”

Celestia smiled back at him.

“Well, I appreciate that, Spike,” she said. “From now on, I will make more of an effort to enjoy the things that you like.”

“Thanks, Mom,”

After lunch, they walked out of the restaurant hand in hand and strolled down the Strip, checking out the different casinos including Planet Applewood. They entered and sat at one of the blackjack tables with a group of three women—named Redheart, Snowheart and Tenderheart—who Spike found out were in town for their annual Nurses Convention.

As soon as Spike sat down, he started sizing them up. First, Redheart: a hot, busty thirty-something with snow white skin, she wore a pink top and a black skirt that seemed two sizes too small—primary target. Then Snowheart: a sexy thirty-year-old with light blue hair and green eyes—secondary target. And finally, Tenderheart: a cute twenty-something with purple eyes, and the only one focused on her chip count. They were all stealing looks at Spike while he and Celestia won the next set of hands. Occasionally, Spike made eye contact with the nurses and smiled, and they cheered for Celestia when her winnings went from $450 to over $2,000 in just fifteen minutes.

“I guess I have a little more luck on my side today,” she said.

Meanwhile, Zephyr Breeze and Tree Hugger walked through the kitchen of the Flimflam Brothers’ Resort after catching a Jack Pot and Trixie magic show. After dinner that night, they were going to lie on the roof of the resort and watch the stars come out. And Zephyr got them a little something to make the night even better: chocolate cupcakes. He went over to the counter he had left them on the night before, but found only one.

“There were two,” he said. “What happened to the other one?”

“Oh, well, here’s a clue,” Tree Hugger said, holding up a strand of gray hair that was lying on the other. “I think your boss passed through here and left this.”

“Oh, no, this is not good,” Zephyr said.

“What’s the big deal?” Tree Hugger asked. “It’s just a cupcake.”

“No, babe, it’s a potcake,”

He and Tree Hugger rounded up Fluttershy, Starlight, and Twilight, and they combed the resort for Discord. They found him in his office, sitting and staring at the TV, but it was off.

“Discord, what are you doing?” Twilight asked.

“I don’t know,” he replied.

Starlight noticed two empty cans on the desk.

“Did you eat two cans of baked beans?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Discord repeated.

“Why isn’t the TV on?” Zephyr Breeze asked.

“I don’t know,”

“Are you feeling all right, John?” Fluttershy inquired.

“I. Don’t. Know,”

“Did you eat one of my brother’s cupcakes?” she added sternly.

“It wasn’t even that good,” he answered. “In fact, it tasted kind of funny.”

“That’s because it was made with pot,” Zephyr added.

“Are you telling me I’m goofed up on grass right now?” Discord asked.

“Yeah,” Zeph said with a nod.

“You dosed me, you damn dirty hippy!” Discord growled.

“Get him some water! Quick!” Starlight said.

Fluttershy ran to the kitchen, grabbed a glass, filled it, and gave it to Discord when she returned.

“Is that better?” she asked.

“Not really, my teeth still feel enormous,” Discord replied.

“I can’t believe this is the first time you’ve ever been high,” Zeph said.

“Are you holding my hand?” Discord asked Tree Hugger. “Get out!”

“It’s okay,” she reassured him. “I have guided more than my fair share of first-timers.”

Discord looked at Twilight and asked, “Is she trying to have sex with me? Where’s her other hand?”

“Come on, Tree Hugger, let’s go,” Zeph told his girlfriend.

“Okay, all right. But if you need anything, I’ve got glow sticks and a bubble machine,” Tree Hugger said to them.

“Oh, my Faust, I could eat!” Discord shouted. “I need toast ASAP! Seriously, if I don’t get some toast right now, I may literally die, I am starving!”

Starlight and Fluttershy left Twilight with Discord long enough to return to the kitchen and make Discord some toast. Fluttershy even went through the trouble of getting a tub of butter and a bottle of honey, as well as various jams and jellies; and Starlight brought back a can of whipped cream.

“Are you happy now?” Twilight asked him.

“I think I’m losing my highness, Your Highness,” he laughed. “Nope... I’m still up there with the damn kites... Spike has you so whipped... You are such a whore... I am so horny right now... Cool. There’s an echo inside my head! Hello! Balls! Awesome! Bongos! Equestria! Is there anybody in there? Oh, my Faust. The echo just said yes.”

He took the whipped cream can from Starlight, shook it, and sprayed it into his mouth until it was full.

“Pinkie was right, this stuff’s not just for cakes. It’s great all by itself!” Discord proceeded to spray some onto his head. “Look at me! I’m Whipped Cream Head! Fear me! All fear Whipped Cream Head!”

“Okay, I think you’ve had enough,” Starlight told him.

“I knew that wasn’t a good idea,” muttered Twilight.

“I’ll tell you what’s a good idea: chili cheese fries and a large root beer... with chili cheese fries... and girls... You know, when I was your age, they had to use a water cannon to keep me away from the girls down at the Paramount... and speaking of girls, isn’t Fluttershy cute?” Discord asked. “Why, I think she’s even cuter than you!” he told Twilight. “You know what else? I think the only reason I keep you around is because no one else will give you a job! Twilight, I can’t believe I kept you on for so long. So, I’m sorry, no I’m not, but you’re fired!”

“I think the word you’re looking for is ‘fried,’” Twilight replied.

“No, no, I mean you’re fired!” Discord cackled.

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Fluttershy opened it and a young man stood in the doorway. He stood an inch taller than Twilight, he had an athletic build, and he was in his early twenties. He had eyes the color of gold and wild, unkempt jet-black hair that spilled down his back. He wore a white long sleeved collared shirt with black pants, a black vest and matching tie with a four leaf clover in his lapel, and a golden pocket watch with a diamond chain.

“Hello, I’m here about the new dealer job,” he said. “Are you still looking?”

“Discord, were you trying to hire somebody?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah,” he replied. “Ladies... and Twilight... this is Midnight Radiance.”

“Is he alright?” Midnight Radiance asked.

“Yeah, he’s okay,” Starlight replied. “Why?”

“Well, if this is your idea of a staff meeting... I’d work my butt off!” he said.

“What the Tartarus! I’m in a giving mood right now,” Discord replied. “You can have the job and do all the work that Twilight wasn’t doing. And Twilight, I can’t fire you, you’re too awesome! Midnight Radiance, you’re hired; Twilight, you’re not fired; jobs for everyone!”

Spike entered the Midnight Lounge that evening, ready to help Applejack. She was already behind the bar, in front of shelves of gin, Scotch, applejack (yes, that’s a drink, in case you were wondering), bourbon, rum, beer and wine. Not to mention all the straws, cherries, olives, mixers, flames, little umbrellas and other garnishes. Applejack flipped a glass through the air before setting it down on the bar. Then she began to mix a drink.

“The essential technique of bartending; less is more,” she began. “The less you pour, the more you score. The boss does better, we do better.”

“And the customer?” Spike asked.

“Think of them like a hurdler thinks of hurdles: a means to an end,” she explained as she juggled a lemon and a lime with one hand. “We dazzle them with ice work... baffle them with bottle work...”

She continued to spin glasses in her hands and flip bottles though the air as she spoke; the corners of Spike’s mouth widened into a smile at her show of skill.

“I know it’s not the most honest way of doing it, but it’s the only way to keep the house from losing money,” Applejack went on. “There are many ways to fool a customer. The short pour, the long pour, the ice mountain, the spring thaw, the speed rack shuffle, the hot shot, and, like me, you will learn them all. I’ve also got two rules when you’re bartending with me: no empty glasses on the bar, and if somebody belts you, just blame a waitress.”

As Spike nailed a double flip (flinging two bottles at once), he felt the power he once wielded as a college pub bartender return. Memories of him making some people’s drinks too strong so that they would throw up, and spitting in other’s drinks when he didn’t like their attitudes, all came flooding back as he made ice fly into his glass and prepared two more servings of the same complicated drink.

“Hai, Sensai!” he replied.

He slid the concoction down the bar to Applejack who stopped it with the bottle of hard cider she was holding, and said, “I’ll stick with this.”

She took a swig, and as she did, Rainbow Dash entered the Lounge.

“Hey, Dash,” Spike greeted her. “How are you doing? What do you know?”

“Not well and not enough,” she answered.

“You want a beer, hard cider?”

“Nah, I’m still on the clock. I just had to get out of that last suite -- a definite ‘Disgusting Hotel Rooms Top 10’,” she said as she showed him a picture she took on her cell phone.

“No way, a million views?” he asked. “Is that--?”

“Yes, it is. I hate this job,” Dash replied, “but at least I have a way to get even with all these nasty guests other than scrubbing the toilets with their toothbrushes... not that I actually do that. I’ll see ya later. I need to get some fresh content... And I know just where to get it.”

Spike bid her farewell and turned to face the bottles behind him when suddenly, a familiar high pitched voice said, “Spike Drake!”

Spike turned around to see a cute young woman standing right behind him, just across the bar. She looked strangely out of place in the Midnight Lounge; her big soulful eyes gazing innocently back at him.

“Betty? Betty Hoof?”

“Long time no see,” she replied with a wink.

She was one of the original Applewood starlets; Spike had known her back when his mother was still alive, and he was glad to see her. She’d had a bad deal when Applewood got big, but it was good to know she was still around.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

She fluttered her long black eyelashes. “Work’s been kind of slow, but I still got it.” She wiggled her hips. “Boop boop de-doop, boop!”

Spike smiled at her iconic bit. It was funny, touching, sexy, and tragic.

“Yeah,” he said gently. “You still got it.”

“How long have you been in Las Pegasus?” she asked as she sat at the bar after readjusting her garter.

“A few weeks now,” he answered.

“Do you like it?”

“Much better now,” he flirted. “What’ll you have?”

“I’ll be honest, it’s been a long time since I’ve been anywhere like this,” she confessed. “I was just passing by and decided to drop in and see what it’s like.”

“Well, does it live up to your expectations?”

“I expected to see more lost, desperate souls sitting around,”

“No, Desperate Souls’ Night is Thursday,” Applejack told her. “All the beer you can cry into for a buck.”

Betty reached into her purse and pulled out a cigarette.

“Do you have a light?” she asked Spike.

“For you, baby, always,” he grinned as he flicked his wrist and a silver lighter appeared in his hand.

He lit her cigarette as the Lounge slowly started to fill up with people, including three dealers from the Sky Resort... and they sat right next to Betty.

“So, you’re Spike ‘the Lucky Prince’ Drake,” one of them guessed.

“And you must be Scootaloo,” Spike replied. “You’re just the way Rainbow Dash described you.”

“She-She talks about me?” Scootaloo stuttered.

“Oh, yeah,” Spike said. “Quite a bit; how you idolize her, started a fan club for her when she was accepted into the Wonderbolt Academy... So, you’re the dealers up at the Sky Resort?”

“Yeah,” Scootaloo answered. “These are my friends Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom.”

“Hello,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Hi,” said Apple Bloom. “Pleased to do me--I mean, how do I meet you?”

Spike hid his smile as she stumbled over her words.

“Smooth, cowgirl,” Scootaloo whispered.

“What’re you doing down here?” Spike inquired. “Shouldn’t you be up in the clouds right about now?”

“Are you kidding? We never miss Ladies’ Night here,” Scootaloo replied. “Besides, Sweetie Bot can handle it.”

“Yeah, Rarity told me about the little android you built of yourself,” he directed at Sweetie Belle. “What’s the story there?”

“We were filling out college applications when we came across an ad for an applied sciences scholarship,” Sweetie Belle explained. “All we had to do to get it was build our own robot.”

“So, what’ll you ladies have?” Spike asked. “Well, besides me.”

“Two drafts and a Scotch on the rocks,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Coming up,” Spike replied.

A few minutes later, Zecora walked in and sat at the bar.

“Hello,” Spike greeted her. “What’ll it be?”

“Gin and bitters will do,” she said. “Thank you.”

“I must admit, I often regret there are so many women out there and only one of me,” Spike told her.

“Oh, handsome, witty, and charming,” she said.

“So, what’s the deal with you and Fancy Pants?” he inquired.

“Dark, exotic women like myself bring a fever to his blood,” Zecora replied.

“Hey, Spike, don’t forget our beers!” Scootaloo reminded him.

“Don’t worry, I haven’t,” he replied.

Spike had finished pouring Sweetie Belle her Scotch when the telephone at the end of the bar started ringing.

“Who isn’t here?” he asked the crowd.

“Me!” all the men and women answered.

Spike nodded to them, and then answered the phone.

“Midnight Lounge,” he said.

“Yes,” Discord’s voice came from the other end, “is a Mister Hiscock there, first name Jack?”

Spike smiled and decided to humor his pot headed boss.

“Hold on, I’ll check,” he replied. “Jack Hiscock?” he asked the crowd. “Anyone Jack Hiscock? Hello!” he shouted. “Somebody Jack Hiscock? Hey, one of you! Jack! Hiscock!”

Everyone in the Midnight Lounge burst out laughing, and one drunken woman slurred, “I wanna jack your cock!”

Then a young man sitting at the end of the bar, dressed in golf attire, raised his hand and said, “I’m Jack Hiscock.”

“Call for you,” Spike said as he handed him the phone.

“Hello, this is Jack Hiscock, who’s this?”

“Discord, I’m the day manager here at the Resort,”

“Well, what can I do for you, Discord?” Jack asked.

“Look, I’ll level with you, Mister Hiscock, this is a crank call that backfired and I’d like to bail out right now,”

“Well, better luck next time,” Jack said as he hung up.

Meanwhile, in his office, Discord put down his cell phone as he started to feel weird: his hair was starting to feel tingly, his palms were sweaty and his heart was racing. Then he started hallucinating that everyone else turned into him. Or rather, he was seeing himself as everyone else.

“Just take a deep breath and relax,” Discord-Starlight said.

“You’re going to be okay,” Discord-Fluttershy added.

“Or you can do what Spike usually does: have a drink,” Discord-Twilight suggested.

“Oh, my Faust! I really need to change my hair!” Discord said.

Later that night, charged with energy, Spike worked behind the bar while he danced alongside Applejack. They served with style, moving like synchronized dancers and using flashy gestures. Spike grabbed several bottles at once while Applejack flung the cocktail shaker, both delighting the patrons.

“Very sophisticated,” Betty Hoof said.

“You’re crazy,” Scootaloo told Spike.

Their faces bright with joy, Spike and AJ continued to move to the music, thrusting their hips and gracefully lobbing bottles of liquor into the air. The women lingered near Spike as he shimmied to the music, putting on a show behind the bar, while they admired him. When he wasn’t looking, they were checking him out with smiles on their faces.

“What buns!” Sweetie Belle whispered.

“See?” Swoon Song asked. “We told you.”

“It’s official,” Dear Darling said. “Spike is the best-looking guy in this bar.”

“Best-looking guy in Las Pegasus,” Fond Feather added.

“Best-looking guy in all of Equestria,” Zecora went on.

“Oh, I am gonna make some money tonight!” Spike thought as he grinned at his many admirers.

The name of the game was woman. The little darlings came in panting, their hearts pitter-patting for the handsome, all knowing bartender. And in their wake, a parade of slobbering geeks, with one hand on their crotches and the other hand on their wallets.

You get the women, you get the bucks.

And Spike got them. Oh, he got them. Buttons were popping, skirts were rising, and when he could see the color of their panties, he knew he had the talent. Spike climbed atop the bar and continued to dance as Apple Bloom rubbed his leg.

“Hey, hands off the merchandise!” Applejack snapped at her sister.

Spike hopped back down behind the bar as Rarity walked in and sat on a vacant stool across from him, a very bitter look on her face. Actually, it wasn’t just bitter; it was a face that said, “I am in the worst mood of my entire life, so don’t bother me and stay out of my way!”

“Haypenny for your thoughts?” he asked.

“Discord put me on Child Supervision!” Rarity complained.

Then she started ranting about the whole farce that was her day.

One of the child supervisors had taken a psych leave, so there was no one to watch the guests’ kids. The gamblers were quickly annoyed at the kids running around the casinos; many parents simply dropped off their kids and rushed to the tables. Why would anyone bring their kid—their toddler, for Faust’s sake—to a casino resort only to fob them off on some strange babysitter, even for a little while? Because when parents knew there was care for their kids—even for just a couple of hours—they brought the whole family. If they needed to hire a babysitter at home, they would not come at all, and the profit margin would shrink.

Rarity had no idea what do to with kids. Why would she? After Spike had left with his mother that morning, Discord dumped four kids on Rarity leaving Coco to run the front desk. Rarity took them to the swimming pool, and they ended up getting banned from all four of them. Then she tried treating them like adults, hoping they would behave like adults. That backfired even worse—they pelted her with a water balloon, which thankfully was filled with just water.

“He knows that I hate children!” Rarity whined. “I am a terrible choice!”

“Rarity, Discord’s an immature, pathetic, supersized troll,” Spike told her. “And besides, aren’t you the one who says that he likes to throw people into the deep end with almost no preparation?”

Rarity nodded.

“Why do you think he does that?” he asked.

Rarity didn’t know.

“Because in some people, the few gifted people, it encourages a kind of spontaneity that’s special and very valuable, both to him and to the patrons,” Spike went on. “Did you learn something about yourself today?”

Rarity shook her head.

“You need to master the art of being an authority figure,”

“How am I supposed to do that?” she snapped.

“Always act like you’re in control, even when you aren’t,”

“Spike, these kids are spoiled and demanding, and they have no respect for authority! You don’t know what it’s like to deal with that!”

“You’d be surprised,” he commented.

Rarity glared at him.

“Don’t just set the rules -- live them,” he advised. “Try it. I’ll tell you this much, this city won’t last much longer if the casino owners continue trying to pimp fun. The Whinny Lands are going to rule the amusement world.”

Spike had been filling a glass with white wine as he spoke, and he served it to Rarity.

“I didn’t order that,” she said.

“You were about to,” he replied.

He gave her one final smile as he walked over to Fleur, who sat at the other end of the bar, and smoothly flipped another glass.

“Sorry I am late, my extra large pepperoni of passion,” she said.

“Mademoiselle,” he greeted her.

“Vodka on the rocks with a squeeze of lime, please,” she told him.

“Oh, no, no, no, this is Las Pegasus,” he said. “At least try a Jus d’Amour.”

“Juice of love,” she translated.

“It’s made with fresh fruit right off the vine,” he replied as he mixed the drink. “And trust me when I say that it is nothing short of spectacular.”

He dropped a straw into the glass when he was done. Fleur looked away for a moment and a sly smile crept across her face.

“You’re just full of confidence tonight, aren’t you?” she asked.

Spike just smiled in reply. Then Moon Dancer walked in. She was wearing one of those annoying black sweaters with a pleated black skirt... and she was carrying a little black book.

“Didn’t those things go out with getting women drunk and seducing them?” Rarity asked.

“That’s out now?” Scootaloo replied.

Moon Dancer took the last open stool and said, “I’d like to try the Orgasm.”

“How many would you like?” Spike quipped.

“Multiple,” she quickly countered.

With Applejack right behind him, Spike slid a bottle over his shoulder and down his back, and Applejack gracefully caught it. Then “Addicted to Love” started playing, and he started mouthing the words. Moon Dancer swayed to the music as she continued to stare at Spike, her mouth agape. Then she started mouthing the words along with him.

“He’s amazing,” she thought.

“Thanks for the wine, Spike,” Rarity said as she finished her drink. “And thanks for letting me bend your ear.”

“It’s okay,” he replied. “Good night.”

“You must be tired of hearing people cry into their drinks,” Moon Dancer commented. “I wonder why people tell bartenders their problems. It’s kind of sad, isn’t it? These people with no one in the world to turn to but some stranger who mixes drinks...”

With one final flashy shake of a cocktail shaker, and one equally flashy smile, Spike completed preparing the Orgasm and served it to Moon Dancer. As Spike stepped away, he and Moon Dancer shared another friendly look.

“I have got serious ‘fuck me’ eyes coming over here,” he whispered to AJ.

Applejack didn’t reply.

“What, you don’t see it?” he asked her. “She’s been coming on to me ever since she sat down. She wants me.”

Applejack agreed, but only in thought. If Moon Dancer was any more overcome with desire there would have been drool on her bottom lip.

“Stay in formation,” AJ replied. “Twilight’s coming in right behind her.”

Sure enough, Twilight sat (on the stool Rarity just vacated) next to Moon Dancer, a scornful look on her face.

“Hey, barkeep!” she snapped her fingers. “A little service, please?”

Spike strut up to her.

“I would prefer to have my potables prepared by a competent mixologist,” Twilight added.

“Twilight, you wanna have a little more respect?” Applejack asked her. “Spike’s doing this as a favor.”

“Fine,” Twilight said. “I’ll have a vermouth cassis.”

“Fine,” Spike echoed. “If you need anything else, please just snap your fingers... in several places.”

It took only three minutes to mix the drink, but Spike took his sweet time preparing it before serving it to Twilight... who immediately spat it back into the glass after taking a sip.

“Is something wrong with your drink?” Moon Dancer asked.

“Yes, it’s watered down,” Twilight replied. “Hey!” she shouted.

“Is there a problem, Miss Sparkle?” Spike asked.

“Do you have a problem, Mister Drake?” Twilight replied.

“I know you’re a light drinker, and I didn’t want you to get carried away and do something you might regret,” he said.

“You think I can’t leave Discord alone long enough to have one drink to reenergize myself?” she asked him.

Moon Dancer excused herself and she went to the ladies’ room.

“I know what you’re doing, Spike,” Twilight said. “And I’m only going to tell you once, stay away from Moon Dancer! She’s not one of your usual bimbos.”

“And that’s what I love about her,” he replied. “She is a woman of substance. And I love a challenge.”

“You know what bothers me?” Twilight asked. “There are women who this works on... and they’re allowed to vote and drive cars.”

“I think you would do a lot better for yourself if you stopped meddling in other people’s sex lives and focused a little more on your own,” Spike said. “Oh! That’s right, you don’t have one!”

“Do you honestly think that every woman you meet is instantly attracted to you?” Twilight asked.

“Present company excluded,” he said honestly. “And I don’t think, I know!”

And in a final flourish, Spike and AJ bounced their cocktail shakers off the ground and threw them to each other like jugglers before Moon Dancer came back from the ladies’ room.

“Spike, would you object to joining me in my suite?” she asked.

Spike had been through this routine enough to know what was coming. He would escort her up to her room, she would invite him in for a drink, they would talk for a while, it would get late, get quiet, and she would put on some soft music... it made him smile.

His hand covered hers as it was sitting on the bar. His smile was enchanting, his emerald green eyes twinkled.

“Oh yeah, baby, I want to make you mine.”

“Spike, you can get out of here,” Applejack said. “My sister and her friends are starting to warp the wood with their drool.”

Twilight stared, her eyes wide and her mouth hung open in a frown, as she watched Spike leave the Lounge with his arm around Moon Dancer. She watched the two of them until they were gone, and then she stalked away.

Sure enough, the night went just as Spike knew it would: he took Moon Dancer back to her room, she invited him in, and they talked.

“Spike, I’m sorry for the way Twilight treats you,” she began. “You shouldn’t have to put up with that.”

“Thanks, Moon Dancer,” Spike smiled. “You always knew how to make me feel better. Even when we were going through school together... You know, I bet you know more about me than I do about myself.”

“I don’t know about that,” she replied.

“Sure you do,” he said.

“All right. Your birthday is July 5, which is the day after tomorrow. That makes your birthstone the ruby. Your favorite color is red, yet you wear little more than black and purple. Besides dancing your hobbies include kickboxing, gaming and reading comic books; and your favorite Whinny movie is Lady and the Tramp... you always smile when they come to the part where they eat the spaghetti, which is your favorite food,”

Spike’s smile widened.

“I remember when we first met at Celestia’s School... I was actually shocked when you asked me to be your study partner,” she said. “I’m still kind of in awe of you. You’re one of the sharpest minds I’ve ever known.”

As Spike stood by her bed, he couldn’t believe that he and Moon Dancer never dated. She was a very attractive woman from her smile, to the way her hair fell against her cheek, to the soft rise of her breasts in one of her seemingly endless supply of cardigan sweaters.

“I’ve always liked you, Spike, ever since we were in junior high. You could always see through my façade... Spike, I’ve thought about this very carefully. You’re the only man I want. I... I love you,”

“Moon Dancer...” he breathed.

“Spike, turn around,”

He did, and she slowly began to undress. Spike fought the urge to sneak a peek, and he was amazed when she asked him to turn back again. Then he began to shed his own clothes. The simple act of him taking off his pants got her even hotter. It was like watching a great matador prepare for a bullfight.

“Come here and stand by the bed,” she said once he was naked.

A bit puzzled by her request, Spike did as she asked. He thought he’d shared in almost every sexual experience an eager woman could dream up, but her request was, for him, the first of its kind. He found out quickly what she had in mind. Kneeling on her bed, she backed up to his groin. Her hand slipped between her outspread thighs and grasped him. She began massaging herself gently, rubbing him up and down and across her moist crotch.

Using Spike as a tool excited Moon Dancer quickly. She began twisting her hips to bring untouched spots into contact with her rubbing strokes. She made no effort to place him inside her, but seemed contented with the sensation the rubbing was creating. The breath began to whistle in her throat, and her body started to tremble. Spike’s erection had begun to grow soon after Moon Dancer started her massage. She sped it up by squeezing him gently as she probed.

“Oh, this is going to feel good!” he thought.

When she began trembling, Spike lunged into her. She gasped when he penetrated her, and shoved her buttocks back against him. Within seconds, she was moaning and writhing in climax. But Spike had just begun.

Spike was far from being ready. He kept on plunging deep, but slower now, and with more deliberation, his hands holding her hips firmly in place. Even though Moon Dancer’s face was almost buried in the tangled sheets, her whimpers of delight reached his ears. She twisted beneath him, tossing her hips from side to side, rising to meet his thrusts, in spite of the pressure of his hands, and rotated them furiously. He felt her flooding him, and began to slow his tempo.

“No!” she cried. “Faster and deeper!”

Moon Dancer’s inner muscles were gripping Spike, trying to hold him in her when he drew back for his lunges. He felt himself building faster than usual. Moon Dancer sensed his feeling when he sped up again.

“Not yet!” she said urgently. “Not much longer, but not yet!”

Spike was in the grip of his own drive to climax now. He tried to move more slowly, but his body demanded that he hurry. Moon Dancer’s hips were working furiously now, as she raced to catch up with him. She was still moving when Spike let go, then, as he held her to him, pressing hard into her while he came, she went into her own climax and writhed against him. Then he felt her muscles ripple and relax as she dropped away from him and sprawled on the bed. Spike was glad to lie down beside her and close his eyes while his breathing slowed to normal and strength returned to his legs.

The rest of the world seemed to fade away as he massaged her chest.

“Spike, not too much with the breasts, please,”

He kissed her to muffle her protests, and then she kissed him back. She climbed atop him as their kisses grew more and more passionate.

“I’ve wanted to do this for so long,” she said. “Spike, you’re even more special than I believed.”

Moon Dancer started moaning again as she straddled Spike, biting into his shoulder and digging her nails into his back as he nibbled her ear. What had started as a quiet evening quickly turned into a night of wild, bestial passion; by the time Spike was done, Moon Dancer was screaming.

“Cum inside me!” she cried.

Moon Dancer came to climax quickly again. Her moans changed to sobs, her own thrusts became fiercer, the pauses between them shorter. Spike sped up to match her tempo, and after a few furious moments, she uttered the same long, shuddering sob he’d heard her let out earlier, and her frenzy relaxed a bit.

“That was fantastic,” she said.

Spike redressed and kissed her hand. Then she blew him a kiss as he left her suite, walked down the hall to the elevator, and then returned to his own room. Once the door to his suite closed behind him, Spike jumped, pumping his fists in the air, and clapped.

Author's Note

Next time, Pinkie Pie pulls out all the stops to throw a birthday party for Spike, meanwhile Sunset and Applejack’s competition for Spike’s affection drives a wedge between them.

P.S.: Midnight Radiance is the OC of sixpathspony.

Spike's Birthday

The day before his birthday Spike escorted Fluttershy back to her suite, his mind drifting back to that morning. When she asked him if he wanted to watch a movie with her, he thought she was just being nice. He thought she felt bad, thinking he didn’t have a date for that night. Turns out he was wrong. He was even more wrong when Fluttershy showed up at his suite that evening wearing a red low-cut blouse, a black miniskirt, and a pair of black stilettos—she didn’t just want to watch a movie with him.

Twilight was furious when she saw Fluttershy and Spike walk by her on their way to the theater. Spike was half-expecting Fluttershy’s pick to be a children’s flick with a lot of cute talking animals, or at the very least something with anthros that provided a little furry fanservice, instead it was a digitally re-mastered version of Casaflanka. Spike was pleasantly surprised. He never thought that anyone, Fluttershy included, shared his taste in cinema. It had been ages since he’d seen Casaflanka. And the best part of it was... they were completely alone!

Fluttershy loved the romantic parts; Spike liked the tough guy parts. The intimacy of the darkened theater heightened her arousal and she purred as she nestled her head against his shoulder, wondering if he liked her outfit. Eventually, she pressed her lips passionately against his and undid the first button of her blouse. His fingers followed hers as they continued to make out. He reached up her skirt and pulled down her black lacy thong—so unlike her—and she threw her arms around his neck as they made love right there in the theater. They finished just as the main characters got to the airport, and Fluttershy sobbed when the airplane took off.

When the movie ended, Spike took Fluttershy back to her room, and Rarity popped her head around the corner to ask, “Did it make you want to cry?”

“Constantly,” he replied. “And not in the way you’re probably thinking.”

“Well, I’m glad you two had fun,” she said as Spike left their suite. “Oh, and darling, I’m looking forward to your birthday party tomorrow night.”

“Great,” Spike smiled. “It should be fun.” As soon as the door shut behind him, he added, “That party is going to suck.”

Zephyr Breeze (who had been standing out in the hall) asked, “Why?”

“Well, because I’m the one who’s really paying for it: I have to spend the whole evening worrying about people spilling things and breaking and or stealing my stuff,” Spike explained.

“Your friends sound really cool,” Zeph sarcastically commented. “Why don’t you just tell them you don’t want a party?”

“Oh, well, see, Pinkie loves throwing parties. It makes her happy,” Spike continued. “And if she’s happy... that’s good for my deal with her. If I complain, she’ll get mad and that’s not good for the deal.”

“Come on, man! You can’t keep talking about ‘the deal’ without telling me what it is,” Zeph told him. “What does Pinkie do for you, exactly?”

“I wish I could tell you, I really do,” Spike said sincerely. “But I can’t. If I did, she would find out about it. And if she ever found out I told someone, the deal would be off. And then I would have to kill you.”

“I won’t tell anyone. Now that we’re working together, this is the kind of guy stuff we should be talking about,”

“Instead of worrying about my deal, why don’t you get one of your own?”

“Because I can’t, at least not now... But if I wanted a deal, I could get one,”

“Don’t even try to play with the big boys,” Spike said as he turned and headed for the elevator.

“And not only could I get a deal, I could get one that’s better than yours,” Zeph challenged him. “What’s yours?”

Spike stopped at the elevator doors, turned back around, look Zeph straight in the eyes, and said, “To say ‘nice try’ would be an insult to an insult to an insult to an insult to an insult to everyone who actually does try.”

“I’m getting a deal, Drake!” Zephyr vowed. “And every year, when I’m doing it, I’m gonna think of you!” Spike faced Zeph again, and Zeph quickly added, “I didn’t say that.”

“Yeah, you did,” Spike answered as the elevator doors closed. “You just weren’t thinking when you said it, like you always do. Or should I say, don’t do?”

Spike’s birthday finally arrived, and a Clowns’ Convention checked into the Resort, as well as several jugglers, firebreathers, flying acrobats, a strongman and a mime. And the guests and staff all agreed that they were much better than the Orthodontist Convention that checked in the week before.

The mime placed his luggage, an old steamer trunk, on top of the front desk as Miss Pommel asked, “Room for one, sir?”

The mime unlocked his trunk, gently opened the lid, and a lady contortionist unfolded herself and popped out from inside.

“Oh! Well, room for two,” Coco corrected herself.

While Coco was getting the various performers taken care of, Starlight Glimmer served Spike, Fancy Pants, Sunburst and Zephyr Breeze brunch in the Sweet Snacks Café.

“I’ll have scrambled eggs, side of sausage, please,” Fancy Pants began.

“Western omelet,” Sunburst said.

“Beef quesadilla, four times the steak and two times the cheese,” said Spike.

Zephyr Breeze smiled and said, “Surprise me.”

“What am I, some kind of birthday party clown?” Starlight asked.

“No, those are birthday party clowns!” Pinkie Pie answered as she pointed across the Café to a table of funny-dressed men and women with red noses and multicolored wigs.

“Come on,” Zephyr told Starlight. “It’ll be fun.”

“Okay,” she replied. She started to walk away, and then she hit Zephyr on the back of the head with his menu. “Surprise!” she said sarcastically. “You’re right. That was fun.”

Spike, Sunburst and Fancy Pants proceeded to laugh at Zephyr as Rarity sat down with them.

“Who saw The Bachelor last night?” she asked.

“Best. Episode. Ever!” Zeph replied.

“Didn’t you think it was weird how it cut out in the middle?” Rarity asked.

“It would be great if that could happen to this conversation,” Spike whispered to Sunburst, who nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, but I can’t believe he let Crimson go!” Zephyr went on. “She was so cute... and sweet!”

“I know!” Rarity answered.

“I’m sorry,” Spike interrupted, “but am I at a slumber party?”

“Seriously, can we man up the verbal badminton, s’il vous plait?” Fancy Pants added.

While Spike and Fancy Pants were telling Rarity and Zephyr Breeze to cut the gossip, Applejack and Sunset Shimmer were eyeing each other warily over their drinks as they sat at opposite ends of the Café. Warily, because each woman suspected the other was her enemy; each considered herself Spike Drake’s closest gal pal... and potential girlfriend. Applejack and Sunset never had shared any great mutual affection, going back to the days when Applejack was just a security guard and Sunset was just a waitress, instead of the head of security and a hostess respectively. There had been no outright clash: Sunset had always regarded Applejack as a hard worker although never good enough to be outstanding; and Applejack thought of Sunset as an all-right person even though she could be a little mean at times. Neither questioned the other’s bravery under stress, her own certain code of honesty, her loyalty toward her friends. It was just that their motivation, their backgrounds, their senses of values were so widely disparate that each was bound to disapprove of the other as the wrong girl to have around a man. They would be the one, not the other.

Spike hadn’t really spoken to Sunset or Applejack since the night they were trapped in the elevator during the blackout together. Oh, he and AJ had subbed in for Soarin the other night behind the bar in the Midnight Lounge, but that was it. They hadn’t really talked since she apologized for the hickey she’d given him. They all knew that it would be hard to keep their hands off one another but they couldn’t allow anyone else at the resort to find out about what had happened.

When Applejack entered the Café, she tried to make polite conversation with Sunset for a while but it had languished. Now they both sat silent, moodily sipping their drinks, each contemplating their own thoughts. Sunset was wondering if there was any danger of Applejack spending too much time with Spike. Applejack was thinking about being in Spike’s arms... in his bed.

All the while, Spike stirred restlessly in the booth he was sitting at, trying to find the courage to ask Sunset out.

“Just ask her!” he told himself in thought.

Spike had never been shy around girls, but somehow he always got tongue-tied around Sunset. Ever since she took his order in X Sushi the day he checked in. He thought she was stunningly beautiful and few people knew that she had a heart of gold, which only a select few had ever witnessed.

“You can do this,” he thought as he got up.

He took a deep breath, exhaled, and walked over to her booth.

“Hey, Sunset, what are you doing tomorrow?” he asked.

“Why?” she replied.

“Well, I was wondering, that is, if you’re not too busy... Maybe you’d like to... You... Me...”

“Oh!” Sunset smiled. “You want a date?”

Spike nodded.

“Okay, you can take me to the amusement park tomorrow,”

“I did it!” he thought.

Spike chuckled and Sunset giggled as he returned to this booth and Applejack stared at them dumbfounded. She was going to ask Spike if he wanted to go out with her, but Sunset beat her to it!

“Oh, it is on!” Applejack thought.

Later that afternoon, Zephyr Breeze went down to Discord’s office to check up on his boss and make sure that all the weed was out of his system. It was.

“That was quite the trip you were on,” Zephyr said.

“Yeah, well you put enough pot in that cupcake to light up half the Strip. That is, if pot was an electrical energy source,” Discord told him. “Did you know they put pudding in tubes now? They do. And they’re surprisingly good.”

Just then, there was a knock at the door. It was Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo.

“What are you girls doing down here?” Discord asked them.

“Discord, we need your help,” Apple Bloom began.

His eyebrows shot up. “You need help from me?”

“Well, we need advice for some friends,” Scootaloo added.

“Don’t tell me you want me to talk about the birds and the bees,” he said.

“Don’t worry,” Sweetie Belle reassured him. “We’ve already had that talk with our sisters.”

“Oh, well, I was willing to give you a visual aid with hand puppets... but when it comes to the real thing, you’re on your own!” he replied. “So, what do these ‘friends’ of yours need help with?” he inquired, complete with air quotes.

“We--They--want to give Spike a great gift for his birthday,” Apple Bloom said. “Any ideas on what he would like?”

“Well, it’s been my experience that you can never go wrong with a bottle of cologne,” Zephyr Breeze put in.

“What would you know about personal hygiene?” Scootaloo directed at him.

“It would help if we knew what Spike’s mysterious deal with Pinkie was,” Discord said. “What is that airhead giving him?” he asked Zephyr Breeze.

“I asked Spike, but he wouldn’t tell me,” Zeph replied.

“What’s that now?” Discord asked, to make sure he heard Zephyr right the first time.

“I asked him, but he wouldn’t tell me,” Zeph repeated.

“I’m sorry I thought we were living in Equestria, not the Hooviet Union. Hasn’t Spike heard of something called the Freedom of Information Act?”

“He told me that if Pinkie found out that he told anyone, then the deal would be off,” Zephyr explained.

“Fine, then we’ll find out without anyone knowing,” Discord said. “Yes, the girls and I are in. You’re welcome. Far be it for any of us to jeopardize what our newest star dealer does to our resident party planner.”

“We have to give Spike the perfect gift!” Sweetie Belle told them. “I mean, it’s not every day a handsome man turns 23.”

“I thought you said this was ‘some friends’ who needed help,” Discord said.

“We admit it, it’s us!” Scootaloo confessed.

“But do you see our problem?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Don’t worry ladies!” Discord stated. “I will help you find the ‘perfect’ gift for Spike!”

Discord reached up to one of his buckling bookshelves and pulled out several magazines for The Exchange, which had a little bit of everything: clothing (mostly shirts and shoes), jewelry (rings, bracelets, necklaces and watches, even personalized dog tags and belts with custom buckles), clocks, snow globes, music boxes, figurines, and personalized checks.

“I guarantee there is something in here Spike will like,” he told the girls. “Unfortunately, I have no idea what that might be.”

Discord excused himself when he saw Spike walk by outside his office, and he left them to follow Spike.

“Hello,” he began.

“Hello, Discord,”

“So, we’re throwing you a birthday party,” Discord said. “That’s exciting.”

“Yeah, should be,” Spike replied indifferently.

“Pinkie’s been offering to throw you a party for weeks, and you’ve always said no,” Discord went on. “Why the sudden change of heart?”

“Well, you know how happy she gets whenever she throws a party for someone,” Spike answered. “And it’s my birthday, so I figured what the Tartarus.”

“I saw the guest list. You invited the delegates from Saddle Arabia... and not me. What the Tartarus are you trying to pull?”

Spike stopped walking and finally turned to face Discord. “I didn’t make up the guest list, and even if I did, what are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb with me,” Discord stated. “That’s a game you can’t win. Whatever it is you’re planning, I want in.”

“What?”

“If you’re gonna pull a scam in my casino, the house should get a taste,” Discord told him. “And before you say no, let me remind you that you aren’t in any position to make demands,” he added darkly. “Mister Twinkle Toes.”

“Whatever,” Spike said as he shrugged and walked away.

Later, Spike entered the one of the hotel’s storage rooms to find Twilight, Sunset Shimmer, Soarin, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Cheese Sandwich and Party Favor helping Pinkie Pie round up things for Spike’s party.

“Soarin, I’m gonna need six glass pitchers for mojitos, a dozen glass swizzle sticks, and all of the bowls with the little palm trees on them!” Pinkie said.

“On it!” Soarin replied.

“You know what would be great at the party?” Sunset asked. “A theme drink, like a bowl of Spiked Punch... or an Appletini.”

“Could you not say ‘apple’ and ‘teeny’ in the same sentence, please?” Applejack asked her.

“You know what I think would be a good drink?” Rainbow Dash put in. “Beer. Or Cider. Hard cider.”

“What’s all this?” Spike asked (to no one in particular).

“It’s stuff for your party,” Twilight answered.

“Okay, but why do we need all this, and what’s Pinkie spending on it?”

“She doesn’t care, Spike, because, for whatever reason, she thinks you are worth all this effort,” Twilight replied. “And I would like her to throw a party that does not end with someone imprisoned behind a wall of empty beer cans.”

“It’s bad enough to have all those people--”

“Spike, please,” she spoke to him in a whisper. “You’ve seen how excited Pinkie is about doing this. Don’t ruin it for her. And don’t ruin it for me.”

Spike formed a crooked smile.

“Ruin it? I am not ruining anything. In fact, I’m going to tell Pinkie to stay excited, because I am totally onboard!”

Spike walked over to Pinkie just as she was opening a cabinet full of nothing but piñatas, which she quickly slammed shut so that Spike couldn’t see them.

“Did I just spy, with my little eye, a piñata shaped like a purple unicorn... with wings?” he asked.

Pinkie nodded slowly and Spike’s smile widened.

“Bring it,” he told her.

Later that afternoon, Applejack found Sunset Shimmer in the main ballroom practicing her flamenco dance, which Spike had been teaching for the past week.

“Hey!” AJ exclaimed. “What was that ‘Appletini’ crack earlier?”

“You think I don’t see what you’re trying to do?” Sunset asked. “I know how much time you’ve been spending with Spike lately. Don’t think, for one moment, that you can steal him away from me! He’s mine!”

“He was never yours to begin with!” Applejack snapped back. “He’s mine! So, why don’t you get your own boyfriend, ya thief?”

“Go take a long walk off a short cliff, you country hick!” Sunset shouted.

“You just cross the line, bitch! Choose your weapon!”

Sunset reached above the ballroom’s main fireplace and pulled two swords out of the armorial display that hung over it.

“Defend yourself!” Sunset cried, and she threw Applejack the other sword.

Sunset was the champion fencer (sword fighter) from her time at Celestia’s School, so she already had the advantage. Applejack knew this, but she was not going to give up on Spike without a fight!

Applejack immediately went on the offensive, taking wide swings at Sunset while she dodged and blocked AJ’s attacks.

“Ha, you missed me!” Sunset laughed. “Missed me again!”

But Applejack got lucky when her blade cut into one of Sunset’s boots... and then Sunset nicked Applejack’s hat.

Sunset fled the ballroom with Applejack close behind and their fight continued through the hotel lobby. Sunset knocked Applejack’s sword from her hand and Applejack jabbed Sunset in the nose, giving her a chance to retrieve her blade. Sunset cut through the newspaper of a man who was sitting and reading it before they found themselves at the base of the water fountain out front, throwing odd punches at each other as they went. Eventually, they locked blades and were nose-to-nose with each other, holding the handles of their swords with both hands.

“Spike... is... mine!” Sunset stated.

“No... he’s... not!” Applejack replied.

They finally put all their strength behind their next blows and knocked each other into the fountain. They both resurfaced, breathing hard.

“Sunset, what happened to us?” asked Applejack, a sullen expression on her face. “I thought we were friends.”

“We were... until I let a man come between us,” Sunset replied sadly. “I’m sorry, Applejack.”

“I’m sorry, too,” Applejack smiled.

They dropped their swords and hugged each other tightly.

“You really do love him,” Sunset breathed.

“Of course I do,” AJ replied.

“I want you to go for it,” Sunset told her.

“What? No! I want you to have him,” Applejack replied.

“Seriously, girl, you first,”

“You’re my friend -- you go!”

“You go!”

“No, you go!”

“AJ, I insist!”

“I insist more!”

“All right! There’s only one way to settle this,” Sunset said.

Applejack agreed. “And I know how we’re going to do it. I used to play a game with my brother and sister with our dog, Winona.”

“Let me guess, you’d put Winona in the middle of a circle to see who she came to first?” Sunset inquired.

“Exactly,” Applejack stated. “We do a triple-date: we will both be Spike’s dates at the amusement park tomorrow. We’ll both spend time with him and whoever he takes to bed first wins.”

And they shook hands on it before helping each other out of the fountain.

The turnout for Spike’s party was huge: no less than half the hotel, guests and staff members, showed up. It was held in the grand ballroom and the Flimflam Brothers, Firelight, Stellar Flare, Celestia, Fleur, Fancy Pants, Sunburst, Zecora, Lyra, Bon Bon, Haakim, Amira, Feather Bangs, Chrysalis, Thorax, Pharynx, Ocellus, Dear Darling, Fond Feather, Swoon Song, Sassy Saddles, Coco Pommel, Aloe, Lotus Blossom, Trapeze Star, and Shining Armor were all there. There was no formal dinner, but several plates of cocktail weenies, boneless Buffalo wings, garlic shrimp, meatballs, lamb kabobs and other Hor d’oeuvres were served. As much as Spike hated to admit it (at least out loud), it was great. Although he felt it could have been done without the life size ice sculpture of himself... and Discord announcing Spike’s arrival with a fanfare and shouting, “Hear ye! Hear ye!”

“Maybe we should throw parties like this more often,” Twilight said.

“Maybe you should,” Spike replied.

“You’re really having fun?”

“If I was having any more fun, I’d explode... killing everyone here,”

“Happy birthday, little boy!” someone said.

Spike slowly turned around and came face to face with a male clown who was helping Party Favor make balloon animals.

“I pity the fool,” Spike whispered to the clown.

“Hey, you think I want this gig? I have a Master’s Degree from Pranceton. It was either this or putting up drywall with my father-in-law,”

“Fair enough,” Spike replied.

“I’ll take a giraffe,” a small child said.

The clown pulled a small air pump (about the size of a turkey baster) out of his wig, hooked an orange balloon over the nozzle, pumped it full of air, tied off the end, and twisted the balloon into a giraffe. Then Starlight Glimmer came over and asked for an octopus.

“Cool,” she said when the clown as done. “Make me another.”

“You’re a vicious woman, you know that?” the balloon clown asked.

“So I’m told,” Starlight replied flatly. “Come on, sloppy octopus time!”

Party Favor made little cats and dogs for four little kids before Pinkie Pie roller-skated over and asked, “Can you make a little cannon?”

“I think so,” Party Favor replied.

He did and Pinkie was very impressed.

Across the ballroom, Spike saw several people coming through the swinging doors that led to the kitchen. He stopped one of them, who asked him if he would like some Champagne.

“Champagne?” Spike thought.

He took one of the flute glasses and flicked his finger against the side to test and see if it was real glass—it was—and then he took a swig from it.

“Great! It’s flipping fantastic!”

Spike pushed through the doors and saw Sunset pouring more Champagne.

“Look. At. All. These. Bottles! I tried to bite my tongue, I really did, but this night must have cost a fortune,”

“That’s it!” Sunset said abruptly as she put down the bottle she was pouring from. “I didn’t want to have to do this, but you leave me no choice!”

“Hey, what are you--?” Spike tried to ask.

Sunset grabbed one of his hands and placed the open palm on her forehead. As soon as Spike’s hand made contact, he began to see visions of what had gone on earlier that day. But they weren’t visions, they were memories. What’s more is that they weren’t his. They were Sunset’s!

Spike saw everything!

Everything from Pinkie stressing over what Spike would really like for his birthday, to how much was too much... and it ended with Pinkie crying herself to sleep before Sunset helped Pinkie back to her room.

Spike finally found the strength to free his hand from Sunset—before her mind wandered to her swordfight with Applejack that afternoon—and he fell back against one of the refrigerators, breathing hard.

“She-She did all that?” he asked.

“All for you,” Sunset replied. “So you could have the best birthday ever.”

Spike was beside himself. He never knew how hard Pinkie worked on her parties. Now he did... and he felt terrible. A part of him wanted to know what the Tartarus just happened and how Sunset had managed to do it, but then he thought of Pinkie again. Quickly, he grabbed two flutes of Champagne from the counter, returned to the ballroom, and tapped them together.

“Excuse me, everyone, can I have your attention, please?” he announced. “First of all, I want to thank you all for coming to my party, but I also want to take this moment to thank Pinkie Pie for all the time, effort, hard work and energy she put into it just to make it happen. It’s much nicer and a lot more than I deserve but, then again, so is she.”

Spike beamed across the room to her and she batted her eyes.

He raised his glass and said, “To Pinkie.”

“To Pinkie!” the whole room echoed.

They drank together and they finished every drop.

The “real” party came much later, after everyone had left the ballroom. Well, everyone except Spike, Discord, Zephyr Breeze, Soarin, Midnight Radiance and the girls. Spike got the newest Mistress Marvelous graphic novel from his mother, a winter scarf from Rarity, a tailored suit made by both Coco and Sassy, a black leather jacket from Soarin, a hand-quilted blanket from Applejack, a black cowboy hat from Apple Bloom, a pair of cowboy boots from Scootaloo, a collection of neck and bolo ties from Sweetie Belle, a bottle of Dragon Wolf cologne from Zephyr Breeze, a pair of sunglasses from Rainbow Dash, a silver wrist watch from Fluttershy, a black fedora from Starlight, a new wallet from Sunset, and a bottle of silver rum from Midnight Radiance.

“This is from me,” Pinkie beamed as she handed him a tiny box wrapped with a big red bow. “But you might want to open it later.”

Spike would find out later that it was a coupon book full of sexual favors that he could cash in anytime, anywhere... and they had no expiration dates!

He tucked it into his vest as Discord stepped forward.

“I must tell you,” he said as he pulled his gift from behind his back, “it cost a little more than I wanted to spend, but I decided to bite the bullet and—”

It was the whole Saddle Arabian Nights collection on DVD. Once again, Spike was beside himself.

“This is the best birthday I’ve ever had,” he told them.

The kitchen doors swung open and in walked Chef le Grand, carrying a large chocolate cake covered with burning golden candles, a genuine smile on his face, as the girls sang “Happy Birthday” to Spike.

“Make a wish,” Fluttershy cooed in Spike’s ear.

Spike wished that Fluttershy would coo into his ear more often.

Then he blew out his candles and the girls clapped. The Chef cut the cake as Pinkie helped serve, and after everyone had their fill, Celestia offered to take Spike’s gifts up to his suite while Discord and the girls volunteered to stay behind and clean up. Spike hesitantly agreed (even though it was his birthday), and he eyed Pinkie Pie fondly.

“Good old Pinkie,” he thought. “There isn’t a nicer girl in this world. Well, maybe Fluttershy, but still.”

“Tag,” Pinkie said as she tapped Spike on the shoulder. “You’re it!”

Spike smiled as he chased Pinkie (who was still wearing her roller skates) out of the ballroom and through a secluded part of the hotel, where an old bell rope hung from the ceiling. Pinkie pulled the cord and a trap door opened in the floor right under their feet. They fell through it, down a deep hole which led to a slide that ran down a dark shaft. They slid down until they landed on something soft at the bottom. Spike picked himself up and saw that he was in an enormous, cavernous room filled with strange furniture.

Pinkie clapped her hands and light bulbs lit up the underground chamber. Spike stared around, fascinated, as he saw a waterbed, a big sweeping staircase, a bubble machine, helium gas canisters, mirror balls and file cabinets.

“Wow,” Spike breathed.

“So this is where she lives,” he thought.

“Welcome to my Party Cave,” Pinkie said, smirking. “Feel free to poke around and touch anything you see.”

Looking curiously around the bedroom area, Spike picked up a framed photograph of a somber, plainly dressed group of people with Pinkie in the center.

“Is this your family?” he asked.

Pinkie nodded as Spike looked at her parents’ style of clothing.

“You’re Amish?” he ventured a guess.

“Yep,” Pinkie replied.

“So how did a young Amish girl like you end up in Las Pegasus?”

“It was part of my Rumspringa,” she said.

“Rumspringa?” he asked her.

“Rumspringa is when the young Amish men and women leave home for the very first time to experience the ways of modern life,” Pinkie explained. “Even after seeing how the rest of the world lives, ninety percent of us return home.”

“Well, clearly you are not one of them,” Spike thought as he continued to look at the photo.

“Four sisters and a brother,” he observed.

“Actually, that’s Mudbriar, Maud’s boyfriend,” Pinkie corrected him as she pointed to them in the photograph. “At first I couldn’t stand him, but I know he treats Maud right and he makes her happy, and as long as she’s happy, I’m happy. She’s got a doctorate in geology.”

“You two obviously share a very special bond,”

“My birthday is very hard for Maud,” Pinkie admitted. “It reminds her that time doesn’t stand still, even though her face does.”

“I would not want to play Poker against her,” Spike commented.

Pinkie looked at him, her eyebrows slightly raised.

“I’m sorry--” he attempted.

“Don’t be,” Pinkie replied. “In fact, if she’d heard you just now, she would have laughed.”

Spike put down the photo and saw a tiny orange shape in the trashcan right next to the table. He picked it up and saw that it was a little wind-up toy in the shape of a clownfish. Pinkie reeled back when she saw it.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“I’m afraid of clownfish,” she said.

“Why are you so afraid of clownfish?”

“It was my seventh birthday party. This kid asked me if I wanted to meet his friend... a toy clownfish, like that one. And when I did, it squirted water all over my face,” she explained.

“That’s why you hate clownfish?” Spike asked.

“Go ahead and laugh. Just remember, I know what everybody’s afraid of... even you,” she said, which caused him to frown. “I also know what they like. For instance, I know you’re into bondage, specifically spanking.”

Spike was impressed.

“I also know you have a slight clown fetish, which most people would find creepy, especially since a lot of people are terrified of clowns,” she added.

Once again, she was correct.

Pinkie reached into her hair, pulled out a small red ball—a clown nose—and put it on her face.

“What else you got in there?” Spike asked.

“Why you cheeky little--” Pinkie said. “That just earned you a boob job!”

“Say what now?”

Pinkie fumbled with her clothing, thrashing with urgency. She took her top off first, then her skirt. Finally, she pulled her panties down, dropped to her knees, unzipped Spike’s pants, and mushed his cock between her tits.

“You’re so soft,” Spike said weakly.

“You like being wedged between my party balloons?” she asked.

“Oh, yeah...” he moaned.

Pinkie went to work immediately, making wet, gurgling sounds as she sucked his cock. Spike loved watching her cute face as she sucked; and the way she licked his balls, it was like she was licking an ice cream cone.

“You feel so good in my mouth,” she said. “I’ve been waiting all day for this... Are you ready to fuck me? You want to put that big banana deep inside me?”

He nodded frantically as she gave him one more lick before she sat atop him. Then she started bouncing up and down on him before spinning around on him.

She was still wearing her roller stakes, and when she reached down to untie their laces, he stopped her.

“I want to ride your wheels off,” he said.

Spike disconnected himself from Pinkie just long enough to take off his clothes. Then he positioned her on top of the table, grabbed one of her ankles in each of his hands, and held them high above her head so that they were almost resting on his shoulders as he stood beside the table and pounded into her so hard that they made the wheels on her skates spin.

“How did that feel?” he asked her.

“Oh, that feels so good,” she moaned. “I love riding your cock!”

Taking his hands in hers, Pinkie slid off the table and led Spike to a deep pool on the other side of the chamber. But instead of being full of water, it was filled with red, orange, yellow, pink and light blue plastic spheres.

“You have your own personal ball pit?” Spike asked.

“Yeah,” she replied, finally taking off her skates. “Why do you ask?”

“Nothing, it’s just... Aren’t you a little old to be playing in a ball pit?”

“Are you kidding? There’s nothing I love more than rolling around in a hole stuffed to the brim with balls!”

Spike held back a snicker. If anyone else had said that, it would have been dirty. But coming from Pinkie, it sounded almost cute... even innocent.

Pinkie backed up a few steps, then ran at the ball pit. Her strides were long and graceful, and then she flung herself into the air.

“Cannonball!” she cried.

She crashed down into the ball pit, scattering several of the little round spheres in multiple directions.

“Come on in,” she told him. “The water’s fine!”

Pinkie did a backstroke through the pit. Then she picked up one of the pink spheres and threw it at Spike.

“Oh, now you’re gonna get it!” he said as the ball bounced off his hair.

And he dove headfirst into the ball pit.

Pinkie laughed as she waited for Spike to surface, but he didn’t.

For the first time, Pinkie felt fear, though she did not know why. Adrenaline shot through her, generating a tingling heat that urged her to get out of the ball pit. The pit was only up to her hips, so she stood, pushed her hair away from her eyes, and instinctively covered her breasts with her arms as she looked around for Spike.

Pinkie sensed a change in the ball pit’s rhythm, a vibration. She still didn’t see Spike; she couldn’t even smell his cologne. She felt a wave of pressure that seemed to lift her up in the ball pit and ease down again. A series of tremors shook her body and she held her breath. Then she thought she felt something touch her below her waist. There was no pain, just a tiny tug on her leg.

Spike moved silently through the ball pit like a shark while the theme from Jaws played through his head. Circling close to the surface, he closed in on Pinkie Pie. The vibrations were stronger now, and Spike recognized his prey. He thrust his body forward with a speed that agitated the balls surrounding him and caused them to fly in every direction. Panic struck Pinkie and she threw her head back in a scream of terror.

Spike hurtled up under Pinkie, jaws agape. He pounced like a big, majestic tiger, knocking her onto her back. His jaws snapped around her neck, and Pinkie stopped screaming and started laughing again when she realized it was only a kiss. They played in the ball pit for twenty minutes until Pinkie fell backward onto the balls, pulling Spike down with her. She let out another piercing screech, followed by a round of giggles as she cheerfully squirmed beneath him.

“I’m sorry, Pinkie,” Spike said. “I’ve always wanted to do that.”

“You know, Spike, you’re the nicest guy I’ve ever met,” Pinkie told him. “A little brooding and rough around the edges, but you’re nice... and good looking. And honest! Girls like honesty. I can see why Applejack was so attracted to you when she first saw you.”

“How--?” Spike began.

“The Pinkie Sense always knows,” she replied. “My little oven got a little extra warm when you two were around each other.”

Spike smiled down at her. “I’ve never met anyone like you, Pinkie Pie. You’re sweet, you’re funny... and you never think about yourself.”

Pinkie puckered up and closed her eyes, expecting him to kiss her.

But he didn’t.

“Pinkie, there’s something I’ve always wanted--” he began timidly.

“Go ahead,” she said, “honk and motorboat them to your heart’s content.”

Spike smiled again as he stuck his head between her breasts before deeply suckling on each nipple for what seemed like forever. He motorboated them, then when he squeezed on them, he heard them make sounds just like a bike horn. He looked at Pinkie’s face and saw that she was holding a bike horn in one of her hands. She had pulled that out of her hair, too. Spike finally decided that playtime was over, spread her legs apart, and reentered her.

“Yes, yes!” she cried. “Give me that big, beautiful cock!”

Spike still hadn’t cum yet when they got out of the ball pit and Pinkie led him to the refrigerator by her waterbed. Pinkie knew that Spike had had a long day, and she wanted to give him something really special.

“You want some ice cream?” she asked.

Pinkie knew that was one of Spike’s favorite things, so she decided to surprise him... with a Santa Fe Funnel Cake!

She opened the freezer to reveal tub upon tub of chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, mint, Rocky Road, cherry, chocolate chip, cookies and cream, bubble gum, French vanilla, mocha, coffee, butter pecan, English toffee, walnut, peanut, buttercup, butterscotch, sherbert and Tutti-Frutti.

Pinkie had everything to make sundaes: sprinkles, gumdrops, blueberries, cherries, strawberries, powdered sugar, chocolate sauce, cookies, whipped cream... she had it all!

“Which one would you like to savor?” she asked huskily.

“Double chocolate, with extra whipped cream,”

“You want chocolate sauce on me?” Pinkie asked.

“Oh, yeah,” Spike moaned.

Pinkie got on her back and covered herself in ice cream. After that, Spike poured the chocolate syrup all over her breasts and she rubbed it in with her hands after he was done. Spike then took the can of whipped cream, shook it, and sprayed it over her nipples (making sure it stayed on her breasts), and then topped them off with some chocolate sprinkles, seven strawberries, three blueberries, and two cherries. And he devoured her.

Pinkie quickly washed and rinsed herself off after Spike had his fill. She didn’t want it to end yet; she wanted him to bend her over and take her from behind. Well, she got her wish. He bent her over her waterbed and thrust into her, smacking her bubble butt so hard that it bounced and jiggled like jello with every stroke. He even grabbed her hair and pulled hard on it.

“You know I love that!” she cried. “Grab it! Grab it!”

It felt like a fire hose was shooting inside of her when Spike finally released and Pinkie collapsed forward onto her bed. She held Spike in her arms as they smiled at each other once more.

“I bet you didn’t expect your birthday to end like this, did you?”

“Definitely not,” he replied. “Next year, though, how about I dip you in fondue and spread you over a bed of nachos?” he asked.

“You took the words right out of my mouth,” she said.

“I love you, Pinkie,”

“I love you too, Spikey,”

They kissed and thought, “This really is the best birthday ever!”

Finally they fell asleep, cuddling and dreaming they were a couple of cartoon characters spreading a world of happiness.

Carnival Craze

Flim and Flam flung open the gates to the carnival in the back lot. The entire area behind the Resort (beyond the swimming pools) had been closed off for weeks, while dozens of workmen labored day and night outside. The Brothers had refused to tell the guests or any of the staff anything about what was going on, saying simply, “You’ll know when the time comes.”

It was nowhere near as big as Whinny Land, but it was large enough to be impressive (which it was), especially with Fortune Way, the main drag, and Claw Alley, the secondary drag, with Love Lane being the third drag, and Lucky Pass, the fourth and final drag. It wasn’t a “theme park”, which allowed it to have a little bit of everything. As well as the Wild Blue Yonder (the big roller coaster with a 400-foot drop into loop-de-loops and a corkscrew), there was a Ferris wheel with dangling gondolas, numerous arcade games, a Carousel, a Hall of Mirrors, a Tunnel of Love, a pendulum-style Viking ship, a tell-your-fortune kiosk, a cotton candy machine, a hotdog stand, and several other attractions.

The Brothers had really gone all out.

Spike and the girls walked beneath the giant arch and music started playing through the loudspeakers as the Brothers gave them day-passes to everything in the park—a belated birthday gift for Spike. They walked down the main path, looking at the booths, watching kids pull their parents along, pointing at the various tents and games and rides, begging them to let them on.

“The root beer floats, the chocolate malts, the lemon custard, the rides...” Pinkie sighed. “Now, this is living.”

“So, what should we do first?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Dragonlands Dragracing? The Appaloosa Runaway Train? Neighgra Falls Barrel Flume?!”

“Appaloosa Wild West Stunt Show?” Pinkie went on. “Nightmare Moon’s Haunted Castle? Sugarcube Everything?!”

“The Wild Blue Yonder!” Spike stated. “I’ll race you to it,” he said to Rainbow Dash.

“You’re on,” she replied, and they took off for the legendary rollercoaster.

The cars, twenty in all, were shaped like clouds and each had three rows of seats. Spike led the girls toward the first cloud-shaped wagon. It sat idling inside the pair of massive gates with ENTRANCE painted across the top.

“Just how safe is this?” Fluttershy asked cautiously as Spike climbed aboard.

“Perfectly safe,” he assured her as he held out his hand, which she took. “I promise you’ll enjoy it.”

“I always enjoy a good carnival ride,” Fluttershy said as she climbed in beside him, “as long as it’s safe and fun.”

The rest of the group started to catch up just as the train filled with laughing children. Spike looked over at Rainbow Dash and noticed that she was hesitating.

“Come on!” he told her. “Surely you aren’t afraid of a little carnival ride?”

“Ha! I’ve laughed in the face of death a thousand times!” Dash said bravely. “And don’t call me Shirley.”

“Hop on in, then,” he said.

She did. Three of them in a car designed for two made for a tight fit, and Spike was very aware of Fluttershy’s and Rainbow Dash’s thighs pressing against his, and the brush of their breasts against his arms. He felt a sudden and far from unpleasant southward tingle. He dropped the safety bar and he gave it a shake to make sure it was latched.

Soarin was agenting the Wild Blue Yonder. He walked up the line of cars, reminding everyone, “Don’t forget to keep your arms and legs inside the cart at all times.” He leaned in close to Spike and the girls up front and added in a whisper, “Feel free to wave your hands in the air.”

He winked and walked back to the controls, which consisted of a single waist-high lever sticking out of the platform.

“Enjoy the ride!” Soarin shouted.

Fluttershy hooked an arm around Spike’s right elbow, Rainbow Dash around his left, drawing close to him.

There was a jerk, and the train began its slow ascent to the top... and quickly descended into a double-S curve where the cars picked up speed and whipped the riders back and forth. Fluttershy (almost completely oblivious to everything that was going on around her) squealed happily as the wind blew her hair back while Rainbow Dash screamed, “Stop this ride! Stop this ride!”

Finally, after what felt like an eternity of convoluted twists, the wagon returned to the front gates and slowed to a stop. With a broad grin, Spike turned to face his friends. Fluttershy was still bubbling over; cheerful joy on her face. Rainbow Dash was the exact opposite: hair standing on end, eyes wide open, mouth frozen in a silent scream of terror.

“Please exit the carts to your left,” Soarin instructed. “Have a nice day!”

They exited and a little girl that was standing in the line to get on asked Fluttershy if it was scary.

“The scary part was trying to keep his hands where they belong,” Fluttershy giggled as Spike wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her neck.

They passed the booth that offered photos taken from a camera that had been set up on the first downhill grade.

“Aw, man!” Spike exclaimed. “My eyes are closed!”

“If there isn’t a line later, can we come back?” Fluttershy asked.

Twilight spotted the hard cider garden across the way.

“Who wants one?” she asked. “I’ll buy!”

Spike wasn’t very thirsty, and he knew that the rest of the girls wanted to play some games, so he said, “Why don’t you take Rainbow Dash? She looks like she needs it the most.”

Twilight shrugged and escorted Dash to get a drink.

It was no secret that carnivals existed to make money. And to do that they used a bunch of tricks to make people overestimate their chances of winning. In some cases, to such an extent, that they were scams.

And the Flimflam Brothers specialized in scamming their clientele.

Applejack told Spike that the Brothers’ small park collected $20,000 a day off the carnival games alone. But Spike knew which carnival games were the biggest rip-offs as well as why they were. He also knew how to win the most popular games by using several tricks of his own.

Ultimately, there were three types of carnival games. The first group was the “random chance” games where little to no skill was involved and (like Craps) were basically like rolling dice. The second group was the “skill based” games, like the basketball shot or the milk bottle throw, where if someone brought some kind of skill or strategy to the game their chances of winning were increased. And finally, there were games that were nearly impossible to beat.

Regardless of the game, the winners that got pride of first place were given the big fuzzy stuffed animals that hardly anyone ever won... although, AJ said some of the vendors were careful to give out at least one every evening when the tip was good. Spike looked all the games over and thought that he would begin at Fortune Way and work his way to Lucky Pass... and he decided to start with a little game called “Hoops.”

One of the most popular skill-based carnival games, it was a very inaccurate simulation of basketball where players would need to score as many baskets as they could in a limited amount of time. But, like basketball, each basket made was worth two points. Six points got a small prize, twelve points got a medium prize, and twenty-four points got a large prize.

Spike stepped forward, eager to impress.

He knew from playing basketball with Soarin and Rainbow Dash that a standard three-pointer was 24 feet away on a rim 10 feet off the ground. But Spike could tell that this game was rigged for a shot 28 feet back on a rim 11 feet off the ground, which was subtle but just enough to make even a skilled basketball player fall short of the goal.

Spike held the basketball in his hands. It felt like a real basketball. Then he spun it on his finger; it spun like a real basketball. He told the vendor he was ready, and the vendor set the clock to count down from 30 seconds. Unfortunately, Spike made only five baskets by the time the clock ran out, which was just enough to win a rubber bouncy ball and a bag of jacks (which Pinkie Pie was more than happy to accept). Then he tried his luck at Skee-Ball.

Also known as Alley Ball, the game was relatively simple: players had to roll six balls, underhanded, down the alley, up the ramp, and into one of several point holes, to score as many points as they could.

Spike lined up his first shot, tossed the ball up the lane, and it rolled into the 50-point hole. He rolled the second ball rolled into the same hole before he rolled the third ball into the 100-point hole. A perfect shot. He rolled his remaining three balls into the 100-point hole, scoring a total of 500 points, and won a stuffed alligator plushie, which he handed off to Pinkie.

The next thing Spike tried was the high striker shy. Also known as “test-your-strength”, the high striker was a chance for people to prove how powerful they were. There were several heights marked “Cream Puff,” “Softie,” “Weakling,” “Butterball,” “Couch Potato,” “Average Joe,” “Bruiser,” “Macho Man,” “Contender,” “Champion,” and (at the top of the ding-post, next to the bell) “Kiss him, lady, he’s a He-Man!” A straw-hatted agent with a dapper mustache stood next to it, the sleeves of his white shirt rolled up, and he was leaning on the sledgehammer like it was a cane.

“Step right up, sonny. Try your luck with the mallet,” the barker said. “Ring the bell, win a prize, couldn’t be simpler.”

“This guy doesn’t know who he’s dealing with,” Spike thought as he picked up the hammer.

“Step back,” he told the girls. “This could get ugly.”

Spike swung and brought the hammer down on the button. The counterweight went all the way to the top, almost taking out the bell when it hit. Spike tried again and rang the bell again, attracting quite a crowd with that second ring. He rang the bell a third time and the counterweight sent the bell flying.

“Look at that sucker go!” Applejack exclaimed.

“That was incredible!” Rarity added.

Spike paid the dapper agent a little extra cash to have the bell replaced, and the agent handed Spike a hand carved wooden samurai figure, which Spike presented to Applejack. The next thing he tried was the Collection Plate.

“Right this way, folks, right this way! Step on up and test your skill, and luck, at the Collection Plate!” the vendor told them. “But be careful. Toss too hard and your coin will slide right off the plate. Too soft, and you’ll come up short!”

“Spike, they’re just trying to sucker you in,” Sunset warned him. “This game is rigged.”

“Don’t worry,” he told her. “I’ve got this.”

Spike sized up the game. There were seventeen plates, all the same size, but different distances apart from each other, and at various heights off the table they were on. Six were purple, five were orange, four red, and two green. Spike had seen many games like this one. The colors of the plates were irrelevant. The only thing that was important was the chance Spike had to win.

The vendor gave him five coins; five chances to land a one on a plate. The trick here was in the coins themselves. As Spike held them in his hand, they felt very light so they would easily slide off the plates. That would make it much less likely that any of them would end up where Spike would originally aim them. Any imperfection in his throw would be intensified, and literally randomize the game.

Sunset watched with her arms folded beneath her breasts, a disapproving look on her face, as Spike tossed his first coin. It bounced off the plate closest to him (one of the purple plates), up to the plate highest off the table (which was orange), and landed on the purple plate that was furthest away. His second coin bounced from the closest plate, off the tallest orange plate again, and landed on another orange plate that sat right next to it.

Spike’s third toss slid off the closest purple plate and onto the purple plate that was directly behind it. His fourth toss spun around on the purple plate furthest to the left and onto the green plate just below and behind it. He tossed his final coin... and it stopped on the plate right in the middle. Pinkie accepted Spike’s prize—a squirting flower—a classic joke gag, which Pinkie had a collection of (though, she thought she could improve them). The game after that was Spilled Milk, also known as the Milk Bottle Throw.

“Step right up for an exciting test of accuracy!” the vendor shouted as he pulled three baseballs from beneath the counter and placed them in front of Spike.

Three balls, three tries to knock down all three bottles. The only catch to this game was the fact that the milk bottles were made of metal, which were heavier, stable, and harder to knock down. And the key to winning was hitting the bottles with a throw that was hard enough to knock them all down, but also not sacrifice accuracy. Spike smiled as he paid his fee, picked up the first baseball, tossed it into the air, and then wound up. He pitched the ball at the milk jugs and he knocked all three of them down, which earned applause from Fluttershy.

“Betcha can’t do dat again,” the vendor sneered.

Spike kept smiling as he tossed his second ball—another direct hit.

“Whoa!” Pinkie exclaimed as Spike picked up the final ball, aimed carefully, and landed another perfect shot.

“Spike, do you think you could teach me to throw like that?” Sunset asked.

“Sure, let’s see what you’ve got,” he replied.

The vendor gave Sunset a baseball, she threw it, and it went far off to the right, into the fortune teller’s kiosk.

“I’m done,” she said.

“Oh, no, no, no, no,” Spike told her. “Let me help you. Give me your hand.”

Spike snuggled up to her, hip to hip, his left hand snaked around her waist, showing her how to hold the ball, the way guys always do.

“Now relax,” he said. “It’s all in the wrist.”

Sunset smiled as she took aim, wound up, and let go—a perfect throw.

“I did it!” she screamed happily.

Spike had already won, but he was glad the vendor let Sunset have a single throw at no extra charge. He handed Spike a stuffed purple dragon, which he gave to Sunset. The next stand was a madhouse, crowded with a group of high school boys anxious to win those elusive plushies for their girlfriends.

“Who’s up for a popping good game of Balloon Darts?” the vendor asked. “Think you’ve got what it takes to pop these balloons?”

Spike stepped forward and the vendor gave him three darts. Three darts, three tries.

The catch to this game was the balloons: the smaller the balloon, the more points they were worth: the large balloons were worth ten points each, the medium sized ones were 20, and the small ones 30. Ten points would get him a small prize; thirty points would get a medium prize, and a total of ninety for the big prize.

Spike gave Rarity a flirtatious smile before he pitched his darts, all three with one throw, and hit three of the smallest balloons with very little effort. The vendor was so impressed that he reached under his counter and presented Spike with a golden goblet. A real goblet made of real gold.

“Come on, folks! Step on up, right on up! Don’t be shy!” another barker announced from across the way. “The object is to throw your rings onto any one of these bottles. Easiest game in the park!”

Spike and the girls all knew that was a lie. In fact, the Ring Toss was almost impossible to win. The rings themselves were light and their inner diameter was very close to the outer diameter of the bottles that were used. And any throw besides a perfect one would send the rings bouncing away without ever settling on the bottles.

The vendor gave Spike five rings and Spike tossed all five at once, without even looking, and each landed on a different bottle.

“Ring. Rang. Rung,” Spike said casually.

“That was fantastic!” Rarity cried.

The vendor reluctantly handed over a miniature knight in shining armor, which Spike gave to Rarity.

“All right, what’s next?” Sunset asked excitedly. “What are we doing? What are we going to win!?”

“Come on, pretty boy. Come on!” someone shouted. “You couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn!”

Spike and Sunset shared the same sinister smile as they turned toward the voice and saw the Dunk Tank. Also known as a dunking booth, a dunking machine, or the more popular “Dunk the Punk”, it was an attraction that gave people a chance to blow off some steam by dunking the punk (a volunteer who sat on a collapsing seat) into a tub of ice cold water below... and Zephyr Breeze was the punk!

Spike strolled up, dropped his cash, and received three balls (three chances). His first throw struck the center of the bullseye (which was a little red circle inside of a white circle, inside a bigger red circle), causing the seat to collapse and Zephyr to fall into the water. But while Zephyr climbed back up to his seat, the vendor pulled the outer circle off the target, making it much smaller.

“Okay, you got me one time, but there’s no way you’re going to get me twice!” Zephyr told him.

Spike scoffed before he wound up and landed his second hit. Two in a row was very impressive, but it was going to be a challenge to dunk Zephyr a third time, especially after the target was reduced to the littlest red circle (which was a little bit smaller than the baseballs Spike had been throwing). But Zephyr Breeze looked scared. Spike couldn’t tell if it was from the thought that Zephyr didn’t want to get dunked again, or the fear of Spike just throwing the ball.

Fluttershy walked up behind Spike and whispered into his ear, “Please dunk him again.”

“All right, Zeph,” Spike growled, “take THIS!”

He dunked Zeph three times and won a bottle of bubbles.

Spike wiped his forehead with the back of his hand after he gave Pinkie the bubbles and Sunset asked what they were going to do next... and Spike’s eyes were magnetically drawn to the nearby Claw Machine.

Spike had seen dozens of people lose hundreds of coins playing these when he was a kid. Every time he went to a store that had a claw machine, he would always ask Celestia for all change she had, and he rarely, if ever, needed more than one try to win.

He always got a prize.

“You want a stuffed animal?” he asked Fluttershy.

“Oh, nobody can win at those,” she said.

“Twilight says that it’s a worthless talent,” Sunset added.

“What, does she think it’s more important to learn a dead language instead?” Spike asked.

Sunset gave Spike a cool stare. Then she smiled again.

“Well, I think being good at claw machine is way cooler than knowing how to speak Latin,” she said.

Spike inserted a dollar into the machine and took control of the stick. The claw dropped and clamped around a cute little bunny. The girls weren’t sure that it would stay in the claw, but they were amazed when the tiny plushie was lifted up and carried over to the drop slot.

“Voilà,” Spike said as he handed the bunny to Fluttershy.

“Aww, no boy’s ever given me a stuffed animal before,” she said.

Then she stood on her tiptoes to kiss him—the Fluttershy trademark.

After the Claw Machine, they took a break and stopped for sodas.

“For openers, I’d like a chocolate malt and a Chicoltgo-style hot dog with all the trimmings,” Pinkie ordered.

Starlight got two scoops of mint chocolate chip ice cream in a waffle cone while Rarity got a hot fudge sundae, Fluttershy got a bag of buttered popcorn, Sunset asked for cotton candy, and Spike paid for all of them. They sat in the shade at one of the picnic tables while Pinkie Pie topped her hot dog off with ketchup, mustard, relish, sauerkraut, chili and candy sprinkles.

“That girl’s got an iron stomach!” Spike thought.

“Ooohhh... So good...” Pinkie moaned after taking a bite. “Sooo goooood...”

Applejack got a funnel cake with extra powdered sugar and she started feeding Spike from it as if he were a child. This did not go unnoticed by Sunset, Fluttershy and Rarity, who proceeded to do the same thing with their cotton candy, popcorn, and sundae respectively, while Twilight sat with Starlight, Pinkie and Rainbow Dash.

After that, they approached the Shooting Gallery. Well, it wasn’t so much a shooting gallery as it was a platform overlooking the open desert. Then Pinkie Pie reached into her hair, pulled out a microphone, and spoke into it.

“At long last, the moment you’ve all been waiting for!” she announced. “An exclusive Flimflam Brothers Resort original: Sexy Disc Shootoff! Allow me to explain the game’s rules. It’s the same as a double trap disc shootoff but with a special twist. During the match, your opponent controls the disc release. If the shooter misses, their clothes will be, shall we say, sabotaged. We’re talking wardrobe malfunctions to the max! The opponent chooses beforehand which of your clothes will go first. But miss too often, and the end result is the same. Whoever shoots the most targets, wins! Now, help me in welcoming our players: Spike and Applejack!”

Spike had skeet shooted before. It was a sport where the participants competed to break clay discs that were mechanically flung into the air from two fixed stations at high speed and from a variety of angles. The principles of the sport were relatively simple: the disc-shaped targets were a little over four inches in diameter and just over an inch thick, and the firearms used were traditionally shotguns. But instead, he and Applejack were going to use handheld revolvers, and they each had 24 shots to hit as many targets as they could.

“Flimflam Resort is the BEST!!” one of the guests shouted.

“They really know what their customers want!” another cried.

“This place is awesome!” exclaimed a third.

“Those perverts!” Rarity huffed. “They could at least do a better job of hiding their intentions.”

“Don’t go easy on me,” Spike told AJ.

“Good luck to ya, partner,” she replied.

“Three... two... one... GO!” Pinkie proclaimed.

Spike went first.

“Miss the shot!” the women in the crowd chanted. “Miss the shot! Miss the shot! Miss the shot! Miss the shot! Miss the shot! Miss the shot! Miss the shot! Miss the shot! Miss the shot! Miss the shot! Miss the shot! Miss the shot!”

“Pull!” Spike shouted.

Applejack pulled the lever and launched the first two discs. Spike took aim as the wind suddenly picked up and he fired two rounds. He hit the first clay target, but missed the second, and the buttons on his vest came undone.

Another tip: disc shooting was strongly affected by the wind, so much that it could alter the targets’ trajectories. Predicting their paths was not going to be easy.

“Those no good, ornery varmints!” Applejack thought. “Their desire to see us out of our clothes summoned a wind of perversion!”

Applejack cocked her gun and shouted, “Pull!”

Spike pulled the lever and launched two more clay discs. The .357 in Applejack’s hand jerked twice, the explosions rocketing through the outdoor shooting range, and AJ shouted in joy as she hit both targets.

As a roll ruler, Spike could hear the voice of the battlefield, harness its flow, and make it his ally, becoming one with the game itself. But still, as a former competitive markswoman, Applejack had the advantage.

“They both have a kind streak,” Sunset said.

Starlight gave her a perplexed look.

“It’s the order the clothes are being removed,” Sunset explained. “In games involving stripping, smaller articles of clothing are usually the first to go.”

Applejack could have gone for something bigger, like Spike’s pants. Not only could she have embarrassed Spike, but also further restrict his movements and increase the difficulty of him taking a shot... although, she put herself at the same disadvantage.

“Come on, Spike!” Fluttershy shouted. “You’re not out of this yet! I know you can do it! We believe in you!”

“You have our support, Spike! Don’t lose hope!” Sunset added.

“You can do it, Spike!” Starlight cheered.

“Most of the crowd seems to be on his side,” Rarity said to herself. “Was he able to reverse the momentum?”

“Pull!” Spike shouted.

AJ pulled the lever, releasing two more projectiles, and Spike shot both of them. But so did Applejack on her next turn. This went on for ten more rounds until they were in a dead heat. With the exception of the first disc, the one that Spike missed, they both hit all of their targets.

“Amazing,” Sunset breathed. “It’s now down to the wire!”

Spike and Applejack were both breathing heavily now.

“I can’t win!” they both thought.

Applejack launched the birdies but Spike missed one of them and his belt came undone. Then Applejack cocked her gun, ready for her last two shots.

“Pull!” she shouted.

Spike launched the discs and Applejack took aim.

“Well, that settles it,” said Rarity.

“Not quite,” Sunset replied.

The girls all gasped when Applejack fired... and both of her shots missed, knocking her hat and her vest off. The final score was 24 to 24.

“And the game is a draw!” Pinkie declared.

Many of the people in the amusement park groaned in disappointment, but many more had never been so glad about a tie. The crowd slowly dispersed as Sunset grabbed Spike’s arm and pulled him toward the Ferris wheel.

The sky had grown dark but they could barely see the stars amongst the glow of the carnival’s lights. The operator held the door open as they climbed into the gondola and he closed the door behind them.

“It’s kinda chilly all of a sudden,” Sunset said.

Spike couldn’t hide the confounded look that appeared on his face. Sunset’s eyes were bright, roses burned in her cheeks, and her lips trembled. She had been in Las Pegasus longer than he had, and the desert nights did tend to get cold, but she was wearing her black leather jacket, so she should have known that.

“Is she hinting that I should do something?” he thought. “Oh!”

It finally came to him, and he draped his arm around her shoulders.

“Thank you,” she smiled.

“Nice opening. Now say something to her,”

“Sunset,” he said out loud.

“Yeah?” she asked.

“About what happened in the kitchen last night... when you put my hand to your head, I could see your thoughts, your conversations with Pinkie... How?”

“Not that, stupid!” he cursed himself in thought.

“It’s because of the necklace I’m wearing,” she said, holding it up. “Whenever I wear it, and I touch people, I can see what they’re thinking. And whenever I allow them to touch me, I can let them see what I’ve see.”

“You wanted me to know what Pinkie was really going through,” Spike guessed. “How she was feeling... You wanted me to understand. I... I don’t know what to say...”

Sunset smiled. “It’s beautiful,” she sighed, admiring the view. “Sometimes I wish time would just stand still.”

Suddenly, the lights on the Ferris wheel went out and their car stopped moving. Sunset rubbed her geode necklace as the ride squeaked to a halt leaving the car she and Spike were in dangling at the top.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we apologize for the inconvenience,” the operator announced. “We are currently making repairs. We appreciate your patience.”

The Ferris wheel had broken down. Down on the ground, Twilight pulled out her cell phone and dialed Sunset’s number.

“Didn’t you say your battery was dead?” Rarity asked.

“The number you are trying to reach is unavailable,”

Back at the top of the Ferris wheel, something was causing Spike to blush.

“What?” Sunset asked she rubbed her geode furiously. “What are you staring at--!” She screamed and she slapped him across the face. Her legs were parted and he could see up her skirt. “You could’ve said something!”

“Sorry,” Spike muttered as he rubbed his cheek. “I’m sorry. Still, we’re... way above the ground...”

“You’re the only one who could see, so no harm done, right?” she asked. “I’m sorry I slapped you.”

“It’s okay,” Spike replied.

Sunset inched closer to him, so much that she was almost in his lap. She studied Spike up close, committing to memory every detail of the planes and angles of his face.

“It’s still a long way down...” she said.

The feeling of Spike’s waist beneath her stirred strange feelings within Sunset: the heat of his body, coupled with the scent that belonged to him, and only him, sent her senses soaring. Her breath caught in her throat and her heartbeat quickened as she realized that she was experiencing, for the first time in a long time, what it was like to be held in a man’s arms.

“I’m shaking like crazy,” Spike thought. “I mean, I am stuck in a gondola at the top of a Ferris wheel with one of the cutest girls I’ve ever known.”

“Spike,” Sunset spoke, “can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Sure,” he replied.

For a moment, Sunset didn’t know what to say.

“I’m... I’m really glad I met you, and that we’re friends,” she went on. “Spike, I do consider you a friend. You’ve really helped me. You’ve helped me so much more than anyone else. Even when we were at Celestia’s School together, you put up with me when no one else would. Only a true friend would do something like that... I hope I’ve helped you a little.”

“Well, yeah,” he said softly.

“Given the way she’s smiling,” he thought, “she may as well say that she likes me.”

Sunset looked into Spike’s eyes and she saw, for the first time in a long time, something she forgot even existed: love, compassion, and a very good friend.

“There’s something I’ve wanted to tell you for a while now. I like you, Spike. I mean, I like you as more than just a friend. You’ve always been there for me, always picking me up when everyone else would put me down. You went out of your way to help me, knowing there was nothing in it for you. You are, without a doubt, the kindest, most caring man I’ve ever known,”

She leaned forward and gently kissed him, just a gentle brush of her lips across his cheek.

“What was that for?” he asked.

“For being such a good friend,” she replied.

Then, the unthinkable happened; she leaned forward again and kissed him a second time. This time it was a passionate kiss on the lips, long and very thorough—his first real kiss from her. Sure, they had kissed when she hauled him in for one when he told off the rudest guests in the history of rude hotel guests, but it had been mostly one sided. And she was doing most of the kissing. This was different. This was the most incredible feeling of his young life.

“And that’s for being a good man,” she said.

Spike’s eyes went large. Then they both wrapped an arm around the other’s neck to deepen the kiss. As they kissed, Sunset began to wonder what it would be like to fool around with Spike. Deep down, she always seemed to want Spike to be the one to have sex with her. Just then, the Ferris wheel began to move again.

“Oh!” Sunset exclaimed. “Looks like they fixed it.”

Suddenly, Spike heard a slight squeaking sound, like the sound of a door creaking open.

He looked to the door of the gondola and thought, “That’s not good.”

The gondola started to swing. Sunset flew right at Spike, and he got her breasts full in his face. Her shirt came up so far that Spike could see her bra, and he grabbed her around her waist before she started sliding toward the open door.

“Spike, don’t let me go!”

Sunset’s screams were loud, but they just mixed into the sounds of the other rides nearby. Down on the ground, Fluttershy and Rarity panicked as they saw Spike and Sunset’s gondola swing back and forth until they were at the bottom.

“You kids okay?” the operator asked.

Spike and Sunset nodded and they quickly got off the ride.

Spike and the girls walked through the hotel to the elevators late that night. Spike led the way, with Sunset and Applejack on either side of him; Fluttershy, Pinkie and Rarity were close behind; and Twilight and Starlight brought up the rear, helping Rainbow Dash, who stood on wobbly legs. They’d all had a long day and were eager to get some sleep. And even though the odds had been stacked against him, Spike impressed the girls with his carnival winnings.

“I just wish you hadn’t spent the rest of the day at the hard cider garden after getting off the roller coaster,” Spike told Rainbow Dash.

“I had a good reason: I needed a drink to steady my legs,” Dash replied.

“Well, I had a great time,” Pinkie put in. “I got a bag of jacks, a bottle of bubbles, a squirting flower, and a stuffed baby alligator. Of course, I got some dumb stuff, too.”

“You know, if anything, we should be thanking Spike,” Rarity said. “You were so amazing winning all that stuff. With your hair flowing and your muscles rippling... You were like the god of knocking things over.”

“All hail Ballus Knockoverus!” Dash proclaimed. “I’m still drunk.”

“So, how did you get so good at popping balloons with darts?” Rarity asked.

“And throwing baseballs,” Fluttershy added.

“And shooting,” Applejack went on.

“Well, when my mother died, I found comfort in a community of non-judgmental carnival workers. I taught them to read and write, and in exchange they taught me how to win their games of chance,” Spike replied.

“Really?” Starlight asked.

“That and I got a dartboard,” he admitted.

“Well, you won almost every game,” Sunset said. “AJ, it must be nice to have a boyfriend who can almost match you shot for shot and swing the hammer hard enough to get that little black counterweight past, ‘Seriously, hit it.’”

Applejack fought off a blush, partially because Spike wasn’t “officially” her boyfriend, but also because Sunset spoke the truth about his skills rivaling her own.

“You two might get in tomorrow’s news,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Don’t even joke about that,” Spike told her. “We really thought we were gonna die!”

“Well, I’m glad you’re okay,” said Fluttershy.

They arrived at the staff quarters on the third floor. Twilight, Starlight and Fluttershy helped Rainbow Dash into bed while Spike talked with Rarity.

“I want to make sure Sunset’s all right,” Rarity said to him.

“You go on ahead,” Spike replied. “We’ll catch up.”

Rarity followed Sunset to the door of her suite and asked, “What happened up there on that gondola?”

“Nothing like what you’re imagining,” Sunset answered softly.

“Twilight tried calling your cell phone,” Rarity said. “It was off. It does make a girl wonder.”

Rarity went to her own room after Sunset shut the door behind herself, leaving Spike alone with Applejack in the hallway.

“The shooting match was fun, even though I lost,” he said. “I’m sorry you got mixed up in that.”

“No, Spike, I lost to you,” Applejack replied. “When I missed my shots, you were easy on me. Anyone can tell you threw the game to protect me. I could have been in the same spot as you, or worse. I lost because... you’re too kind.”

Spike gasped.

She had missed on purpose!

“And it wasn’t your fault,” AJ added. “I really enjoyed myself. I forgot how good it is just to have that hand-eye coordination. I mean, video games have a similar feel to ‘em, but it’s just not the same. My father put a rifle in my hands for the first time when I was six, just a little single-shot .22. I loved it.”

Spike smiled in reply.

“Spike, did you ever have the feeling that you might meet somebody?” AJ asked. “You know, when you walk into a place or something?”

“Star-crossed Lover Syndrome?” he asked. “No.”

“Because I had a feeling that I was going to meet somebody when I came out here,” she said. “All right, have you ever really liked someone who didn’t have a clue who you are?”

“I am vaguely familiar with the concept,” he admitted.

“Well, this is it,” she said when they finally reached the door to her room. “I really did have a great time today. I hope you did, too.”

“I wouldn’t change a thing,” he replied. “Well... good night.”

“Good night,” she echoed.

AJ went inside and after the door closed behind her, Spike felt like an idiot. He wanted to take her into his arms and kiss her. He should have.

“So why didn’t you?” he asked himself as he took the elevator up.

He finally returned to his own room on the 26th floor, and immediately walked to his bedroom. When his eyes had adjusted to the darkness, he saw that Zecora was in his bed. Spike did not resist the temptation to look at her, for from the tip of her white and gray Mohawk to her feet she was sensual and fascinating.

“What are you doing here?” he asked her.

“I have come to serve you,”

Spike paused for a moment.

He had missed the heady passion when he was with the girls, and he was a man with a heavy appetite. He had never refrained from such an invitation before, and his body ached to accept Zecora now. It was a novelty to be wanted so. It would be good to lay with a woman he didn’t work with... especially this exotic creature from two worlds.

He knelt down beside her, and he took her hands between his palms. He smiled ruefully, because something inside him revolted the idea.

She had sultry, beautiful eyes; eyes that burned with crystal-blue spirit. She had wide, sensual lips, but not a defined mouth with a pouting lower lip. Her breasts were tempting and full with huge brown nipples, but they did not take his breath away, cause his fingers to itch with anticipation, or his mouth to water for the sweet taste of their crests.

“You are sweet,” he told her. “But I am sorry.”

Spike frowned, and Zecora smiled, even though she was accustomed to men who gave the matter little thought.

“There is someone else?” she asked. It was more of a statement than a question. “There is another.”

“Yes,”

“But she is not here now,”

“No. And still, she is mine,”

Zecora still smiled. “If you are pleased with me, I will stay.”

Spike smiled as he lifted her up, and set her on her feet.

“Is she beautiful?” Zecora asked.

“Yes, very beautiful,”

“And you love her very much?”

“I do,” Spike said.

He found her strapless zebra-print dress upon the floor. He handed it to her. Unabashedly she slipped it over her head.

“There are many fish in the sea, but you are the only one for me,” she rhymed. “I will still serve you, should you change your mind.”

“Thank you, but no,”

“You can handle more than one woman,”

He laughed. “In some ways, maybe, but now, I’m not so sure. I may ask you to help me with something, though, very soon.”

“When I leave, my offer still stands. At least think it over. I will take great care of you,”

Zecora left him at last. He lay down on his bed, and her image haunted him. He should have kept her with him.

But what good would it have done? What good would it do?

At long last, Spike closed his eyes and slept.

As Sunset crawled into bed, she thought about the many things that had happened to her since she first arrived at the resort. And Spike was one of the best things. Every night for the past week her mind kept straying back to him. She never felt happier than when she was with Spike.

No other boy had ever made her feel this way before, so why was it just the very thought of him made her feel like she was the only girl in the world?

The girls all lay in their beds, their arms encircling their new toys: Pinkie with her stuffed alligator, Sunset with her purple dragon, Applejack with her samurai, Fluttershy with her soft bunny, and Rarity with her white knight. And as they held their new toys, they felt as if those toys were Spike, and he was standing guard, watching over them.

Author's Note

Next time, the employees of Rich Resort and Casino begin plans for their next move against the Flimflam Brothers. Meanwhile, Applejack isn’t sure how to explain to the other girls her “excitement” from Spike giving her a massage.

Dangerous Moves

Like Spoiled Rich, Abacus Cinch never smiled. Not even if she had a good reason to. And like her bosses, Cinch had a reputation to maintain. If she smiled, if either of them smiled, their employees might think they were nice women. And that was the last thing Cinch or Spoiled Rich wanted.

The Richs were dangerous people, a dangerous family. Every member of Las Pegasus’s underworld knew it—and that was fine with Cinch. Over the last few years, she’d helped the Richs grow their already vast fortune through crime. As long as she managed to avoid getting caught, she was happy. But she never showed it, because as long as Abacus Cinch never smiled, she would be feared.

Cinch stood at the head of a long table in Impossibly Rich’s penthouse office, surrounded by her most trusted employees. Sunny Flare sat next to Indigo Zap, who was passed out in her chair; Lemon Zest was bobbing her head up and down, listening to music through her headphones; Sugarcoat was crunching numbers on her laptop, and Sour Sweet was playing a game on her cell phone.

“Where’s Diamond Tiara?” Sour Sweet asked.

“She couldn’t possibly show her face in public, or in private, after that crushingly humiliating failure,” Sugarcoat said.

She was talking about Diamond Tiara’s loss to Spike.

“So, it’s safe to bet that Impossibly Rich has decided not to rescind her granddaughter’s life plan?” Sunny Flare asked.

“Correct, that’s Impossibly Rich’s wish,” Abacus Cinch said.

“What’s going on?” Sunny Flare asked. “Spike won two Gate cards from Diamond Tiara, does that count for nothing? Why are we ignoring that?”

“I couldn’t say,” Cinch replied. “I don’t have the ability to read what’s on Impossibly Rich’s mind. But when she requested that I look into Spike Drake’s personal history and files, I discovered that he has considerable reserves of funds.”

“What?” Sugarcoat asked.

“Before Celestia adopted him, he lived completely alone. Both his father and birthmother are dead, and he has no other living relatives of his own,” Cinch said. “I also found out that Spike spent six months in the psychiatric ward of a mental hospital. The expense must have been astronomical. And yet, he paid for it himself. That can only be explained by some enormous, healthy bank accounts.”

“Wait a minute! You’re telling us he went... bonkers?” Sunny Flare asked.

“You want to know what I found out through my portion of the grape vine?” asked Lemon Zest. “Spike’s name was on the list of players who are going to compete in the Las Pegasus Poker Tournament against Filthy Rich.”

Indigo Zap’s eyes shot wide open and she sprung from her chair, which scared the other women.

“What’s wrong, Indigo?” Sour Sweet asked.

“Spike, playing Hold ‘Em Poker against Filthy Rich?” she said. “That’s bad! Impossibly Rich won’t just destroy him, she’ll kill him! No! No, no! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, nononononono, NO, NOO!!”

And she bolted from the office with Sugarcoat calling her name.

“What’s her problem?” Lemon Zest asked.

Meanwhile, inside the Flimflam Brothers’ Resort across the street, Spike was walking across the lobby from the hotel’s gym, his duffel bag over his shoulder. The elevator doors opened to reveal Applejack, who was wearing a gray sports bra, matching sport shorts (which Spike thought looked like a pair of panties at first), and orange tennis shoes from her own workout earlier that morning.

“Howdy, Spike,” she greeted him. “What have you been up to?”

He didn’t answer, and the extra bummed look on his face worried her.

“Spike, are you okay?” she asked. “What’s wrong?”

“You know what I just realized?” he finally replied. “The summer’s half over. I mean, in a month and a half Soarin, Rainbow Dash, Zephyr Breeze and Fluttershy will all go home... to opposite ends of the country! I might not ever see them again.”

“That’s why you gotta live for now,” Applejack told him. “Enjoy the moment while it’s here.”

“You’re right,” Spike smiled. “We’re awesome people in an awesome city with many awesome things to do!”

“That’s the spirit,” she replied as the elevator doors opened onto the third floor. “Hey, while I have you, could you help me with something?”

“Yeah, sure, I’m glad to help,”

Spike followed Applejack into her and Sunset’s suite and helped her move the couch back onto the rug. The whole act took about three seconds, but when Applejack put down her end, she groaned.

“Are you all right?” Spike asked.

“It’s nothing, just a little pinch in my neck,” she replied.

“Here, let me massage it,”

Applejack sat on the sofa they had just moved.

“Maybe you’d be more comfortable on your bed,” he suggested.

Applejack went red in the face, and Spike could sense her nervousness as he guided her onto the mattress. She had often imagined Spike running his hands over her near naked body, but she never thought that it would actually happen. But now, her fantasy was becoming reality. She shivered as she laid on her stomach and Spike’s hands made contact with her neck.

“His hands feel incredible,” she thought.

“Well, here’s your problem,” he told her. “You pulled a muscle and now you’ve got a knot in your shoulder. Babe, you are really tense. Oh, sorry, Applejack! Is it alright if I call you ‘babe’?”

“Sugarcube, you can call me anything you want,” she said.

Applejack began to relax as Spike’s firm but gentle hands caressed her freckled shoulders. Then she felt something warm drip onto her back. She relaxed again when she realized it was just massage oil. She wanted to take off her bra and allow him full access to her back, but she continued to enjoy the return of Spike’s hands to her body; those hands that both soothed and excited her.

He complimented the oil massage of the exposed parts her back to her wide hips and legs, to inside her thighs and just above her rear, carefully avoiding the intimate areas of her body, which only intensified Applejack’s desire to be touched in those spots.

“Oh...” she sighed. “That does feel good.”

Applejack did her best to keep herself from twisting in pleasure. Ten minutes later, her pain disappeared completely and she started breathing heavily as Spike’s fingers edged closer to her forbidden regions.

“Oh, yeah, right there!” she moaned. “If you ever get tired of dancing and dealing cards, you could do this for a living.”

“Well, that’s sweet of you,” he replied. “I spent a few months in a monastery with a group of monks whose knowledge of pressure points is second to none. They even trained me how to undress a woman without her even noticing.”

Spike finished by running his powerful hands down Applejack’s legs and to her feet. She thanked him as he headed for the door and she looked down, between her legs. Her shorts were soaked.

As Spike stepped out into the hallway, he was confronted by Twilight.

“Where’re you going?” she asked. “And what were you doing in Applejack’s room?”

“What the Tartarus is that?” Spike exclaimed as he pointed behind her.

Twilight squealed as she turned around to look and Spike took off running toward the elevator.

“Gotcha!” he called back over his shoulder.

An hour later, Applejack met up with Rarity in the Sweet Snacks Café. Rarity was eating a stress salad (with no dressing) while going over several fabric samples, all in different colors. AJ slid into the booth and sat across from her.

“I’m glad you’re here,” Rarity said. “I have a question and I need an honest answer. Do you think I’m... pale?”

“Yeah,” Applejack replied. “Why?”

“I’m planning to ask Spike out to lunch later this week and I’m trying to decide which blouse color would make me look the least pale. What do you think; puce, ash, slate, or ecru?”

“I’m going to change the subject now,” Applejack stated. “You get massages at the spa, right?”

“Say no more,” Rarity replied as she handed Applejack a business card. “Their names are Aloe and Lotus Blossom. Tell them I sent you. They’ll take good care of you.”

“No, I was wondering if while getting a massage, you ever got... a little...”

“Wet? All the time, why? Wait! You got--! Oh! You did! Where?”

“It wasn’t at a massage place. It was, uh...”

Applejack’s voice trailed off midsentence. She didn’t finish her thought, and Rarity became even more intrigued.

“You don’t want to tell me, when you have just revealed everything!” Rarity said. “You got excited when you got a massage from Spike!”

“If you tell anyone, I’m gonna punch my fist through your chest, and spin you around my forearm like a wagon wheel!”

“That’s terrifying, yet somehow beautiful,” Rarity replied.

“I got a pinch in my neck, Spike offered to help, he rubbed it, and...” Applejack trailed off again.

“Sploosh,” Rarity said.

“Yeah... Sploosh,” Applejack confirmed.

“So, you’ve got the hots for him,” Rarity said.

“It’s not that,” Applejack replied. “Well, it’s not just that. Now I feel awkward around Spike and I feel guilty around Twilight. I feel like I cheated her out of her chance with him.”

“But you didn’t, you had no intent,” Rarity told her. “Or did you?”

“I’ve got to tell Twilight sooner or later,” AJ said.

“Sure, if you want to be selfish about it,”

“How is that selfish?”

“Nothing happened, and Twilight doesn’t know anything. But you feel guilty about it, so you tell Twilight, she feels bad so you can feel better. Ergo--selfish,” Rarity explained.

And speaking of Twilight, that’s who came in and sat beside Rarity.

“What the Tartarus is going on?” she asked Applejack. “Spike’s acting strange. You’re acting strange. What is going on?”

Applejack knew there was no way to avoid it now, so she just told Twilight.

“Okay, earlier Spike helped lift my sofa back onto the rug,” she began. “Well, he noticed that my neck hurt, he massaged it, and I felt much better.”

“So?” Twilight asked.

“Well, I felt so much better that I... got a little hot... and wet... down south...”

“What?!” Twilight exclaimed. “Why would you tell me that?”

“That sounds like a question you already knew the answer to, so why did you even bother asking it?” Applejack retorted.

“All you had to do was be honest like you almost always are!” Twilight replied. “You should know that you can tell me anything.”

“Oh and how would that conversation have gone?” Applejack challenged her. “‘Hey, Twilight, guess what the cute new guy was able to do just by touching me’? Would you really have been fine with that?”

“Now he’s cute?”

“What happened to ‘I can tell you anything’?”

“I meant anything I should know. If it’s not important, or if it’s going to upset me, then don’t tell me!”

“I thought that’s what I was doing!” Applejack shouted.

“You think I am that petty?” Twilight asked.

“I don’t think you are,” said a new voice. “I know you are.”

Twilight, Applejack and Rarity looked up to see Spike standing a few feet away. Twilight got up from the booth and immediately got in his face.

“I know what you did!” she told him.

“I was helping out a friend,” he said calmly.

Twilight glared at him, breathing deeply.

“So, you decided to give her a rubdown?” she asked.

“Only because her neck hurt!” he replied. “Wait a minute. Do you think I was trying to make a move on her?”

“I don’t think now is a good time for you to brag about how good you are!” Twilight boomed on.

Spike folded his arms in front of his chest.

“What exactly do you plan to do about it?” he asked.

“Plenty,” she said coldly. “I’m going to do just plenty.”

“Don’t you think it’s about time you got started?”

“Now, wait a minute--”

“No, you wait a minute,” he cut her off, “and listen to me very carefully. I saved your job for no reason other than I had nothing better to do. Now, I don’t know what your reasons were, but nobody twisted your arm, made you any promises. So what is this act? Not outraged virtue?” He clicked his tongue.

“You really are a rat,” she replied acidly.

“Why don’t you quit while you’re ahead, Sparkle? I know about the guys you’ve had on a string. Sunset told me about every single one of them,”

“Why are you treating me this way? I didn’t do anything,”

“Neither did I, so why don’t you just say goodbye nicely?”

“And maybe I should say thank you for being humiliated,” Twilight said. “Well, put this in your pipe: one of these days I’ll break your back. I swear it!”

She attempted to strike Spike in the face, but his hands were much quicker than hers. He caught her by the wrist, which he stopped just before her palm made contact with his cheek.

“Don’t. Ever. Try that again,” he stated.

Spike let go of Twilight’s arm and she whirled on her heel and stalked out as Rarity and Applejack got up from the booth.

“It’s a good thing for you she doesn’t pack a knife,” Rarity said to him.

“How do you know she doesn’t?” Applejack asked.

She pulled the lapel of her jacket around her neck as she stepped into Impossibly Rich’s office that evening to join her for a cup of tea... just the two of them. Impossibly Rich poured as her guest sat down on the couch across from her.

“It smells wonderful, doesn’t it?” Impossibly Rich asked her informant. “I hope you like it.”

The mole warily picked up her teacup.

“Drink, before it gets cold,” Impossibly said with a smile.

She drank... as did Impossibly Rich.

“I enjoyed the ballroom dance competition,” Impossibly Rich confessed. “More than I expected to. That boy, Spike, is the first person to win hundreds of millions of dollars from me. If anyone were to win against me, it would be him. Normal people aren’t that skilled in dancing in this day and age, but him... Well, that doesn’t matter... I want you to come to work for me full time.”

The spy choked on her tea.

“I’m serious,” Impossibly Rich added. “You’re more than worthy of a position with us.”

“Is that supposed to be funny?” the mole asked as she put down her cup. “Why would I ever side with you?”

“Do you mean that you’re refusing a request from me?”

Impossibly Rich dropped her politeness, clamped her hand around the mole’s throat, and came to within an inch of her lips pressing against her informant’s. Impossibly’s eyes became cold and feral and her voice was the hard clatter of rock grating on ice-covered cement.

“Now, why would you do that? I know you’re well aware of the advantages and benefits of being in my employ. So, tell me why. Are you scared of my other employees? Is that why you’d inflict such a massive loss on us? Or are you afraid of me? Just tell me you’ll at least consider it. It’s not very smart to refuse me outright. Now tell me why. I asked you a question! Answer me!”

Then, as though that fleeting glimpse of ice and flint and total heartlessness had been a slip, a mistake, a spasm, an illusion, the bitch worked hard at being the other, more familiar Impossibly Rich.

“Oh, my apologies,” she said. “I suppose, in this position, your poor brain probably can’t think at all. You know, I find you extremely enigmatic... and I love that. I’ll say it one more time. Come work for me.”

“May I ask one question?”

“Of course, I’ll be happy to answer anything,”

“The way you treat people is terrible. Why do you treat others so poorly?”

Impossibly Rich walked over to the aquarium full of fish that stood on the far side of her office.

“They’re beautiful, aren’t they?” she asked. “But even the cutest of creatures live in a world where the strong survive and the weak die. If you gathered up and removed the creatures at the bottom of the food chain, what do you think would happen? A new bottom would form. And just like before, the chain would grow. And some creatures would rise up; the weak would dare to steal from the strong. So think, what if ‘creatures’ didn’t include just animals. What if they included humans too? I want to see that! I want to know what humanity would do!”

Impossibly Rich’s agent remained silent.

“You should be less concerned about your ‘friends’ about finding out you’re working for me, and more about what I will do to you if you fail to help me take ownership of Flimflam Resort,” Impossibly advised.

“Last time I looked, and I look every morning, it was your name listed as owner on more valuable property in this city than anyone else in history,” the mole replied, “which means you have a lot more to lose.”

“I don’t lose,” Impossibly Rich said. “People who bet on me to lose are the ones who lose, and they lose big. If you’re planning to come after me, you better know I move quickly, and when I do I cut like a knife. Besides... you know what his mother almost did to your family,” she added.

The mole cringed at the mention of her.

“She took whatever she wanted,” Impossibly Rich reminded her. “And she didn’t care who she hurt. That’s why I got rid of her. You owe me! If anything, I saved your parents’ marriage! I saved your family! Do whatever you have to do keep them from discovering the truth about you!” she commanded. “Now leave! Return to the Flimflam Resort, and make sure no one sees you, or else my entire plan will be ruined!”

The mole acrimoniously agreed... and left, not even noticing Diamond Tiara, who had been listening in the shadows just outside the door. Diamond Tiara then followed her grandmother to the helicopter pad up on the roof later that night, being careful to keep out of sight.

“Miss Rich!” Abacus Cinch shouted over the sound of the helicopter’s spinning blades.

“Is something wrong, Cinch?” Impossibly Rich asked.

“Where are you going? I would have made arrangements!”

“I’ll be leaving the country for a while. There’s something I have to do,”

“This is the worst possible time!”

“I know. That’s precisely why I have to take care of this. You can deal with the rest however you wish, that includes my son and daughter-in-law. I’m counting on you!” she shouted as she climbed into the helicopter and it took off.

As Diamond Tiara made her way back down those steps, into her family’s resort, she felt lost, like she was sinking, like she would break. She wished that she could be someone else, anyone else, at that moment, yet she couldn’t see what she needed to do to be the woman she wanted to be. She thought she was as strong as stone, but even that wasn’t enough. She didn’t know what to do. She had been told her whole life what to do and what to say, and nobody showed her that there could be a better way.

Spike was the very first person to do that!

Then Diamond Tiara thought about how much her mother and grandmother controlled her. The blood rushed to her head and it made her want to vomit. She would never forgive them for the Tartarus they put her through.

“I refuse to live my life by their plan!” she thought angrily. “My life is not theirs to control! It’s mine to live! They can’t have it! And I won’t let them! There’s only one reason they will not see anyone outside the family as equals! They see everyone else as lesser beings! Less than humans! In other words, they think that everyone else is less than them! And that’s a bad idea! No, it’s a dangerous one... one that I will make them regret!”

Applejack's Perfect Date

It was late in the afternoon when Applejack found Spike sitting by the water fountain in front of the Resort. His tie was loose and he looked like a sad, old hound dog. Then she noticed the white lace handkerchief in his hand.

“Spike, have you been crying?” she asked.

“Rarity--She--I...” he sniffled.

Spike threw his arms around Applejack and she returned his embrace.

“What happened?” she asked.

It all started that morning in the staff locker room. Rarity was reading the latest issue of Canterlot Beat, her favorite magazine, while Twilight kept going on and on about how she was still hung up on Spike.

“Darling, you are my friend, so it pains me to say this, but snap out of it!” She hit Twilight upside the head with her magazine. “You need to get over him and move on. Here, this might help.”

She handed Twilight a magazine.

“‘Crushed by Your Crush? Five Ways to Get Your Groove Back.’?” she read out loud. “‘To get past your crush, find a new frog to kiss. There just might be a prince underneath.’”

Meanwhile, on the men’s side of the locker room, Fluttershy was arguing with Zephyr Breeze about joining Twilight for lunch that afternoon.

“Faust, that’s gonna suck!” Zephyr said. “How did you let that happen?”

“She asked and we were free,” Fluttershy replied. “It won’t be that bad.”

“The last meal Twilight made tasted like balloons. Rubber! Balloons!”

“They were fried clams,”

“Explain the multitude of colors,”

“I can’t. But they’re our friends and we’re going to their lunch party,”

“Wait! ‘Party’ and ‘They’?” Zephyr asked. “As in, ‘there are going to be other people there’?”

“Just Rarity, Pinkie, Soarin, Cheese Sandwich and one other guy,”

“Don’t say it. Please!”

“Timber Spruce,”

“Aaaaand you said it,” Zephyr stated. “Timber Spruce is so boring. ‘How boring is he?’” he asked himself. “Thank you. He is so boring that when I can’t sleep at night I literally count Timber Spruces. Oh! And the sheep count with me! That is how boring he is!”

Timber Spruce was one of the resort’s lifeguards. He was into gemstones and plants... and he had a bit of a rivalry with Applejack.

“You know, you are the last person in the world who should take shots at somebody else’s choice of dates,” Fluttershy told her brother. “Hey, we can make a drinking game out of it: every time Twilight claims she’s a people person, drink!”

“Oh, that reminds me, now that you mention it, what are we going to be drinking?” Zeph asked to remind her (mostly because he already knew the answer).

“Oh, Faust, that beer Timber makes...” Fluttershy groaned.

“In. His. Bathtub!” Zephyr shouted. “It’s like the Cloudsdale Brewery doesn’t know what they’re doing! I don’t like the thought of drinking pale ale filtered through another guy’s hair trap!!”

Soarin came in a few seconds later.

“Man, you look bummed,” he directed at Zephyr.

“She’s forcing me to go to stupid lunch with stupid Twilight and stupid Timber Spruce,” he groaned at his sister.

“Oh, Faust, I went to one of her bore mitzvahs once,” Soarin replied. “I had to make crappy small talk with Timber, eat that dry as Tartarus Chicken Parmesan, and play charades. It blew! And this one’s gonna be even worse. I just overheard Cheese Sandwich talking about it with Pinkie before I came in; Twilight’s going to make her ‘famous fried clams’ again. ‘They’re not in season, but I know a guy,’” he added, imitating Twilight. “Oh, and Timber’s flavoring his beer with fruit now. He’s bringing raspberry.”

“Homemade raspberry beer and black market fish,” Zeph grumbled. “I can feel my stomach turning on me already.”

Then Rarity joined them.

“Sorry, I couldn’t get away from Twilight,” she said. “She just kept talking, and talking and talking...”

“Oh, boy, I know how that goes,” Soarin thought.

“All we talk about is how I can’t find a guy,” Rarity concluded.

Fluttershy made a slight cough to cover up a snicker.

“I suppose you know better than I whom I should date?” Rarity asked her.

“As a matter of fact, I do,” Fluttershy replied. “I could set you up with the best date you ever had.”

“That’s ridiculous!”

“I could. Do you want me to?”

“Oh, Faust, here we go again!” Zephyr exclaimed.

“Why are you always such a jerk about fix-ups?” Fluttershy asked.

“Because every time you do one it goes sour, then you get upset, and then you get mad at me because I say, ‘I told you so,’” Zeph explained.

“Why don’t you just not say, ‘I told you so’?” Fluttershy asked.

“Because that’s the only part of the whole thing that I enjoy,” Zeph replied. “Don’t think that you can play matchmaker just because you read those smutty romance novels that you’re still hiding from Mom and Dad.”

“Well, just for that, you are definitely going to lunch with us, Twilight, Pinkie, Cheese Sandwich, and Timber Spruce, and that is final!”

“Fine,” Zephyr grunted. “I will go, and I will eat, but do not expect me to turn on the charm. And don’t be surprised if I bring this up again if I somehow end up drunk on ass-beer.”

Just then, Rarity saw Spike enter and sauntered over to his locker.

“Hello, Spike,” she greeted him warmly. “I was thinking, do you want to go on a lunch date?”

Spike sighed into his open locker.

“I do not need this right now,” he thought.

That’s what he wanted to say.

He knew Rarity’s type all too well. To Rarity, “beautiful” was good looks, every hair in place, and being admired by everyone who knew her. And “handsome” was all that and more. It was self-confidence, good manners (like holding the door), a jaw smoothly shaven, a nice suit, and inspired fantasies of Prince Charming in just about every woman who saw him. Handsome was a good-night kiss with enough tongue to be provocative but not enough to be impolite.

Spike was handsome. He knew he was. But “hot” was something else.

To Rarity, hot was sexy, rugged and had a certain edge to it. Hot was unpredictable. Hot had a sense of danger, wasn’t always courteous, didn’t treat a lover like a fragile object, and was not doused with cologne. Hot was sweaty, thick muscles that gave proof of great strength that every woman wanted roughing up her inner thighs. Hot would ensnare a woman... mind, body and soul.

Spike glanced over at Rarity, who fanned herself, as if she were thinking the same thoughts that he was. She had not seen “hot” in a very long time.

“Yep, I definitely don’t need this right now,” he thought.

But, being the gentleman that he always tried to be (and also because he couldn’t think of a good excuse), Spike turned to Rarity and agreed to lunch.

A few feet away, Soarin and Zephyr Breeze shook their heads.

“Why do women want everyone in the world to be paired off?” Zephyr asked. “They’re like Stubing from ‘The Love Boat’.”

“And the biggest problem with this fix-up is that both Twilight and Fluttershy are involved,” Soarin replied, “because when it blows up -- and it will -- the girls are gonna take sides, they’ll each defend their friend, and they will all end up in a big fight.”

“Spike will be mad at Rarity and vice versa, both of them will be mad at Twilight and Fluttershy, and Twilight and Fluttershy will be mad at each other,” Zephyr agreed.

“It’s gonna screw up relationships all around, and we are gonna be the ones who have to hear about it,” Soarin added.

“Why does everything bad happen to us?” Zeph asked.

“Well, there are people in the world that have it a lot worse off than we do,” Soarin reminded him.

So, Soarin and Zephyr joined Spike, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Cheese Sandwich, Twilight and Timber Spruce to a lunch in one of the executive ballrooms for Twilight’s infamous clam bake. Rarity, claiming that she was allergic to shellfish, was able to ask for spaghetti and meatballs and a salad with the dressing on the side as a substitute. Knowing that Lady and the Tramp was Spike’s favorite Whinny movie, she was hoping to score a smooch from him by sharing her pasta with him and recreating the famous spaghetti kiss scene.

After a while, Twilight asked Timber to watch the clams for her as she went to the ladies’ room.

“We’ll join you,” Rarity said, and she and Fluttershy followed.

“Take as long as you need!” Zephyr called after them.

While the clams were cooking, Pinkie Pie’s hand bumped Rarity’s purse as she reached for her glass of water, and an issue of Canterlot Beat magazine fell out and onto the table, open to the article Rarity had been reading that morning.

“‘How to Get Over Your Crush by Kissing the Next Frog in Line’?” Pinkie read it out loud. “Wait... is Spike the frog? Spike, you are the frog!”

Rarity, Twilight and Fluttershy returned from the restroom just as Timber began serving everyone. Rarity looked over at Spike, who was looking back at her with a cross expression, as she offered him some of her spaghetti.

“Would you like some?” she asked.

“Nah, Pinkie decided to entertain us with a little light reading!” he replied as he made Pinkie hold up the issue of Canterlot Beat.

Rarity dropped her fork and said, “It’s-It’s not what it looks like!”

“Really, because it looks like you only asked me out because you couldn’t get anyone else!” Spike yelled.

“No! I-I--”

“Save it! I thought you were different,”

Spike threw down his linen napkin and ran out of the executive ballroom so fast that he left Rarity far behind, even when she went after him.

Twilight, Timber, Cheese Sandwich, Pinkie, Soarin, Fluttershy, and Zephyr Breeze all sat in awkward silence until Fluttershy said, “I can’t believe Rarity would lie to Spike like that.”

“I can’t believe Spike is so shallow that he couldn’t deal with it,” Twilight replied.

“Since when is it shallow to not want to go out with someone who tricked you?” Fluttershy shouted.

“Whoa, girls, you tried to do a really nice thing!” Zephyr interjected. “There’s no reason to point fingers here.”

“Yeah, if anything, you should feel good that you tried,” Soarin added.

“Yeah, I guess,” Fluttershy said, calming down.

“Hey, I have a new fix-up we can try,” Pinkie said. “Vodka and tonic.”

“Oh, that is a good couple,” Fluttershy admitted.

And they went off to the bar while Twilight and Timber partook of their clams and raspberry beer and Soarin and Zephyr Breeze ducked into the men’s room to escape the soap opera drama.

“That was close,” Soarin said. “You just prevented a Fix-Up Disaster Fight. Nice work.”

“Thanks, you too,” Zeph replied.

Applejack rubbed Spike’s back as he let it all out.

“Aw, there, there, there,” she said soothingly. “Everything’s gonna be all right... Now, why don’t ya stop crying and give AJ a little smile, hmm?”

Spike pulled away a little and tried to smile.

“There, that’s better. Ya do look handsome when ya smile, Spike,”

“Thank you,” he chuckled.

“And let me tell ya something else. If you were my boyfriend, you wouldn’t catch me even touching another guy. Not ever!”

Spike finally smiled at her attempt to butter him up.

“Hey, I’m no doctor, but I know there’s no better treatment for a wounded heart than a night on the town,” she said. “What do ya think?”

Spike’s smile grew. “I think that’s a great idea.”

“I did it!” Applejack screamed in thought. “I finally got a date with Spike!”

Later that evening, Spike stood in his suite, waiting for Applejack to arrive. He told her he didn’t want to wait for her in the lobby, or to come and get her on the third floor, and she understood why. There was a knock at his door, and Spike opened it to see a gorgeous blonde standing there in a simple white sundress. If Spike had been wearing a hat, he would have taken it off. He almost couldn’t believe it was her.

“Whoa,” he breathed. “Applejack, you look amazing!”

“Shoot, Spike, you sure do say the prettiest things to a gal,” she flushed. “So, where are we going?”

“Right this way, milady,” he said.

He escorted her into the elevator, down to the lobby and outside, where a black stretch was waiting for them on the curb.

“You rented a limo?” Applejack asked.

“That’s not all. Inside are a 20-inch TV, four hours of music, your favorites and mine; three dozen roses, a crystal-appointed minibar, and two kinds of snack cakes,” he added proudly.

“Wow! Oh, but look at me. I feel so underdressed,”

“I think you look beautiful,” he said, pulling the passenger door open.

“Spike, you didn’t have to do all this,” she told him.

“I know. But I wanted to,”

Spike followed Applejack into the cool leather interior of the limo and they quickly noted the television on the rosewood divider that separated them from the unseen driver. Spike had expensive tastes, in clothes, food, liquor, cars, hotel suites and women: financing these tastes required full employment of his agile mind.

“I’m the luckiest girl in the world!” she thought.

Ten minutes later, they were at the Hive and were immediately shown to their table by Ocellus, who poured them some water and gave them their menus.

“I like you, Spike.” That’s what Applejack wanted to say. “I like you a lot. I think about you all the time. Sometimes at breakfast I stare down at my eggs... and I see your face in them. There’s nothing I’d like better than to have you as my steady fella, Spike, because... I love you.”

Then her mind strayed to thoughts of sex, but she did not allow her desire to surface. Right now, she was hoping that she and Spike could have a more intimate, affectionate connection. She had never been on a date with such a good-looking man and dinner was going to live up to the occasion.

Thorax and Pharynx came over; the latter had a silver chain with a tasting-cup around his neck (the thing a wine waiter wears).

“May we take your orders?” Thorax asked.

“Allow me,” Spike told Applejack. “Two Porterhouse steaks, with all the trimmings, plus a bottle of your finest wine, and... put it all on Twilight Sparkle’s tab,” he added in a whisper.

“How very generous of you, sir,” Pharynx replied with a grin. “May I recommend the Cabernet?”

“Thank you, garçon,” Spike said.

And the brothers went off for the wine. Suddenly, Applejack leaned towards Spike, reached out a hand, and put it over his.

“I am sorry about what happened between you and Rarity,” she said.

Spike smiled into her eyes.

“Don’t be,” he replied. “It’s not your fault.”

She looked back at him, and she saw how wide his eyes were.

“I like you,” they said. “All is possible between us. But don’t be impatient. And be kind. I do not want to be hurt anymore.”

“You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this evening,” she told him. She quickly changed the subject. “You know what I love most about this place? All you can eat for only three hundred bucks.”

Pharynx returned with a bottle.

“I apologize,” he said. “We just ran out of the Cabernet, but may I suggest the Apple Champagne at no extra charge?”

He popped the cork, poured some into Spike’s glass, and Spike tasted it. It was ice cold and had a faint taste of Red Delicious apples, and it was delicious. Spike told Pharynx, “That will play,” and Pharynx filled their glasses. Spike picked up his glass again and looked at Applejack.

“To our first date,” he said.

The corners of Applejack’s mouth turned up. She drank half her glass in one gulp and put it down firmly on the table.

Spike smiled again.

“You know, most women I meet try really hard to impress me,” he said. “But you... you’re not like them. You’re not like other women, and that makes me glad. I’m glad you don’t wear too much jewelry, I’m glad you don’t paint your fingernails. You’re the prettiest woman in Las Pegasus.”

Applejack smiled again. As Spike looked at her, he couldn’t help but think that she didn’t belong there. She did not belong in Las Pegasus. She was the girl who should have lived next door when a boy was growing up, a pretty honey blonde with a face so fresh and appealing with its freckle-sprinkled, innocent eyes, and delectable mouth curved into a sunny smile.

Then his mind wandered to when he first saw her up on stage as Apple Jewel. Even when she was singing, Spike could tell that she wasn’t like the other girls. Even with all the glamour and independence he could tell that deep down she wanted to settle down and eventually have a husband and kids.

“What about you?” she asked. “Drop-dead handsome, a hundred flavors of sweet, how does that happen? You’ve had everything handed to you, and you treat everybody like they’re family. I like that.”

Spike laughed. They were both enjoying themselves and he got to know her better. She enjoyed horseback riding, archery, deer hunting with her father, and (as Spike had found out from his shooting match with her in the amusement park) she was quite the competitive markswoman. AJ picked up her second glass of wine and then, very slowly, drank it in three swallows. And then Thorax returned with the Porterhouses, accompanied by mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli.

After the steaks, Spike and Applejack shared a rack of barbecued ribs, a big bowl of baked beans with maple syrup, another big bowl of coleslaw, one of green beans, more mashed potatoes with gravy, half a dozen ears of corn on the cob, and a plate of cornbread.

“This is probably the biggest rack I have ever seen in my life,” he told her. “Present company excluded.”

Applejack giggled and said, “Well, I’m glad someone shares my appetite.”

They ate in silence for a while. Then she asked Spike to tell her more about himself. The stage was his first love, but then he found himself in a rut doing a lot of outdoor community theatre; Charity Kindheart wanted him to play the tragic hero over and over again. Then, somehow, the conversation shifted to his hair.

“To be honest, it was black until a few years ago,” he shared. “Then I dyed it on a bet. I’m actually a little self-conscious about it.”

“Spike, you have nothing to be self-conscious about,” Applejack said softly. “Oh, you’ve got a little barbecue sauce on your lip. Let me get that.”

She touched his lip with her thumb and wiped it off... then she brought her thumb to her lips, which left Spike breathless until Thorax returned.

“Would you like me to bring you some dessert menus?” he asked.

“Very much so,” Spike replied with a smile.

Applejack ordered a chocolate milkshake, and Spike ordered the same, and when the time came to pay, Spike reached for his wallet and Thorax said, “For the fastest dealer in Las Pegasus, it’s on the house.”

“Wow. Thanks, Thorax,” Applejack said. “That’s really nice of you.”

“Are you kidding? It’s the least I can do for my best friend,”

Spike still slipped Thorax three thousand dollars (one for him, one for Pharynx, and one for Ocellus) and he and AJ went out into the cool night. They walked along the Strip until they found themselves walking through the gardens to behind the Flimflam Brothers’ Resort.

Spike smiled as he looked at Applejack. She wasn’t wearing makeup, and didn’t need any. The moonlight was her makeup.

“This was a really nice night, Applejack,” he told her.

“Really,” she asked. “Even though I’m... not like the other girls?”

“Hey, now, just because someone’s not as smart or as wealthy as me, it doesn’t make them any less than me,” he told her. “I love that you’re not a preppie, you treat me well. Any man would be proud to have you as his girlfriend.”

“Well, call me old fashioned,” Applejack replied. “But I believe that a woman should love a man for who he is, and not for what she wants him to be.”

Applejack had no time to react as she felt Spike’s lips press against hers. Her eyes went wide as her body froze and her heart soared before she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close, returning the kiss. She wanted to make this his best kiss. She slipped her tongue into his mouth and mingled with his, neither vying for dominance. The kiss seemed to last an eternity as they held each other. Applejack finally broke away, both of them gasping for air as they gazed into each other’s eyes.

“Wow!” she sighed, her face bright red. “That was... you’d have to invent a whole new word for just how amazing that was.”

At the third floor, Applejack walked quickly out, and down the hall to her door. She bent down, fitted her room key into the lock, and pushed the door open. With her hand still on the knob, she turned to look back down toward the elevator, even though it was long gone, and she smiled again. She finally entered her room and saw Sunset and Starlight sitting on Sunset’s bed, in their pajamas, and with a big bowl of popcorn.

“You will not believe the date I just had!” Applejack told them.

“We’ve got the PJs, we’ve got the popcorn, now dish!” said Sunset.

“We want to know everything!” Starlight added.

“It was spectacular! I mean, it was the best date I have ever been on in my entire life!” AJ said. “We had dinner, shared desserts, a long walk... and he kissed me good night.”

“Awww!” they sighed.

“And he is an amazing kisser,” she confessed. “The only thing that could have made it perfect is if we took a dip in the Jacuzzi.”

“And if he’d given me a piggyback ride,” she added in thought.

“Awww...” they said again.

“I’m really lucky to have Spikey as my guy,” Applejack said.

“Aw, you call him ‘Spikey,’” Sunset sighed.

“And he calls me... ‘Honey Buns,’”

“Awwwwwww!!”

Sunset and Starlight were happy for Applejack... Unfortunately, she and Spike weren’t the only ones in the garden that night. They were being spied on by no less than two parties. One was Discord. The other was Fluttershy.

“HA-HA!!” Discord laughed as he watched them on a monitor in his office through a hidden camera set up in some of the foliage. “Everyone thought I was crazy! But I knew ALL ALONG!! Sexy, juicy, foxy, curvy, beautiful dealers!!! With those two dating, I’ll be rolling in it!!!! CRAZY, SUPER-LOADED!!!!!”

Meanwhile, Fluttershy had gone out for a walk to clear her head. She sighed quietly when she saw a girl and a boy walking up the sidewalk on the other side, holding hands, so happy.

“Aw, everyone’s getting romantic tonight. Even...Wait, isn’t that...?” She gasped. “Spike and Applejack?!”

Through the room-length window behind Impossibly Rich’s desk, the Las Pegasus skyline glittered like a jewel in the night. But Abacus Cinch and her employees weren’t there to take in the view. Instead, they were focused on how to deal with Spike Drake. It had been barely a week since Impossibly Rich left, and her inner circle was slowly becoming a house divided. Some (Garble) plotted to increase their power while others (Lemon Zest and Sour Sweet) pursued pleasure. Some (Sugarcoat and Sunny Flare) wanted to protect themselves, and some (Indigo Zap) remained inscrutable. Diamond Tiara’s loss to Spike had gathered the attention of the world’s casinos, and had gotten the Flimflam Brothers even more great publicity. And somehow, the looming shadow of Spike “The Lucky Prince” Drake had changed all that they knew.

“It’s been three weeks since Diamond Tiara embarrassed herself,” Sugarcoat said. “And we’ve seen neither hide nor hair of Impossibly Rich. Why?”

“I haven’t been informed,” Cinch told them.

“Seriously?” Sour Sweet asked. “If she was going to tell anyone, it would have to be you.”

“So, I suppose we’ll have to decide what to do with those who lost to Spike, ourselves, without Impossibly Rich’s guidance,” Sunny Flare said.

She spoke of Garble and Diamond Tiara.

“At least she was lucky to save face with her mother’s interference and Spike’s pity,” Garble spat venomously. “The rumors are spreading quickly throughout Las Pegasus. Already my reputation’s in the gutter! It’s pathetic! And still you have the balls to believe you are even welcome here!” he said to Cinch.

“Garble, it is inappropriate to speak to me that way!”

Garble punched a hole in the wall, right beside Cinch’s head.

“I think you will find the concept of ‘inappropriate’ doesn’t exist in this city!” he growled. “You are closest to Impossibly Rich! You should understand that better than anyone.”

Indigo Zap pulled Garble away from Cinch and threw him against the wall, pinning him with one forearm across his neck and one of her knees dangerously close to being driven through his crotch.

“Maybe you would like to try your luck against Spike again?” she put in.

“Why should I have to be the only one to make any effort here?” Garble growled back at her.

“Because the two of you go way back; you have a history,” Indigo said. “He’s got guts! Not to mention a sharp gaze and trust in his friends, that’s all he needs to turn the odds in his favor... but more than all that, are his eyes! Just thinking about them makes me...”

Sugarcoat and Sunny Flare each grabbed one of Indigo’s arms and pulled her off of Garble.

“This is not the time, nor the place, for internal conflicts that sooner or later end badly,” Sunny told them.

Indigo shook Sunny and Sugarcoat off and headed for the door.

“Miss Zap, we are still in the middle of our meeting!” Cinch told her.

Indigo turned and shot Cinch a very dark glare.

“I’ll. Be. Right. Back!” she stated.

And she slammed the door behind her as she left.

“There’s no point listening to her rambling,” Sugarcoat said.

“But her appraisal of Spike isn’t wrong,” said Sunny Flare. “The mere fact that he’s cutting through us one by one, that’s what makes him so terrifying. If he were to face Impossibly Rich in a Gate Battle, then... depending on what game is chosen...”

“Impossibly Rich falls off her very high pedestal,” Sour Sweet finished. “It’s the risk anyone takes if they lose.”

“I will never allow that to happen!” Cinch stated.

“I, too, am opposed to that,” Sunny Flare said. “I suggest we recover what debt we’re owed; the better to increase our stake.”

Sugarcoat pushed her glasses back up to her eyes.

“Have you already forgotten?” she asked. “Impossibly Rich expressly forbade that! And she already has a plan for how to deal with Spike Drake!”

Then, a thin man in a blue suit, with curly hair and glasses, who had been sitting quietly the entire time they were talking, stood and said, “I would be more than glad to help you deal with this little pest.”

Cinch, Sour Sweet, Sunny Flare, Sugarcoat, Lemon Zest and Garble all looked at him with wide eyes.

“Certainly,” he went on. “It would be simple for me to make a stage that would crush him. But if I am going to be the one to do it, then I’m going to go big. Really, really big.”

“Does anybody have a problem with that?” Cinch asked.

Cinch’s employees knew better than to disagree with anything their boss demanded. In unison, they shook their heads.

“Very well,” Cinch said. “Then we will leave it to you.”

“Consider it done,” he replied. “I’ll begin preparations immediately... and I will personally make sure that Mister Drake has no chance of beating my client.”

He took his leave, and when he did, he didn’t see Indigo Zap hiding in the shadows of the hallway... nor did he hear her as she pulled out her cell phone.

“Hey, Impossibly Rich, if you’re still alive, I thought you should know that things are getting out of hand here,” she said. “You’d better get back here soon, or else who knows what will happen to your precious city?”

Meanwhile, the thin man in the blue suit exited onto the street.

“Get ready, Spike Drake,” he said. “This time, your very life is on the line!”

Author's Note

Question: what do Discord, Iron Will, Spike and Twilight have in common? They’ve all entered the Flimflam Resort’s talent contest with the intention of winning... and the grand prize is a chance to sing a duet with Equestria’s biggest pop idol sensation: Countess Coloratura!

Equestrian Rhapsody

The following week, in the staff locker room, Pinkie Pie was staring intently at her cell phone when Spike asked her what she was watching. It was a music video of a beautiful woman with long eyelashes and a long, white ponytail that brushed the ground with every step she took. She was dressed in leather and her face was hidden behind a veil.

“Time for the spectacle. Time for the show. The lights are bright and the colors glow. I’m not just anybody, I think you know. The time is now, it’s about to BLOOOWWW!!! Razzle dazzle, glitz and glam! Turn it all up! It’s a spectacle! Razzle dazzle, glitz and glam! Turn it all up! It’s a spectacle! Give me more razzle dazzle! Glitter eyes, big surprise, lights, cameras...!”

The woman in the video jerked her body around as her auto tune kicked in.

“Razzle dazzle, glitz and glam! Turn it all up, it’s a spectacle! Hear the applause, here to impress... not just somebody, I am the Countess!!”

“Countess Coloratura just happens to be one of Equestria’s greatest entertainers,” Pinkie said. “You have no idea the effect she has on people.”

“You seem to know a lot about her,” Spike assumed.

“She was born just outside of Manehattan in 1986, she owns ten dogs and seven horses, and she loves doing charities for children,” Pinkie replied.

Spike knew a bit about the Countess, too. She had caused a cultural riot across Equestria. People would lose control of their bodily functions when she was on stage, and every one of her music videos had over three hundred million views online. Needless to say, she was a big deal.

“By the way, I found my other roller-skate,” Pinkie told him. “So you can disregard the text I sent you last night. You’ll never guess where I found it.”

“And I never will,” Spike stated.

“It was in my bubble bath,” she shared with a smile.

After they finished changing into their uniforms, Discord came in, dressed in long flowing white robes. He carried two stone tablets in one hand and a big wooden staff in the other.

“Who does he think he is?” Spike whispered. “One of the prophets?”

“Listen up, slackers!” Discord began. “Today, your work lives change!”

“We’re all getting raises?” Zephyr Breeze asked.

“New uniforms?” asked Rarity.

“A new boss?” Rainbow Dash smart-mouthed.

“Wrong, wrong, and infinitely wrong!!” Discord yelled. “Now, before I go on, I have a special announcement. Pinkie Pie here is a true hero. She threw herself in the line of fire to save the Prince of Yakyakistan from a slow and painful death.”

“I just stopped him from eating a yogurt parfait,” Pinkie said modestly.

“A parfait that was made with yogurt two-weeks expired -- potentially lethal!” Discord shouted. “In recognition of this deed, I will now remove Pinkie’s one strike from her employee record. Bow your head, strike-burdened one!”

“Oh for the love of--” Rainbow Dash started.

“Silence is mandatory at all strike-removal ceremonies!” Discord shouted. “Foul dark mark on this woman’s record, come out!!”

“Dork,” Spike coughed into his hand.

“Silence!” Discord commanded. “Arise, Pinkie Diane Pie! You are clean!”

The rest of them gave a half-hearted round of applause.

“Now, the important announcements,” Discord said. “One, employee breaks will now be timed by the second, not the minute. Two, I’m instituting a strict, new ‘all buttons to be done up’ policy on employee shirts.”

Soarin and Zephyr Breeze grumbled.

“Three, talking out of turn is a strike. That includes, and is not limited to, grumbling, sighing, and girlish shrieking!” Discord went on. “And finally, for the unimportant announcements, some woman is coming to perform at the hotel Friday night. I think her stage name is Countess Coloratura.”

They all gasped.

“Countess Coloratura?” Pinkie asked.

“The Countess Coloratura?” Fluttershy added.

“The famous singer?” Rarity inquired.

“The famous pop star?” added Rainbow Dash.

“The famous pop star singer?” Zephyr reiterated.

“Seriously?” Applejack finished.

Discord nodded.

“As you all know, entertainment is crucial to the success of a resort,” he told them. “So, we are putting on a performance extravaganza. A talent contest, if you will. You all have the opportunity to compete with all original talents. That means no juggling, no comedy routines, and no party cannons!”

Discord was eyeballing Pinkie in particular as he said that, and her hair slightly deflated.

“There better be something good for the winner,” Spike put in, “otherwise, what’s the point?”

“The prize is a four-day weekend and a chance to sing with the Countess onstage for the grand finale,” Discord said flatly. “But until then, all employees will maintain V.I.P. distance from the Countess. That means no coming within 20 feet of her unless it involves room service!”

“Don’t worry,” Spike told Discord. “I won’t come within 20 feet of her.”

“Not unless I want to be in the middle of an Applejack-Coloratura sandwich,” he added in thought. “But what are the odds of that happening?”

“Good,” Discord said. “Now, as for the rest of you strike-ridden losers, be more like Spike and Pinkie and get to work!”

They complied.

“Hey, Applejack,”

“Yeah, Spike?” she replied.

“I know you’re free this afternoon, so would you like to have lunch with me?” he asked as he pulled out a shiny silver dollar. “Loser of the coin toss pays. If it’s heads, it’s me. And if it’s tails, it’ll be you. What do you say?”

“Okay,” she said.

Spike tossed the coin and caught it in his hand.

“Come on. Please,” AJ thought. “Heads, heads, heads, heads, heads!”

“It’s heads,” he said. “Looks like you win. Lunch is on me.”

And they exited the locker room arm in arm while Discord (accompanied by Twilight) followed the Dazzlings into the Midnight Lounge.

“Ladies, I need to talk to you,” he said. “I know you’re exempt from the talent contest this week, but there’s nothing in the rules that says you can’t act as somebody’s backup if said someone were to, oh, I don’t know, sing--”

“Discord, we know where you’re going with this,” Adagio began.

“And we would be happy to help you out,” Sonata added.

“But Iron Will asked us first,” Aria finished.

“What?!” Discord exclaimed.

And speaking of Iron Will, the aggressive motivational speaker entered the Lounge with a big grin on his face.

“I didn’t know about the contest until this morning,” he said.

“The Tartarus you didn’t!” Discord shouted. “That’s it! I challenge you to a song throw down -- my performance versus yours!”

Iron Will laughed. “You had me worried for a moment. Then I remembered you can’t sing!”

“I’m going to win!” Discord promised.

“Win?” Twilight asked. “What makes you so sure you’re going to win? I’m in the contest, too!”

“Go ahead. Try to win. I don’t care,” Discord replied.

“That’s exactly what I’m going to do!” she shouted.

“Well, that’s fine,”

“Okay, the winner, if he wins, gets to sing with Countess Coloratura,” Iron Will said, “and the loser has to perform the dreaded Funky Chicken Dance!”

The Dazzlings gasped.

“The Funky Chicken, the witless oom-pah played at almost every wedding?” Adagio asked.

“Well what do you say, Discord?” Iron Will taunted. “Are you chicken?”

“You are going down!” Discord stated.

And the two men shook hands on it.

Fluttershy telling the other girls that she saw Spike and Applejack kissing in the garden the other night was just as much of a bad thing as it was a good thing. Spike and AJ would have told them eventually, but they wanted to be the ones to do it. That’s why they sat in the Sweet Snacks Café that afternoon, talking about their relationship.

“And now that we’re dating, I will try to stop getting heat from other women,” Spike told Applejack.

Pinkie roller-skated over with their food.

“Here you go, lovebirds,” she said. “Double bacon cheeseburger and a double chocolate milkshake for the lady,” she told Applejack, “and for you, sweetie,” she said to Spike, “a triple bacon cheeseburger and a triple chocolate shake with three scoops. I asked the chef to make it a triple because I know how you love everything three times.”

“You are not wrong!” Spike replied. “Thank, Pinkie.”

Applejack gave Spike a curious look as Pinkie winked at him and roller-skated away.

“I can’t turn it off!” he told AJ.

It was a sad truth—Spike could not turn off his swagger button.

At one of the nearby tables, Midnight Radiance asked, “Is it just me or are Spike and Applejack trying to set a new Public Display of Affection record?”

“Trust me, it’s not just you,” Sassy Saddles replied.

Spike chuckled as he said, “Oh, you have got the most adorable little chocolate mustache. No, don’t clean it off. I’ll do that for you.”

He licked AJ’s lips clean and they kissed again.

Twilight, who was sitting at a table on the far side of the Café, gagged.

“Oh, barf,” she said as she heard Applejack giggle into the kiss. “Every day for the past week...”

“Oh. You’re here. Clearly the bullet train to and from Tartarus is back up and running,” Spike retorted.

That’s when he saw to familiar faces enter the Café.

It was Indigo Zap and Diamond Tiara!

And Indigo was carrying a cake box.

“We come bearing gifts,” she said as she opened the lid.

Pinkie Pie gasped. “That’s a quintuple chocolate peanut butter Bundt cake!” she exclaimed. “I didn’t think they really existed!”

“Is this your plan now?” Sunset Shimmer (who was working as hostess in the Café that day) asked. “Kiss up to Spike so you can find some dirt on him and get your place at the table back? Kind of pathetic.”

“No, of course not,” Diamond Tiara replied. “We’re just here to make amends with a peace offering, I swear!”

Spike, Applejack and Sunset all gave them unconvinced looks.

“Okay, fine, you got us,” Indigo said. “We might as well cut the crap. This time, we’ll tell you everything.”

She and Diamond Tiara each pulled up a chair, sat down, and started talking.

“My father is a stern and practical man,” Diamond Tiara said. “When we came to Las Pegasus, he told me to develop some connections. That’s the whole reason I came here. If I can’t do that, then my grandmother will disown him!”

A bit of a discrepancy there between Filthy and Spoiled Rich. Had it been her (the wife and Diamond Tiara’s mother, or the husband and her father) who had undergone the Jekyll-to-Hyde transformation that had scuttled the marriage... and the family unity?

Then Indigo told Spike about Garble’s attempted power play the other night. Such a move indicated that Impossibly Rich’s employees were turning on each other in light of their recent losses.

“Spike, is it true that you’re trying to become the Mayor of Las Pegasus?” Indigo asked at last.

Everyone in the Café within ten feet of their table gasped.

“That’s the rumor that’s going around the city,” Indigo explained. “The people, all kinds, especially the casino employees, are all hoping that it’s true. They think that because you’re still one of them, one of us, even though you won against Diamond Tiara—that you’re choosing to stay a dealer—is because you want to challenge Impossibly Rich to a Gate Battle and not only take her down, but win her Gate cards and empire as your prize... and take yourself even further!”

“I don’t know if it’s true, but if there’s even a chance that it is, there’s only one path for us to take,” Diamond Tiara added. “Indigo, Sugarcoat, Sour Sweet, Sunny Flare, Lemon Zest, and I will help you end my grandmother’s tyranny... and then hope that you will let us join you. I swear we will do whatever it takes to make that happen! And that’s the truth! I promise, no matter what you might believe! That’s all. I can only hope that you will let me and my friends join you...”

“Why are you telling us all of this?” Spike asked.

He knew that Diamond Tiara and Indigo Zap were both miserable living under Impossibly Rich’s thumb. The lifestyles were great, but without friends to share them with, it all meant nothing. Spike helped them to see that.

“That’s it!” he thought. “That’s why they’re doing this! I helped save them from that Tartarus! Now, they believe it’s their turn to help me!”

Spike was right, but Applejack knew another truth: Spike gambled because he wanted to see justice served each time he won.

They didn’t know when it happened, but at some point the whole city started to revolve around Spike.

“I don’t know how my grandmother got her hands on all of those Gates, but I can tell you she didn’t earn them herself,” Diamond Tiara went on. “I’m not even sure what she’s thinking anymore. Nothing she told me really made much sense.”

“Like what?” Sunset inquired.

“She just said that I had to challenge Spike and win. She also said that once she has every Gate, she’ll see a rainbow,” Diamond Tiara recalled. “I don’t care about anything she says anymore... I’m useless to her now that I’ve lost.”

“We thought we’d gain our freedom if we did what she said,” Indigo added. “I’m such an idiot.”

“We were both idiots,” Diamond Tiara corrected her.

They both flushed and tears started to form in their eyes as they spoke.

“We’ve both made mistakes,” Diamond Tiara admitted. “Spike, we’re begging you. Please, let us help you. There’s no other way!”

“Huh?” Sunset and Applejack replied.

“Didn’t you hear her?” Indigo sobbed. “We’re begging!”

The tears began to stream down her cheeks.

“I’ll even throw in my virginity!” Diamond Tiara pleaded.

“Damn!” Spike thought.

He took their hands in his and said, “Of course, you’re more than welcome! I don’t know about becoming Mayor of Las Pegasus, but we shared a special time together, and you put your trust in me... that’s enough to make us friends, right?”

Indigo and Diamond Tiara gasped and blushed harder.

“Thank you,” Indigo said.

“Has he always had such a strong sense of justice?” Diamond Tiara thought. “I love it!”

At her table across the room, Twilight had a piece of chicken in her mouth, and when she drew in to take a breath, she pulled it down her throat.

She gagged again. Then she began to claw her neck.

“Oh, my Faust, she’s choking!” Diamond Tiara cried.

“Do you know the Heimlich Maneuver?” Indigo asked Spike.

“Yes...” he sighed indifferently.

Just as Twilight’s face started turning the same shade of purple as her dealer’s uniform, Spike positioned his fists against the bony arch of her midsection where her ribs came together. After three hard jabbing attempts, Twilight coughed up the chicken and it popped out of her mouth like the cork from a Champagne bottle. It flew nearly four feet, then she passed out, face down, in her salad.

“I’m not doing it,” Spike thought. “And I’ll be damned if I do!”

But, sure enough, Sunset asked him, “Do you know mouth-to-mouth?”

“This is not my day,” Spike thought.

Spike pulled Twilight’s head back, out of the lettuce. Her mouth hung open, arms at her sides. He stared down at her for a moment. Then he pressed his mouth against hers.

It wasn’t as bad as Spike feared; it was worse. Her lips were bitter with the taste of chicken, and there was a stink of something else in her mouth—Spike recognized it as the hard boiled eggs she’d had for breakfast. He got a good seal though, pinched her nostrils shut, and breathed down her throat. He did that six times before she started breathing on her own again. Tartarus must have been full that day, was all Spike could figure.

Spike wasn’t aware that he and Twilight were hemmed in by a growing circle of people, and Spike certainly wasn’t aware that he was being photographed no less than a dozen times while his mouth was still on Twilight’s, including a shot by Photo Finish that would wind up on the front page of the Las Pegasus Journal a few days later. As soon as the paramedics arrived and made sure Twilight would be okay, Spike went to into the nearest washroom and rinsed his mouth again and again. It was a long time before he got rid of the taste of those damn eggs.

The gang spent the next few days getting ready for the talent contest, and on the morning of said contest, Spike sat in the Midnight Lounge, telling his mother and the Dazzlings about how he’d saved Twilight from choking to death.

“So I restored Twilight’s breathing, and... she was fine,” he concluded.

Nobody said anything for five whole seconds.

Then Adagio broke the silence with, “What were you thinking?”

“Heimlich and mouth-to-mouth?” Aria added. “You had two cracks at not helping!”

Then Sunburst and Stellar Flare came in.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Stellar said, “but I just came by to tell you that we are going to be two of the ‘celebrity’ judges for the talent contest tonight.”

“Well, I’d say your second favorite guy is practically a shoo-in,” Sonata said to her.

“Spike? Why do you say that?” Stellar asked. “What happened?”

“He saved Twilight’s life,” Aria replied.

“Why?” Sunburst asked.

“I don’t know,” Spike answered. “The upshot, though, is that Diamond Tiara thought I was quite heroic. I’m taking her out to dinner tomorrow night.”

Adagio spat back into the fruity drink she had been sipping from.

“You mean Filthy Rich’s daughter?” she coughed.

“The very same,” Spike smiled.

“And Applejack’s okay with that, even though you two are going steady?” Sonata asked.

Sonata asked because after his little romp with them during initiation, she and her sisters imagined that Spike had a vigorous love life. And after Fluttershy told them that he and Applejack had started dating, they confronted Applejack about it... and told AJ that she had their support.

Adagio knew that if Spike were her man, she wouldn’t want some footloose single gals swaying around in tight pants, putting moves on him. So she told AJ that she and her sisters would happily back off.

Spike nodded. “Saving Twilight’s life may have been neither here nor there, but rubbing salt into her open wounds is very satisfying.”

The Dazzlings, Sunburst and Stellar Flare smiled and nodded in agreement.

“Well, I am proud of you,” Celestia told her son. “You were in the right place at the right time and you knew exactly what to do.”

Just then, Spike got a text message... from Human Resources.

“Huh. Miss Harshwhinny wants to see me,” he said.

Spike went directly to the H.R. office, gave a courtesy knock, went in and stood before Miss Harshwhinny, who was wearing a bad-news face.

“A sexual harassment complaint!?” Spike shouted. “Against me?!”

Spike quickly ran through the last few days in his mind, trying to think of anything he had done that would account for this, but nothing crossed his mind.

“That is absurd! Who was it?” he demanded.

“Hello, Miss Harshwhinny, sorry I’m late,” said a voice from behind him.

“You!” Spike growled.

“Hello, Mr. Drake,” Twilight acknowledged him as she walked in and sat down. “Harshwhinny, would you mind leaving the door open?” she asked. “I don’t feel safe around the predator. And before we begin, may I say that, according to Paragraph 9, Subsection 4 of the company handbook, as long as there is an open harassment complaint against an employee, they are forbidden from interoffice relations,” she added.

“That is correct,” Miss Harshwhinny said.

Spike tried to not look at Harshwhinny’s frown as she hunted down the sexual harassment forms. It didn’t matter, because Spike knew he had done nothing wrong.

“Okay, let’s get started,” Miss Harshwhinny said. “Miss Sparkle claims you put your lips on hers for no less than 20 seconds.”

“What, no one’s heard of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation?” Spike retorted.

“I’m sorry, but I’m legally required to go through this process,” she told him. “She also claims that you came up behind her, put your arms around her, and made several thrusts.”

“He was an animal,” Twilight said.

“You disgust me,” Spike stated.

“Obviously, there’s no basis for complaint here,” Miss Harshwhinny stated. “But clearly, the two of you have a very dysfunctional relationship.”

“That’s putting it mildly,” Spike thought.

“In fact, I am going to recommend to the Flimflam Brothers that Miss Sparkle be fired and, if necessary, forcefully removed from these premises,” Miss Harshwhinny concluded.

Twilight’s eyes widened with shock. Then Spike asked, “Could you put that in writing?”

“If you want, I’ll give you a few minutes to discuss,” Harshwhinny said.

“I have no desire to ‘discuss’ anything with her,” Spike answered. “As far as I am concerned, the solution is as you have said: either she goes... or I will go. And speaking of going,” he added, “I hate to cut this short, but if I don’t leave now, I’ll be late for the talent contest.”

“You’re free to go, Mister Drake,” Miss Harshwhinny said. “And I apologize for calling you in the first place.”

She handed him her business card (which had all of her contact information, including her private cell number), and she gave him wink, which went completely unnoticed by Twilight. Spike couldn’t help but smirk; even the woman in charge of H. R. was on his side... and wanted to get into his pants.

Spike nodded to Miss Harshwhinny. And with that, he started for the door. He was almost there when he heard Twilight speak in a whispery voice that was very similar to her ill-tempered muttering. She still refused to look at him. She even turned her body away from him. Spike didn’t know what Twilight was saying, and he never would know what she said, mostly because he didn’t care. Her voice kept fading out midsentence every time she opened her mouth.

“Sorry, I can’t hear you over the sound of you stroking your ego,” he said. “And if you were a dude, by ‘ego’, I would have also meant, ‘your balls.’ You didn’t even thank me for saving your life. The girls were right, every single one of them. I should have just let you die!”

Spike stormed out of Harshwhinny’s office, slamming the door behind him. His temper cooled when he returned to his suite to find his tuxedo hanging on his bathroom door. It had been dry-cleaned, which was odd because Spike didn’t recall ever having it sent to the cleaners.

“They really know how to treat the high rollers around here,” he thought with a smile. “Well, I guess that’s Las Pegasus. It never stops giving.”

“What’s this?” he asked aloud.

There was something tucked into the chest pocket of the coat. It was a small note with his name on it... and a single ticket to see Countess Coloratura in concert later that year.

“Spike, please wear this tonight. - Rara”

“‘Rara’?” he thought out loud. “Who’s Rara?”

Anytime a celebrity was in the house, it always brought publicity... and Countess Coloratura was no exception. She had been booked in Las Pegasus by her manager, Svengallop, and she more or less went along with what he said. She thought Svengallop was a genius, and he was, in his own right. Svengallop was a very smart businessman, but he knew he needed to expand Coloratura’s appeal as much as possible. He didn’t trust all those teenagers, not even the members of her fan club, to keep coming to see her. The only way he believed Coloratura could make a career was for her to get her established audience to continue to come and see her. Her appeal was obviously her raw sexuality, her beauty, and her ability to not only sing, but to dance as well.

But Las Pegasus was a very different crowd; mostly middle-aged men in suits and tuxedos, and women wearing gorgeous gowns. She was used to young people standing up, she wasn’t used to a crowd sitting at tables, having dinner and drinks. She went from kids screaming to an audience that sat there with their arms folded, so she was very much a fish out of water.

Of course, there will still those crazy fans that would pay anything for a little memento. And Svengallop was dealing with one at that moment.

“Was that Countess Coloratura?” he asked. “I’ll give you ten bucks for the pen she used! Twenty bucks! Fifty bucks!!”

“Sold,” Svengallop said.

After he’d finally managed to get away from them, Svengallop made his way to the Green Room backstage, which had a table fully stocked with twenty glass bottles of water (with straws) imported from Rainbow Falls, floral arrangements from the Royal Gardens in Canterlot, chocolate éclairs made by Gustave le Grand, the hotel’s chef; freshly-picked cherries from Cherry Jubilee’s farm separated red from yellow, and top-of-the-line Appleloosan oats.

Svengallop locked the door behind him and drowned his hands in sanitizer before slamming his fists down on the table.

“I am sick of her smiling for those brats!” he shouted. “It can’t just be concerts. It’s meeting each fan one-on-one, relating to them on a personal level, that’s what makes them die-hard fans! It’s fine,” he said, trying to calm himself. “It’s a small price to pay if it helps me achieve my goal. This is nothing more than a step on the road. What would I be if I couldn’t get through this?”

Suddenly, Svengallop heard a knock at the door.

“I’m coming!” he said.

Svengallop unlocked the door and came face to face with Applejack and Spike. He stepped out to meet them, pulling the door closed behind him as he did.

“I hope we’re not interrupting anything,” Applejack said professionally. “I’m the head of security and we’re just checking to make sure everything was all right. Would it be all right if my associate, Mister Drake, accompanied me in to Countess Coloratura’s dressing room?”

“I don’t see why not,” Svengallop replied.

“Thank you,” Spike said.

Svengallop led them to Coloratura’s dressing room, and as Spike reached for the door knob, Svengallop put himself between Spike and the door.

“Wait! Miss Smith will have to pat you down first,” he said. “I normally wouldn’t ask, but people have tried to set up hidden cameras and bugs in the Countess’s dressing room in the past.”

“Of course,” Spike replied.

He held his arms out and away from his body as Applejack slowly ran her hands up, down, and all around him... taking her time as she did.

Once Svengallop was completely satisfied, he opened the dressing room door for them and they saw the Countess applying her makeup. She looked exactly like she did in the music video, and was totally unconscious of the effect her body was having on Spike. No matter how careful she might be about bowing too low onstage, wearing the décolleté gowns, very aware of the hungry stares of the ringsiders and not liking them; she hadn’t the least idea that Spike’s eyes were hungrier than any of the fifteen-year-old fanboys who were at her concerts. Spike was practiced in hiding his hunger, keeping from saying or doing anything that might let her know and frighten her.

“It’s been a long time, Rara,” Applejack said to her.

“‘Rara’?” Spike echoed.

He remembered the name that was signed to the note inside his tux (which he was currently wearing). Now he knew who paid his dry cleaning bill and sent the ticket.

Coloratura gave a yelp of genuine consternation. “AJ?”

“I’m amazed you remember me,” Applejack replied.

“I remember the names and faces of every one of my fans and my best friend,” Coloratura smiled. “I could never forget you!”

“Wait, you two know each other?” Spike asked.

“We were childhood friends at summer camp,” Coloratura explained. “AJ here was the one who gave me the nickname ‘Rara’. And who are you?”

“I’m Spike Drake. I’ll be the one singing with you after the show,”

“Whoa, let’s not jump the gun on that one!” Applejack said.

“Well, I admire your confidence,” Coloratura told him.

Her smile was warmer than her professionalism called for; it was something a lot more personal, even wistful. Suddenly, Sunset Shimmer appeared in the doorway and knocked on the frame.

“Sound check, Miss Coloratura,” she said.

The Countess nodded as she stepped out of her dressing room and the door swung behind her, but didn’t close all the way.

“It must be stressful managing a pop idol,” Spike said to Svengallop. “How do you do it?”

“I don’t know,” Svengallop replied. “But the why, that’s simple: for the smiles of her fans.”

“Don’t lie to me,” Applejack growled. “The truth is you hate Rara’s fans, especially the kids, don’t you?”

“What are you talking about?” Svengallop replied. “That’s ridiculous!”

“Is it?” Spike asked. “Then what, pray tell, is this?”

He reached into his tuxedo jacket and pulled out a piece of paper that had been torn up... and pieced back together with tape.

“Mind if I read a little?” Spike asked. “‘To my beloved Countess Coloratura, thank you so much for your fun concerts! You are always so incredible and you do a great job! You’ve been incredibly popular lately, and I am very proud to be the head of your fan club. But as a long-time fan, I’m actually a little sad. I’ve been so busy studying, but when I see how hard you’re working...’”

“Enough!” Svengallop stated. “I admit it; I’ve been using the Countess to intimidate others to get what I want. So what? I deserve everything I get!”

“But even though you hate her fans, you continue to manage her, which means you must have some other kind of ulterior motive... and that you’re determined to see it through,” Spike said. “Of course, I don’t know what that is, so I can hardly hold it against you, can I?”

Svengallop looked like he was ready to fight Spike, tell him to keep away from the Countess, even label her his property. But Svengallop kept his composure because he never knew who could be listening.

“I want to be an agent to a famous Applewood star,” he stated. “That’s why I became a manager. It’s because of me that Countess Coloratura rose to the top of the charts faster than any other singer in Equestria’s history! But it was still taking too long. Even if everything kept going well, there was no guarantee she would make it to the very top. If I wanted to manage a major player in Applewood, then I’d need a different approach. The solution was Las Pegasus... and managing a famous pop idol! With the power of Las Pegasus behind her, Coloratura could easily become the most popular icon ever! And then, at the peak of her popularity, surprise everyone by switching to becoming an actress! With that kind of fame behind her, it would be easy for her to star in an Applewood movie!”

“That’s a truly splendid plan,” Spike admitted. “And that’s why you do this, even though you hate Coloratura interacting with her fans?”

“That’s right,” Svengallop confessed. “They’re pathetic, but I don’t care. All that means is that they’re spending their money on her instead of themselves. But still... why do they have to scream like lunatics at the shows? Can’t they just sit quietly and listen? It’s absolutely sickening!”

“Dedicating your every breath to a job that demanding... It sounds like you’ve sold your soul,” Spike commented. He turned his head to look at the door and asked, “Don’t you agree?”

The door opened... and Svengallop’s jaw dropped as Sunset and Countess Coloratura walked in.

“So that’s why you’ve been managing me?” Coloratura asked him.

“I honestly didn’t think the torn up fan letter would be enough proof,” Spike said as he put it back in the envelope, “so Applejack here took the liberty of recording this scandalous conversation.”

AJ reached into her jacket, pulled out a tiny tape recorder, and hit “Play”.

“...why do they have to scream like lunatics at the shows? Can’t they just sit quietly and listen? It’s absolutely sickening!”

Svengallop gave Coloratura a frantic look. His very reputation was on the line because Spike now had a voice recording to use as a bargaining chip.

“Don’t worry. I wouldn’t do anything as crude as make copies,” Spike told him. “But as a concerned citizen, I feel rather compelled to let this go public. If it does, your life as a talent agent will be over. So, I’ll be betting this against fifty billion dollars... and Coloratura’s freedom. If I lose, I’ll give you this recording but I guarantee the Countess here won’t want you as her manager anymore. But should I win and end up singing with Coloratura for the finale, you give me the money and your reputation goes down in flames. As long as I get to see you lose something, that’s more than enough for me.”

“If that’s how you want to play, fine then!” Svengallop thought. “You are going to regret crossing me!!”

“I understand how you must be feeling,” Spike added. “Anger, rage, despair... You’re ready to yell right now. I can’t help but sympathize... that being said, wait until after the show is over, and then let it all out, because I can tell you right now, the odds of me winning are one hundred percent.”

Svengallop was enraged.

“Normally, I wouldn’t have the slightest hope in Tartarus to win this type of contest,” Spike went on. “But that’s not how this is going to go down. You chose to make this exciting; I can respect that. It’s no wonder you’re managing Equestria’s top pop icon. Thanks to you, I have an absolute guarantee of winning this ‘game’. As long as I continue to bring down pieces of scum like you, I will always be the winner.”

Spike turned to leave with Applejack close behind.

“I really am looking forward to singing with you, Rara,” he said.

And Coloratura threw Svengallop out of her dressing room.

A few minutes later, Spike stood in his own dressing room with Applejack and Sunset when there was a knock at his own door.

“You better stop saving people or you’ll have to make a career out of it,” said a familiar voice.

Spike turned to see a man in a black suit and tie standing in the doorway... and he was carrying a box in his arms, wrapped in a flaring, slightly lopsided crimson bow like a present.

“Shining Armor, what are you doing here?” Spike asked.

“Getting a call, at my place of work, that my sister filed a sexual harassment complaint against the same guy that saved her from choking to death scared me. So I thought I should check and see if the guy in question was okay,” he explained.

“And not see your sister?” Spike replied.

“I don’t really want to see her,” Shining confessed. “There’s no point.”

“Makes me wonder why she still calls you her ‘Big Brother Best Friend Forever’,” Spike commented. “Well, if it was her intention to make sure that you would come, it worked.”

“It’s the sort of thing she usually pulls when she wants to see me,”

Shining never said Twilight’s name, he just kept saying “she” and “her”. And whenever he said those, there was a certain amount of sadness, an ache that would normally have made Spike cringe.

Sunset and Applejack left the two men alone to talk.

“Why did you come if you knew it was a stunt?” Spike asked gently.

“I have something for you,” Shining said, trying to smile.

Spike warily looked at the box in Shining Armor’s hands, as though he expected it to tick. His emerald eyes flashed up to meet Shining’s, then dropped to the package again.

Spike hesitated before he tugged on the end of the ribbon with his fingers. Shining Armor had spent time getting that bow as nearly right as he could; he had labored to make this package pretty (or he had paid someone else to do so, Spike didn’t know which), so Spike didn’t just rip it apart. He took the time to appreciate it... especially since it was from a guy he hardly even knew. All Spike’s life, people had ripped apart things in thoughtlessness, including (and especially) little things that meant life itself to Spike.

Spike blinked as he opened the lid and held up the black jacket of a marching band uniform, with scarlet cuffs, oversized gold buttons and matching epaulettes on the shoulders.

“It’s my old uniform from when I was in a rock band,” Shining chuckled. It was the most honest, carefree laugh Spike would remember coming from Shining Armor. “Consider it a symbol of my appreciation... and loyalty. Try it on.”

Spike did as Shining walked over to the nearby table and poured them both a Scotch. Spike took it and sipped slowly.

“Five hundred boys and girls attend Celestia’s School for the Gifted and Twilight had to pick the one to make a double of,” Shining said. “Why did she have to meet Moon Dancer?”

“It happens a lot,” Spike muttered. “An upper class kid makes a buddy of a lower class kid and the lower class kid goes haywire trying to keep up.”

“That wasn’t good enough for Twilight, just keeping up: she had to pass Moon Dancer in everything—clothes, cars, gambling and, of course, men. Now, it seems that Moon Dancer’s been replaced by you,” Shining hesitated and added dully, “I really am sorry for the trouble Twilight’s caused you. I would like to straighten her out.”

The bitterness in his voice was no more than a trace.

“I hate to break it to you, Captain, but she’s the only one who can do that,” Spike replied. “What happened to her, Shining? I know she ran into a little bad luck when I arrived, but I can’t imagine she was all bad before she came out here.”

“She was stuck in the same, old, familiar past and I didn’t want to be stuck there with her,” Shining said. “She didn’t take it very well when I got a job with the Secret Service.”

As Spike looked at Shining Armor, he agreed that the Captain had done all right for himself. He had spent ten years in the Equestrian Army, six months with the Canterlot Police Department’s vice unit where he made the rank of Sergeant, then six more months in the SWAT team where he was promoted to Lieutenant (the youngest to lead it in 20 years). Then he left it all, including a beautiful million dollar three bedroom condo, to do freelance work for the Equestria Bureau of Investigation. Thank Faust for a trust fund and appreciation.

After that, he accepted a position with the Equestria Secret Service and a shiny new gold Captain’s shield to go with it. Good career, great job, new two million dollar home—a former high class safe house and sting operation base that, with the budget cuts and change in operational mandates, they were forced to liquidate. He was able to get the house for half a million. Shining really hated selling the condo, but he really couldn’t pass up the deal. He even had enough to left over to buy a Maserati convertible.

“A little later, Twilight tried to steal Queen Novo’s priceless pearl and Mom and Dad disowned her,” Shining added in a low voice.

The Captain masked the fleeting look of pain and disappointment with his hand holding his drink as he took another swig.

“How did she feel about that?” Spike inquired.

“She’s worse than she ever was. She’s so gone on high living that it might as well be heroin. She has to have more and more of it all the time. She’s heading for a big crash, one that’ll either cure her or kill her,” Shining said grimly. “You’re right. I’ve known her long enough that I should know by now that nothing I say, can say, or do is going to make a difference. She’ll do what she’s got her mind set on. I just have to sit back and wait.”

Spike nodded.

“And in spite of all that, you still love her,” he said.

“She wants to come back, but not enough to give me or my parents what we want: a life that doesn’t depend on the color of a card or the length of a horse’s nose. I used to think that a little bad luck might have made her realize what things can mean when you earn them. She didn’t have a home, Spike, she had a floating blackjack felt. That’s no life, that’s a way of running away from it. Her luck is going to run out one of these days. And when it does, if she still wants to come home, I’ll be around,”

A part of Spike wanted to say, “Twilight will never come around. Not in this lifetime.” But Shining knew his own sister better than Spike ever would, so he decided to keep his mouth shut.

But deep inside himself, Spike cursed the woman who had done this to Shining Armor, this Twilight Sparkle who fastened people to her with her strange power of demanding loyalty and love despite the fact that nobody who gave her this loyalty and love earned a second’s consideration when Twilight had to choose between them and something she wanted. It was more than just plain selfishness with Sparkle: it was a compulsive need to grasp and devour the here and now, and she didn’t care who she had to hurt to get it.

“Well, I better get going,” Shining said. “I have a job to get back to. Knock ‘em dead out there. And you can keep the uniform.” He gave another brief laugh. “I think it looks better on you than it ever did on me.”

Once Shining Armor was gone, Svengallop barged his way into Twilight Sparkle’s dressing room and “offered” her his help in winning against Spike. Twilight tried to brush him off, but Svengallop grabbed her by the throat and threw her against the wall.

“You don’t have a hope in Tartarus of beating him without my help!” he stated. “If a pathetic amateur like you really wants to defeat that boy, then you are going to help me in squeezing every last drop of life out of him! Otherwise, I will personally see that you go back to your life as a porn star, sleeping with executives just to stay off the streets and begging for handouts like a common whore!”

Twilight’s eyes went wide as she tried to gasp.

“Oh, I know all about you, Twilight Sparkle,” Svengallop said darkly. “You think that changing your appearance and dying your hair hid the stupidity of your past, but you’re wrong! You are going to help me, or it won’t just be this contest you’ll lose!”

Twilight slowly nodded as he let go of her neck.

“You’re going to regret trying to shatter my dreams, Spike Drake!” Svengallop thought.

Later that night, many guests and several staff members gathered in the Midnight Lounge for the show that was about to begin. No less than 100 people were in the audience! And Diamond Tiara, Indigo Zap and Rainbow Dash sat right in the front row.

“Do we seriously have to stay until the end of this thing?” Dash asked.

“Yeah, we do!” Diamond Tiara replied.

“But feel free to leave, because we don’t need you here anyway,” Indigo added. “The only reason Diamond Tiara got enough tickets for all of us was because Spike insisted on it.”

“I had to work super hard to get them from a fan club member!” Diamond Tiara snapped. “Tickets don’t grow on trees, you know!”

“All right, all right, I heard you the first time,” Dash groaned.

The house lights dimmed as Cheese Sandwich, the master of ceremonies for the evening, appeared onstage and spoke into a microphone.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the fabulous Flimflam Hotel is proud to present Equestria’s greatest singer, the one, the only, Countess Coloratura!”

The curtain parted a bit to reveal the Countess dressed in a beautiful silver gown with a slit up the right leg all the way to her thigh. She sang “Lovin’ You” followed by “My Guy”, and the crowd applauded when she was done.

“Thank you. You’re a magical group of people,” she told them. “Welcome to the Flimflam Resort’s talent show!”

They cheered again as Stellar Flare, Sunburst and Cheese Sandwich took their places at the judges’ table off to the side of the stage.

“Here’s how the contest will work,” Coloratura explained. “As well as our judges’ votes, they have had applause evaluator apps installed on their smart phones so that they can measure the strength of your clapping after each performance based on a total score out of one hundred.”

“That’s fairer than I thought it would be,” Rainbow Dash thought.

“The funds secured for this show amounts to 50 billion dollars, and it’s winner take all!” Coloratura went on. “The winner will not only get the money, but also the right to sing with me for the grand finale!”

“YEAH!!!!” the crowd roared.

“Which contestant will emerge victorious?” Rara asked. “There’s only one way to find out: let the competition begin!”

Sunset Shimmer kicked things off by performing some original moves on a skateboard. Then Pinkie did a mime routine with gags from being trapped in an imaginary box to picking flowers and climbing a mountain; and Fluttershy did an interpretive dance in a cute bumblebee costume.

Iron Will went on after Fluttershy. He was dressed in a bright yellow Zoot suit with a feather in his wide-brimmed fedora and he started singing “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?” while the Dazzlings provided backup vocals. He even pulled a trumpet out of his suit’s coat and played it between verses.

Throughout his performance, Iron Will couldn’t help but flex his muscles and strike a few poses, which made his act even better. Unfortunately, his horn blowing was so strong that it cracked the glasses of several people in the audience... as well as Sunburst’s, which did not do him any good. When Iron Will was done, he blew on the end of his horn like it was the smoking barrel of a recently fired gun and the judges’ evaluator apps measured 38 out of 100 points.

“Next up is, Discord!” Cheese Sandwich announced. “Come on down!”

A western theme played and the crowd heard the sound of rattlesnakes’ tails as the Lounge went dark again and Discord appeared onstage, front and center, wearing a brown cowboy hat and matching chaps. Then, when he reached into his long coat and pulled out a long shape, everyone thought he had pulled a rifle.

They were wrong when the lights came up and the sequins on Discord’s red shirt reflected their light. He had pulled out a guitar and started playing... and yodeling! The audience did a double take when the Dazzlings started singing the backup, and they sounded like a couple of guys that had just come off a cattle drive. The crowd felt hypnotized as Discord sang, and when the time came for him to make his big finish, he did it a la the famous water bucket scene from Flashdance... which won him a total of 63 points.

Coloratura returned to the stage after a wardrobe change. Instead of her silver gown or one of her leather ensembles, she was now wearing a translucent black gown that really showed off her legs, and her dark hair was no longer concealed under her white wig.

“Now, here’s a real treat,” she said into her microphone. “A lady who comes to us directly from a sensational run around the blackjack tables, your very clever and charming dealer—let’s make her welcome—the lovely Twilight Sparkle!”

“Spike Drake, you are going down!!!” Svengallop thought.

Spike knew that Twilight couldn’t dance (at least not well), and she didn’t play any kind of instrument; she had virtually no musical talent whatsoever, so he wasn’t too worried when he stood off in the wings with Svengallop and watched her walk onto the stage. Her hair was wild, and her smoky eye shadow greatly contrasted her already pale face. She wore hoop earrings, a form-fitting leather jacket, tight black pants, and steel-toed boots. But when she stepped up to the microphone and the sound of an electric guitar played over the loudspeakers, she began to sing and Spike’s confidence was a little shaken.

Her song of choice had been “I Hate Myself for Loving You”, one of Spike’s personal favorites, and she sang it surprisingly well. The audience was roaring after the first verse and after the second verse, she cast off her jacket and threw it out to the crowd, revealing her steel gray tank top underneath, but she kept on singing. When the song ended, the judges’ applause evaluation apps totaled...

“Eighty-five points,” Cheese Sandwich said. “That’s quite a high score.”

Spike kept his cool as he whispered to Svengallop.

“Isn’t the suspense killing you?” he taunted him. “In just one more minute, my performance will determine which one of our lives will end.”

Coloratura stepped onto the stage again.

“Looks like you’re the winner so far,” she told Twilight. “And now, here is someone I am honored to introduce to you. Maybe you’ve met him already? He’s made quite a name for himself since he started working here last month. He’s Equestria’s foremost dancer, but he may be Las Pegasus’s next mayor! Help me welcome from amongst yourselves, the Duke of Dance, the Lucky Prince himself, the one... the only—Spike Drake!”

Sunset, Pinkie and Fluttershy stood with Coloratura in one wing of the stage while Svengallop and Twilight stood in the opposite wing, all their eyes on Spike. The girls and women all flushed and their jaws dropped as Spike appeared onstage. His hair green hair was done up so that it looked like something out of an anime and his leather ensemble flattered him greatly. He looked so good in his rock star uniform. All except Twilight, who felt betrayed that her own brother gave Spike his old jacket, which fit Spike like a glove.

“That outfit is the hottest thing I have ever seen!” Fluttershy gushed. “It’s amazing!”

The spotlights rose as Spike held his electric guitar and softly breathed into his headband microphone (which wrapped around the back of his head and hooked over his ears). On stage with him, Thorax and Ocellus each held guitars while Cornicle stood at a grand piano, and Pharynx was on drums, which bore their band’s name: “Spike and the Hive Four!”

Spike started singing “You Give Love a Bad Name” as the spotlights changed positions, and fireballs (via pyrotechnics) burst from the stage floor as he leapt off the platform where Pharynx’s drum set was, and he (Spike), Thorax and Ocellus started playing and singing together.

Even before they finished the first chorus, Spike had every woman in the audience eating out of his hand... especially the ones in the first two rows. He went between them and his band mates so that almost everyone within his reach got a chance to sing along with him, if for just a few brief moments; even Pharynx, who tossed his drumsticks high into the air, and caught them when they came back down again.

Spike finished his song and the crowd and the other performers broke into thunderous applause. Spike had to grin: most of them had heard him sing and play a dozen times and they still couldn’t help but give him a hand when he finished a number, he was so good.

“Ninety-eight points!” Coloratura shouted. “There is no doubt about it! The winner of the Flimflam Resort’s talent contest is Spike Drake!”

Twilight had taken the lead by singing about a guy that she was hung up on and Spike topped her by singing about a girl who was really bad for him... and once again, Spike carved his way to victory. What’s more, Sour Sweet, Sunny Flare, Sugarcoat and Lemon Zest all sat in the back of the Lounge, and they all bore witness to Twilight’s newest defeat.

Svengallop joined Spike and Coloratura onstage.

“That was so much fun,” Spike said to him. “Now then... time to pay up!” he added ominously. “Hand over my winnings!”

Svengallop clenched and unclenched his fists at his sides before he handed a big silver briefcase over to Spike.

“The fifty billion is inside,” he said. “There’s more where it came from, if you want it... and play the recording,” he added. “I don’t care anymore. My life has no meaning whatsoever. And without that, I can never win against you. I’m done.”

The audience started wondering what was happening onstage. Coloratura’s and Spike’s microphones were off and none of them could make out what Spike and Svengallop were saying.

Spike pulled out the tape recorder, held it close to his mic, and let it play.

“...why do they have to scream like lunatics at the shows? Can’t they just sit quietly and listen? It’s absolutely sickening!”

The Midnight Lounge was so quiet Spike swore he heard a pin drop.

“That’s the real me you just heard,” Svengallop confessed. “That’s what I really think about you. That is who I really am. But I want to thank you all for cheering Countess Coloratura on... until now.”

That did it. It was all over for Svengallop. His dream, his goals, his aspirations, his lifestyle, everything he had built as Coloratura’s manager... it all went up in smoke. No one said or did anything for ten whole seconds.

Then Pinkie Pie stepped out from the wing and shouted, “We still love you, Coloratura!”

Spike, the Countess, her former manager, and everyone else stared at her in shocking disbelief.

“We don’t care if that’s how your manager feels about us!” she went on. “We’ll always love you! We didn’t start listening to your music to make you love us back! We just love you for you, Coloratura!”

Then Indigo Zap stood up and cried, “I’ll keep rooting for you!”

“So will I!” Diamond Tiara added.

“Me too!” Rainbow Dash joined in.

“Don’t give up, Coloratura!” the audience cheered. “You’re the best!” Then they started chanting, “Encore now! Encore now! Encore now! Encore now!”

Coloratura wiped away tears as she said, “Thank you! Thank you, everybody! When I came to Las Pegasus, I had forgotten who I really was... but now I know! I know who I really am! And as long as you keep cheering me on, I will strive to become a better role model!”

Caramel and Lucky Clover escorted Svengallop off the premises as Spike ducked into his dressing room to change back into his tuxedo, and when he returned to the stage, Coloratura led him by the hand as she walked over to the grand piano. He sat beside her on the piano bench, squared his shoulders and put his fingers to the keys as she started to sing.

“I’m here to show you who I am... Throw off the veil, it’s finally time! There’s more to me than glitz and glam, oh-whoa... And now I feel my stars align... For I had believed what I was sold, I did all the things that I was told...”

The men in the audience started pulling out their cigarette lighters, lit them, and started swaying them back and forth as they held them over their heads. The women and children did the same, but with their cell phones and glow sticks.

“But all that has changed, and now I’m bold, ‘cause I know... That I am only human... I make mistakes from time to time... But now I know the real me... And put my heart out on the line. And let the magic in my heart stay true, whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa... And let the magic in my heart stay true, whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa... Just like the magic inside of you...”

Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo all smiled as one of the men seated in the row behind Rainbow Dash leaned forward and whispered into her ear.

“We’re very lucky,” he said. “I’ve been on every one of the Countess’s tours for the last five years and I’ve never seen her do anything like this.”

“And now I see those colors right before my eyes... I hear my voice so clearly, and I know that it is right! They thought I was weak, but I am strong! They sold me the world, but they were wrong! And now that I’m back, I still belong, ‘cause I know that I am only human! I make mistakes from time to time, but now I know the real me, and put my heart out on the line!”

“Now you,” Coloratura told Spike.

“And let the magic in my heart stay true, whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa! And let the magic in my heart stay true, whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa! Just like the magic inside of you...”

Spike caught a glance of Applejack sitting with her sister in the audience and she cried happily when he and Coloratura sang the final bar together.

“Just like the magic inside of you...”

There wasn’t a single dry eye in the house and the audience cheered so hard and so loud it felt like the roof was being lifted right off the building. Spike and Coloratura stood together, side by side, and took their bows.

“Good night, Las Pegasus!” they proclaimed.

An hour later, Spike was summoned to the Flimflam Brothers’ office.

“Sit down, Spike,” Flim said. “Can we get you anything; a drink, a cigar?”

“No, sirs, thank you,”

“We’ll be perfectly blunt with you, Spike,” Flam went on. “We wanted to thank you in private. That was amazing what you did. You gave us no less than twenty million dollars’ worth of good publicity this afternoon, and infinitely more this evening with your performance, as well as exposing Svengallop... and we still can’t believe that Miss Sparkle filed that complaint against you.”

“We don’t want you to leave, and as much as we would love to fire Twilight, we can’t, but only because she’s one of the few moneymakers left in this place,” Flim said, his voice full of regret. “Although, what we can do is give you these...”

He reached into his desk drawer and drew out the Keys to the Kingdom: three master keys on a ring that opened everything in the resort. Full access.

“... and owe you a favor,” he added. “If you need anything, ask. We’ll grant it if it’s in our power. Will that do?”

Spike smiled and said, “Absolutely.”

“And would you be willing to make a public appearance Saturday afternoon?” asked Flam.

“We’ll put up a platform in the center of the lobby, in front of the statue of us, and we’d invite the press,” Flim said. “It would be an excellent thing for us... entirely your call, of course.”

“Happy to,” Spike replied.

The Brothers each offered him a hand (not the same one), he shook both of them, and they thanked him again. They didn’t think Twilight Sparkle would be causing anymore problems anytime soon, and if she did, she would not be coming back for a long time—if at all.

When Spike stepped out of the Brothers’ office, the entire team—Applejack, Sunset Shimmer, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Starlight Glimmer, Sunburst, Trixie, Moon Dancer, Adagio, Aria, Sonata, Soarin, and Zephyr Breeze—was there. Even Discord had come. Applejack beamed as she stepped forward and gave Spike a big kiss on the mouth... with tongue.

“My hero,” she said.

“Savior of ungrateful women, not to mention savior of getting his own ass sued off and possibly having to leave us,” Discord added.

Everyone cheered.

“Okay,” Discord said when it died down. “We can all agree that he’s a knight in shining armor. He’s also not the first guy to save a woman from popping off on a restaurant floor. Now, could we maybe all go to bed? We still have jobs to do in the morning!”

Spike was good with that. Being famous was fun, but the don’t-get-a-big-head message was not lost on him.

“I’ve never heard you sing like that before,” Applejack said as they rode the elevator down to his suite.

“Don’t worry, AJ,” Spike reassured her. “You have nothing to fear from Countess Coloratura. She’s... unattainable.”

“Spike, you didn’t see the way she was staring at you?” Pinkie asked.

“Bite your tongue, Pinkie Pie!” Rarity cut her off.

“I think I’m going to take a shower,” Spike told them. “And then go to bed.”

He and Applejack got off on his floor and they bid their friends good night. Once they were inside his room, Spike dropped his polite façade.

“Spike, are you okay?” Applejack asked.

“The one who set Svengallop up still hasn’t been identified,” Spike said as he took the torn up fan letter out of his pocket. “That entire show was a farce built on an argument over this. The creep who sent me this anonymously is still hiding out there somewhere... unpunished,” he went on. “Through her own great personal strength, Coloratura decided to continue with her career as a pop idol, so no harm, no foul. But because of her manager’s misstep, she was almost forced to retire early. There’s no way I can forgive the person who arranged for Svengallop to try and take me down. But he failed, so... who would have had reason to sell him out to me? Applejack, can you think of anyone who would have it out for Coloratura?”

“Svengallop spilled his guts, and Rara’s fans lapped it up like milk,” AJ replied. “Still, Rara’s dream is the same as her pride. And this is a matter of pride!”

“There’s only one person who could have made it fall apart for Svengallop,” Spike said. “His original plan was to have Coloratura perform at the Rich Casino and Resort, right? So why move her to perform here instead? I’m not saying it was definitely Impossibly Rich, but I’d like to hear what she has to say.”

Spike wore his best suit that Saturday, on the makeshift stage at the center of the lobby. Saving Twilight had upset him in many ways, and his nerves were jangling. It wasn’t unhappiness he was feeling, and it wasn’t sorrow. It was an unfocused anger that had something to do with the foul taste of hardboiled eggs that still seemed to linger in his mouth. But he smiled as he shook hands with the Mayor of Las Pegasus and they appeared on the front page of the Las Pegasus Journal together with a headline that read FLIMFLAM BROS. EMPLOYEE SAVES COWORKER’S LIFE. Spike thought it was an exaggeration, and he didn’t take much (if any) credit.

Author's Note

Next time: Chef le Grand caters a lecture at the resort by visiting author A. K. Yearling, but when his help does not show, the girls have to fill in as Bunny Girls while Spike tends the bar once more.

Catering

Spike sat in the Sweet Snacks Café one morning, having brunch with Discord, Fancy Pants, Thorax, Soarin, and Zephyr Breeze. Spike scooped a stack of pancakes into his mouth while Fancy Pants enjoyed a caviar omelet, Discord sipped a glass of chocolate milk and Soarin sniffed a muffin fresh from the oven.

“Ah, the chocolate chip muffin,” he said. “Is there any more delectable creation in this world than a fluffy, sweet little bread morsel, served piping hot, and stuffed full of chocolate chips?”

“Yes,” Spike replied shortly. “Without listing them, which would take hours, the answer is yes.”

Discord, Fancy, Thorax, Soarin and Zephyr all looked at Spike with growing concern. He hadn’t gotten much sleep the previous night, and he was starting to feel like yesterday’s trash, even with the events of the day of the talent contest still fresh in everyone’s minds. Now, every new woman who checked into the Resort was lusting after Spike. Two of them were sitting at a booth across the Café at that very moment.

“That’s him!” one of them whispered to her friend.

They were a pair of girls in purple cheerleader uniforms; one was a redhead with golden skin and extremely sensual lips, the other had beautiful blue eyes and high cheek bones, and both had trim figures and very full breasts. Spike had seen them around the Resort, but they seemed a bit shy and blushed when he caught them looking at him. Finally, they got up the courage to walk over to him.

“Hi, I’m Shimmy Shake and this is Lighthoof,” the redhead said.

“And we are your biggest fans,” the blue-eyed one added. “Would you sign our autograph books?”

Spike gave them his best smile as a pen appeared in his right hand and he signed next to Hock Fetlock. Shimmy Shake then asked Spike if he would be willing to pose with them for a selfie, which he did. They thanked him and ran away giggling, giving Spike a generous view up their skirts.

Almost everyone, men and women, had been in extra awe of Spike since he saved Twilight from choking to death. Even Discord (who every morning in the staff locker room) would say, “Get to work, slackers! Except for you, Spike. You can start whenever you’re ready.” It was like Spike had become the new main attraction of the Flimflam Brothers’ Resort.

“All right, what is wrong?” Discord asked. “You’re dating a beautiful woman, you’re the improbable star of your job, and you are living every man’s dream... Seriously, what are you so upset about?!”

“Spike, you are among friends here,” Fancy Pants added gently. “You can tell us anything.”

Spike was in a predicament: Applejack had confessed her feelings to him and they had been going steady for almost two weeks, but Sunset Shimmer had fallen for him too. Fluttershy let him have his way with her anytime he wanted; and Pinkie, the funniest girl Spike ever had sex with, said that she had no intention of telling the other girls anything about what had happened between her and Spike.

“Applejack... Sunset... Fluttershy... Pinkie...” he thought. “I can’t decide!”

Spike eventually found himself comparing their bust sizes in his head. Then he began to imagine himself with two women on each arm. He couldn’t choose which one of them he liked best! But he kept reminding himself that he was going to have to pick one sooner or later. He couldn’t let this situation go on... but he also didn’t want to see any of them get hurt.

Spike thought he might feel better if he talked to the guys about it... even just a little. He also felt he could use some of Fancy Pants’ wisdom. So, he told them his dilemma: how he, Spike Drake, a run-of-the-mill young dude with a thing for top-heavy women, was now the luckiest bum in the world.

“So, lost between four ladies?” Fancy Pants asked.

Zephyr Breeze thought about Spike’s situation for a moment.

“I know this will sound crazy because it’s me,” he said. “But if I was you, and one of the women in question wasn’t my sister, I would go out with all four of them at once.”

Spike shot Zephyr a look that said, “Seriously?”

“You’re already going out with Applejack, aren’t you?” Discord asked.

“Well, yeah, but...” Spike attempted.

“Then it’s simple: you just keep dating her,” he said.

“It’s not that simple!” Spike replied. “I slept with Pinkie!”

“Oh...” Discord didn’t know that.

“And what about Sunset Shimmer?” Soarin asked.

Spike went red in the face at the very mention of her name.

“Well... It’s not that I don’t feel anything for her,” he admitted. “But she’s never far from my thoughts.”

The other five men were starting to understand Spike’s feelings at this point.

“I still say stick with Applejack,” Discord told him.

“That doesn’t really solve my problem,” Spike replied.

“Come on, Spike. Everyone can tell when a man’s smitten by a pretty blonde with a low country voice,” he said.

“I hate to agree with him, but he is right,” Soarin added. “You’ve got the classic symptoms: your eyes gaze over when her name is mentioned, you’ve been drinking less since you started going out... and the washed cars.”

“You washed your cars?” Zephyr asked.

“They were dirty,” Spike answered.

“They all gave me birthday presents,” he added in thought. “But I’ve slept with Pinkie and Fluttershy... There is no man alive that can deny the four of them like that... but I have to give an answer. If I don’t, I would be less than human.”

Spike’s head slumped forward as he asked, “What am I supposed to do?”

Thorax, who had been listening intently to his best friend and former college roommate, finally spoke.

“Well, here’s what we know,” he said. “There are four women in your life: one who walks with you towards your dream...”

Applejack.

“One who wholeheartedly cheers you on...”

Fluttershy.

“One who feels she can be her true self around you...”

Sunset Shimmer.

“And one around whom you can be yourself and have the most fun...”

Pinkie Pie.

“Worst case scenario: if you can’t decide, just pick one and go for it,” Thorax advised.

Spike nodded. “Thanks, guys. I really appreciate this.”

They all nodded and left Spike to finish his meal. Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Chef Gustave le Grand stirred a bubbling pot.

“Pinkie Pie! Where are my kidney beans?” he bellowed.

“Got them right here, Chef,” she replied. “Just one question: how do they get the kidneys inside the beans?”

“How about you leave the deep thoughts to me, Pie?” he asked as he took the can from her.

Suddenly, Sunset burst through the swinging doors.

“We’ve got a big problem,” she said. “Table eight still doesn’t have their amuse-bouche!”

“Enough!” Chef le Grand shouted. “Now, listen up! You two may be in charge of all the other waitresses, but in my kitchen, you’re all equal! Now we’ve got guests to serve so start plating the gazpacho so I can concentrate on the chili!”

Back in the Café, a guest was complaining about the lousy service.

“It’s been ten minutes and a waiter still hasn’t taken my drink order!” he grumbled. “The butter’s too hard and what does a guy have to do to get a piece of bread in this joint? Finally!” he exclaimed as Sugar Belle came over.

“I am so sorry about the slow service today,” she apologized. “We have some new help in the kitchen. To make up for the delay, here is some Vichyssoise, compliments of the house.”

The customer tasted it and immediately spat it back out.

“Cold soup?” he exclaimed.

“It’s supposed to be cold,” Sugar Belle replied.

“Cold soup is an abomination!”

Spike ignored the rude man as Twilight and Fluttershy came in and sat down—Twilight across from and Fluttershy beside him.

“Oh, Spike, there you are,” Twilight said. “I almost didn’t recognize you without Sunset and/or Applejack attached to your face.”

“Well, I recognized you right away. Since you walked in here with no significant other and the worst dye job I have ever seen,” he countered.

“Spike, be kind,” Fluttershy said. “For me, please?”

“If you want me to improve my behavior, why don’t you invite me over for tea with Discord?” Spike suggested. “I could help you improve his table manners.”

“As much as I enjoy my teatime with John,” Fluttershy replied, “I can’t because I’m helping Chef le Grand cater an alumni event tonight.”

“What’s the event for?”

“A. K. Yearling’s latest Daring Do book,” Fluttershy said.

Spike could have sworn Rainbow Dash had superhuman hearing, because she rushed in and was by their side in a second.

“Did somebody say Daring Do?” she asked. “I love Daring Do!”

“I have an extra ticket if you want to go,” Fluttershy said as she held it up.

“I am so there!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “Yearling is my favorite author!”

“She’s giving a talk about it to a group of kids from Celestia’s School for Gifted Youths,” Fluttershy explained, “but then I am helping cater the reception.”

“Oh, Celestia’s School for--” Twilight began.

“Huh, I wonder if we’re gonna hear about how you almost got in there,” Spike droned.

Twilight glared at him.

“I went there, my Mom’s the headmistress, and her name is on the building,” Spike told her. “I know the names of everyone who flunked out, was kicked out, and never got in.”

“I was wait-listed,” she said frostily. “I could have gone there.”

“If the parents of 500 smarter boys and girls decided not to make their kids go,” Spike retorted. “Moon Dancer, Sunset and Sunburst included.”

In many ways, Twilight was the classic valedictorian stereotype. Her résumé was almost perfect: a math-science major with an incredible affinity for numbers. An electrical-engineering prodigy and straight-A student who had covered all the premed requisites and would have graduated at the top of her class at an exclusive boarding school... but that all meant nothing because of several accounts, and convictions, of theft as well as breaking and entering... plus, attempting to steal Queen Novo’s priceless pearl, which Spike learned from Shining Armor.

“Look, I know I’m probably not what you would call a human being--” Twilight attempted.

“You stole an ancient book from Equestria’s largest collection of priceless artifacts just so you could read it! You have never once thanked me for saving your job! And to top it all off, you accused me of sexual harassment when I saved your life!” Spike cut her off. “Tell me, were you even thinking when you tried to steal from Queen Novo all those years ago? That’s right. Your brother told me about that when he gave me his old rock star uniform the night of the talent show. You know, I find it almost amusing how the woman that’s willing to steal from foreign royalty is trying to tell anyone, including me, what the right thing to do is!” he told her. “I don’t know why you bother! You are, at best, a narcissist who has very little interest in the lives of her ‘friends’ and, at worst, a spoiled brat and annoying cockblocker who never took the time to learn that she’s just too bitchy for how cute she thinks she is! A less refined guy would have hit you by now. You’re just lucky I don’t give into violence.”

“Is that a threat, Spike?” Twilight asked.

“I don’t make threats, Sparkle, I make promises! So, if you have half a brain in your skull, you will stay the Tartarus away from me,” he advised.

And he left them.

Later that afternoon, Sunset and Pinkie Pie got off their shifts and met Applejack and Fluttershy for drinks in the Midnight Lounge.

“So, why did you want to see us?” Fluttershy asked. “Because Pinkie and I really need to be helping Chef le Grand prepare for the alumni event tonight. I’m sorry, Applejack, but even if it is you and Sunset, we don’t have the time to just hang out right now.”

“Well, as you all know, there’s nothing going on between Spike and I,” Sunset shared. “So there’s no reason for you to worry about anything,” she told Applejack. “I have a lot on my own plate right now.”

Fluttershy looked at Sunset with wide eyes.

“Applejack, are you really okay with that?” she asked.

“What are you talking about?” AJ replied. “Okay with what?”

“The fact that I slept with Spike before you became his girlfriend!” she shouted. “You don’t care about that?”

The other three girls were surprised by her sudden outburst.

“Well, do you hate me?” Fluttershy asked them. Her anger was quickly replaced with tears. “Don’t just sit there, say something!”

“I’m sorry, Fluttershy,” Applejack said. “It would have been better if your confession were earlier.”

“But... but, Applejack, are you okay with that?”

“I’m fine,” she said, “because I know how you’ve felt about Spike since the day you met him.”

“Liar!” Pinkie Pie blurted.

“It’s not a lie,” AJ replied.

“Yes, it is!” Pinkie argued. “If you say that, then you knew about my feelings about Spike too! You know because I knew about your and Sunset’s feelings for Spike then too! You can’t say anything!”

“I give up,” Sunset said quietly.

“W-What?” Pinkie and Fluttershy asked. “No!”

“Then what are you telling us to do?” Sunset shouted.

“Ever since you started working with us, every time I saw you look at Spike, I knew what you were thinking,” Applejack said to Fluttershy. “And if I wanted to, I could have stopped you from having sex. But I let you! Do you really believe that that would have solved everything? No, right?”

“But that’s...” Fluttershy began.

“We knew about your feelings too, Pinkie,” Sunset said as a tear fell from her eye. “We all did. But you need to realize, and understand, that our feelings are important too.”

“We’re the villains here?” Pinkie and Fluttershy both thought. “That’s impossible!”

“Okay, ladies, we’re going to talk about this thoroughly,” Sunset said as she fought off her tears. “This is how it’s going to happen. Before involving Spike in this conversation, I think it’s better to come to a conclusion ourselves.”

Pinkie smiled. “You really do like Spike, don’t you?”

“Well, o-of course I do...” Sunset replied. “I like him. But it’s not just that... I don’t think this situation’s a good thing.”

Fluttershy and Applejack nodded in agreement.

Suddenly, all four of their cell phones started ringing.

“It’s a text from Spike,” Fluttershy said.

“That’s weird,” said Sunset. “Mine’s from him, too.”

“So is mine,” Pinkie shared.

“Me too,” Applejack added.

“I did something to Applejack, Sunset Shimmer, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, something that can never be forgiven regardless of how much I apologize,” it said. “And because of that, I feel that I need to face and come to a conclusion about this. So I want you to come to my suite tonight after the reception following the alumni event with A.K. Yearling.”

“Hey, AJ...” Pinkie began.

“What is it?” Applejack asked.

“Spike is trying to face all of us about our situation,” Fluttershy answered.

“You’re right,” Sunset agreed. “We need to be prepared for whatever he’s trying to do.”

“But if none of us are chosen, what will you do?” Fluttershy asked them.

“Well, I’m not sure what I’d do,” Applejack said openly. “But even though it looks like that, Spike definitely has a strong sense of duty... so it is possible.”

“I’ll be really sad if Spike doesn’t choose me,” Pinkie shared, “but I don’t want to see him with another girl besides one of you.”

Sunset gasped. “If that happens...”

“If what happens?” the other three girls asked.

Sunset pulled Applejack, Pinkie and Fluttershy into a huddle and spoke to them in a whisper. And when she was done, they all nodded together.

A. K. Yearling arrived in Las Pegasus on an early flight the day before and was staying in Room 613 at the Resort. After a quick shower and change of clothes, she immediately went down to the grand ballroom, where chairs had been set up for the group that would be listening to her lecture. She smiled, thankful that none of them knew she was secretly Daring Do, the expert archaeologist, obtainer of rare antiquities, and protagonist of her books.

After her presentation, Spike looked around at the growing crowd. Aside from the students from Celestia’s school, most of it was the usual business types, including a group of six that Spike recognized as “the Mad Men”: Business Savvy, Pegasus Olson, Joan Pommelway, Roger Silvermane, Pete Cantrell, and Bronco Benson. They were all close friends, quite attractive, and were chatting and laughing with a certain familiarity.

A few minutes later, Chef Gustave le Grand came through the swinging doors that led to the kitchen.

“Spike, this is a disaster,” he said.

“Tell me about it,” Spike replied. “The guy who introduced Yearling was lights-out boring.”

“I mean the Bunny Girls and the bartender all just flaked on me, I am royally screwed!” Gustave exclaimed.

“No booze?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“No,” the Chef replied.

“No food?” Pinkie added.

“No,” the Chef repeated.

“No booze or food?” Spike translated. “That is terrible!”

“I hate to ask you this--” Chef began.

“No, you don’t,” Spike interrupted.

“Is there any way, ladies,” he asked Applejack, Sunset, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Starlight and Twilight, “you could be my Bunny Girls, and Spike, you could possibly get behind the bar? Please, please, please, please?”

“Just so we’re clear, you want me to stand, unsupervised, behind a bar full of alcohol?” Spike reiterated.

“You’ve done it before,” Applejack told him.

“Yeah, but that was with you--supervised,” Spike recalled. He turned to Chef le Grand and added, “That was number nine on my mother’s bucket list. It was the one thing she didn’t finish before she died... I would be honored.”

“Thank you,” Chef sighed.

“All right, fine,” Twilight groaned.

“Thank you,” Chef repeated.

“I’ll get our Bunny suits,” Pinkie said.

“You’re gonna have to show Twilight how to put it on, too,” Spike told her.

Spike hung up his jacket, took off his tie, rolled up his sleeves, and unbuttoned the bottom button on his vest and the top two buttons on his shirt as he got behind the bar. Ten minutes later, the girls had returned.

Fluttershy had changed into her white silk Bunny Girl ensemble, while Pinkie wore a raspberry teddy and matching heels that complimented her hair, and Sunset and Applejack both wore black (with matching ears, bunny tails, heels and pantyhose). Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Starlight and Twilight all wore dark blue, but instead of bunny ears and tails they had cat ears and long tails.

Spike’s emerald eyes flashed with a bit of red as Twilight frowned, and his own frown quickly morphed into that nasty (at least to Twilight it was nasty) smile that never failed to make her weak in the knees.

“Why are you so desperate to try to fit in with these people?” he asked her.

“Try? I already fit in with these people,” she answered.

“Maybe you’re on the wait list to fit in--”

“Oh, shut up!” she snapped.

Chef le Grand approached the bar, holding a plate of shrimp puffs.

“Miss Sparkle, remember how I asked you to pass these out, not put them on top of the grand piano with a note that says, ‘Take one’?” he chewed her out.

“Fine,” she exhaled as she took the tray from him.

“You got in trouble,” Spike, Pinkie and Rainbow Dash said in singsong voices after the Chef returned to the kitchen.

Twilight spun on her heel and circulated the room with the rest of the girls as Silvermane moseyed up to the bar.

“What have you got on tap?” he asked.

“Oh, the usual: suffer through this, go back up to my suite... and have a serious talk with my girlfriends,” Spike replied.

“Hmm, well, if they’re anything like my wife, or either of my ex-wives, good luck,” Silvermane told him.

“They are, and thanks,” Spike answered as he handed him a Gibson martini.

Silvermane thanked Spike for the drink and headed back to rejoin his group as Joan Pommelway (one of the ladies Twilight offered a shrimp puff to) spat the puff into her napkin after taking a bite, and handed it back to Twilight saying, “I did not care for that.”

The girls continued serving Hor d’oeuvres as A. K. Yearling herself approached the bar and sat down.

“So, you’re the cute bartender everyone’s been talking about?” she ventured as she readjusted her orange framed glasses. “What’s your specialty?”

“I’ve got a great batch of hot buttered rum, how’s that?”

“Sounds good,” Yearling replied. “Make it a double.”

She nursed her rum as Spike set up 20 ladies with martinis, each with a tiny cocktail swizzle sword poked through a plump green olive. One of the best things about Spike was the knowledge that their martinis would flow like water and they would be mixed to perfection. It was just another part of his charm.

“Spike, you’re a wonder,” Joan Pommelway said.

Spike smiled as he asked Yearling, “How’s your drink?”

“Excellent. You’re a very good bartender,” she said. “You know, I worked my way through Pranceton tending bar; some of the best years of my life.”

“You think you still got the touch?” Spike asked.

“I don’t think I do,” she answered. “I know I do.”

As the night wore on, Spike ended up talking with just about everyone that had come for the alumni meeting, and he had them all laughing. He ended up being the life of the party.

“And speaking of economics, this is the trickle-down theory,” he said as he proceeded to pour a bottle of liquor down a pyramid of already full shot glasses.

They applauded him as he looked over at Twilight, who rolled her eyes before she returned to the kitchen.

“How did the mini quiche go?” Chef le Grand asked her.

“Good. Only three rejects,” Twilight said as she dropped the full napkins onto the counter. “Ugh, this job is disgusting.”

“She said about my livelihood,” Chef retorted. “It’s time for dessert. Can you please circulate the fruit tarts?”

“You know what, I have realized why these people are not responding to me,” Twilight said. “It’s this outfit. They’re not seeing me as one of them. They’re seeing me as a worker.”

“Glad someone’s seeing you as a worker,” Chef snapped again as he handed her the platter of tarts.

Twilight took them and was about to carry them back into the ballroom when Pinkie’s ears flopped, her eyes fluttered, and her knees twitched.

“Twilight, look out!” she cried.

But she was too late. The swinging doors swung back toward Twilight. It was Starlight, coming through with another handful of reject napkins, and she caused the plate Twilight was carrying to smush into Twilight’s chest. The entire front of her corset became covered in frosting.

“Sorry about that,” Starlight apologized.

Spike was just given another tip—in the form of a dark blue Poker chip (worth $500)—from Silvermane, when he saw Twilight exit the kitchen and march toward him.

“That’s it!” she stated. “We are switching jobs!”

“Fine, but don’t expect anyone to pool tips with you,” Spike told her as he pocketed the contents of the glass he had set aside for cash (which was filled with both big bills and casino tokens).

“You’re getting tips?” Twilight snapped. “I’m not.”

“No surprise,” he replied in an almost drab monotone. “For one thing, your uniform’s filthy.”

“You will see I do fit in with these people when I’m the one getting ‘em drunk! See how things go for you when you gotta serve Chef’s crappy food!”

“Well, word of mouth is the best advertising,” said the familiar snarl of Chef le Grand, who had been standing behind her the whole time.

Twilight slowly turned around to face him, expecting him to blow up in her face, but instead he said, “Sparkle, I really need you to serve dessert to these people or, at the very least, let them lick it off you.”

“Well, I am behind the bar now,” she replied. “Spike is helping the girls serve dessert.”

“Sure!” Chef said. “I mean, it is your kitchen and your food. Spike, dessert trays are in the kitchen.”

“You got it, boss,” he replied.

“Thank you,” Chef told him. “Twilight, we need 50 glasses of Champagne right away.”

“Fifty?” she asked.

“Yes, for the toast. Pay attention,”

Then he walked away again.

“That’s no fun,” Twilight groaned.

Spike returned to the ballroom with a platter of miniature cupcakes and approached Shimmy Shake and Lighthoof, who had also come for the lecture.

“Would you ladies care for some dessert?” he asked them in a rich, velvety baritone voice.

“Oh, I really shouldn’t,” said Shimmy Shake. “I’m dieting.”

“Me too,” Lighthoof added.

“What for?” Spike asked. “You ladies are not fat.”

“Oh, well, thank you,” they said, and they each took a mini cupcake.

Twilight shook her head in disgust as the cork to the Champagne bottle she was holding shot off and into her chin.

“Miss Yearling, I’m sorry to do this to you, but you wanted me to let you know when it was eleven o’clock,” Spike told her.

“Oh, right,” she replied. “I’ve got a plane to catch. Thank you, Spike.”

“My pleasure,” he said as she shook her hand, “Miss Do,” he whispered into her ear. “Come back soon.”

A. K. Yearling said her final goodbyes as she left for the front desk (where her luggage was already waiting) and Twilight spent the rest of the night helping the girls scrape all of the reject food off of the tiny plates with the remaining napkins while Spike counted his tip money.

“I made $1,753!” he thought with a smile.

“Thank you all again,” Chef le Grand told them.

“We were happy to help,” Fluttershy replied.

“Spike, you may be literally the best bartender in this resort’s history,” the Chef praised him.

“Better than Soarin?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Take a look at the comment cards,” Chef said as he handed them to her.

“Comment cards?” Twilight asked. “Who handed out comment cards?”

Sunset raised her hand.

“‘Terrific storyteller,’” Applejack read one of them.

“‘Every thing I look for in a great bartender,’” Sunset read another.

“‘Best barkeep between Batlimare and Seaddle,’” Fluttershy quoted.

“Wait! Is that A. K. Yearling’s phone number?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Spike swiped and pocketed that before Dash could get her hands on it.

“Everyone, go,” Chef le Grand told them. “I’ll finish cleaning up.”

“No, you go back to your room and rest,” Spike replied. “We got this.”

“Really?”

“Look, I’ll be the first one to admit this out loud: you’re a hardass,” Spike confessed. “But tonight, I got a good, long look at all that you have to put up with, every day. It’s not easy to run a restaurant, so I apologize if I ever give you crap.”

“Thank you. It has been kind of a long night,” Chef admitted. “Oh, and Twilight, don’t look at your comment cards.”

“So, I’m on clean-up duty while Spike is the Resort’s new favorite?” Twilight thought. “This is total ca-ca!”

Her envy returned as she watched Applejack, Sunset, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Starlight all flock to Spike. Then she thought about everyone he had served from behind the bar and how they seemed naturally drawn to him. They felt comfortable around Spike and that’s why they warmed up to him.

Twilight sighed as she said, “All right, say you told me so. I don’t fit in with this crowd. I gave it my best shot, but you’re the better woman.”

Spike just shrugged in reply, as if to say, “That’s true.” Then he pulled Applejack, Sunset, Pinkie and Fluttershy through the swinging doors.

“Come with me,” he said in a quiet voice. “There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

As they rode the elevator up to the 26th floor, Spike tried to figure out what he was going to say. Applejack, Sunset, Fluttershy AND Pinkie Pie were all silent until they got to Spike’s suite... and they sat on his bed. The quietness of his bedroom and their lingering fragrances added to Spike’s feelings of regret. He stood facing them, but said nothing for a moment.

“I can’t be serious when you have those bunny ears on,” he told them.

The girls removed their bunny ears. Then Spike took a deep breath, looked each of them in the eye, and said, “I have to break up with you, Applejack, but I can’t go out with any of you, either... I had sex with Trixie, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Moon Dancer, and I did it all behind your backs. And because of that, I’m scum. No, I’m worse than scum. I wish I was scum. Even though saying that, I don’t have the option of breaking up with AJ and start going out with anyone else, so... please... just forget about me!”

He turned his back on them when he finished speaking.

All that could be heard was the ticking of the nearby clock.

“So, Spike, your decision is totally set?” Sunset asked.

“Y-Yes,” he stammered.

“Are you sure you don’t have space to listen to our idea?” Pinkie asked.

“Of course!” he said. “B-But, I don’t think I can give an answer right away.”

The girls all shared a smile and a nod, reached behind their backs, and undid their teddies. They all stood up, dropped their teddies, and stepped out of them.

Their heels came off next, then their pantyhose, and they smiled again. Spike still stood with his back to them. He knew it was very rude to give them this kind of attitude, but it was impossible to choose one of them.

“I can’t choose,” Spike said. “No, not in that sense, but in a sense of good faith... I love you, all of you, but... I just can’t choose between the four of you.”

“Then, why don’t you just make it all of us?” Pinkie asked. “Right, girls?”

“That’s right,” Applejack agreed.

“Right,” Fluttershy repeated.

“As an option, it’s possible,” said Sunset.

“All of you?” Spike asked. “That can’t be possible--Wait, what!”

He finally turned to face them and stumbled backward when he saw them, standing mere inches away, completely naked, with their arms folded under their breasts. Their large, beautiful breasts (all eight of them) stood high on their chests, each tipped with hardened nipples, and there were absolutely no traces of pubic hair between any of their legs.

“Whichever one you want...” they all said.

Pinkie and Fluttershy each took one of Spike’s hands and he allowed himself to be led by them as they guided him onto his bed. Sunset began to unbutton Spike’s shirt. Then she rubbed her hands over his chest. The rest of Spike clothes followed and he was quickly overwhelmed. Pinkie moved in behind him, rubbing her breasts against his bare back as Sunset tugged the zipper on Spike’s pants with her teeth, and Applejack pulled his boxers to the floor.

“I knew it!” Sunset thought. “He’s even bigger than I imagined!”

“This is not good,” Spike thought out loud. “Not good!”

“Come on, it’s fine,” Pinkie assured him.

“This is the best option that the four of us came up with together,” Sunset added. “You just need to relax and enjoy it. It’ll be fine, right Applejack?”

“This is the best way for all of us to be happy,” AJ agreed.

“I think this is the best way, too,” said Fluttershy.

“See, even Fluttershy’s agreeing with it,” Pinkie told him. “This is what we all want.”

Their soft hands massaged him all over: on his chest, his back, down his arms and legs. No part of his naked body was left untouched, not even his rock hard cock, which was wedged between Applejack’s breasts as she licked the tip.

“You keep fighting, but you’re about to burst,” Pinkie smiled.

“Spike, just cum,” Fluttershy whispered.

With one final lick, and a stroke of his balls, Spike erupted into Applejack’s mouth and she drank every last drop.

“Spike, what’s wrong?” Sunset asked.

“I-I’m just all talk,” he said. “I thought I could hold out, but I came anyway... lavishly.”

Fluttershy, her hands on Spike’s hips, pushed her melon-sized breasts into his back, and gave him a pouty smile.

“Stop saying stuff like that!” she told him.

“Spike, you’re not being much of a man,” Sunset added.

“Are you really okay with this?” he asked them.

“Yeah!” Pinkie replied.

“Of course,” Sunset added.

“And you two?”

“Eeyup,” Applejack smiled.

“Mm-hmm,” Fluttershy added.

“This could pass as a dream,” Spike breathed.

“But this isn’t a dream...” Pinkie replied.

“It’s reality,” Sunset added.

An hour later and Spike was ready to go again. Pinkie opened wide and sucked him off, taking him deeper and deeper until he was all the way down her throat. She finally relented and removed her mouth from his cock.

“Spike, the amount of precum feels like it’s special,” she said sweetly. “It’s your turn, Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy took the tip into her mouth and started sucking gently.

“How is the mixture of my saliva and Spike’s precum?” Pinkie asked.

“It’s delicious,” Fluttershy said as she moved a hand between Pinkie’s legs from behind and stuck one of her fingers in Pinkie’s pie.

“Fluttershy, you’re horrible!” Pinkie squealed.

“You shouldn’t tease someone that’s older than you,” Fluttershy smiled.

“Okay,” Pinkie whined.

Fluttershy gave Pinkie a kiss on the cheek as Spike coerced Applejack onto the bed and onto her back. He grabbed her bum, one cheek in each hand, and lifted her rear off the mattress.

“Her butt’s so big and firm and I love it!” he thought.

Applejack blushed and bit her lip to stifle a moan as Spike started fingering her. After ten minutes, he brought his hand to his lips and licked his fingers.

“Mmm... You taste better than cider,” he said.

AJ blushed even harder as Spike dipped his head between her legs and slowly started to eat her out. He licked her, tasting her sweet apple juices, which were dripping onto the sheets.

“Mmff... Mmmfff... Ahhh... t-this feels so good!” Applejack moaned. “Ahhnn... O-Ohh... I’ve never felt anything like this... S-Spike...”

She tried to tell him how much she was enjoying the sensations that were coursing through her. Her breath caught in her throat at the feel of his mouth moving over her sensitive flesh before he raised his face his hers, claiming her lips in a kiss.

“Why did you...?” she asked weakly.

“Just sharing your sweet taste,” he replied. “Cider has nothing on you.”

“Saddle up, cowgirl,” said Sunset. “I promised you first dibs, and I’m getting impatient for my turn.” She leaned in close to Spike and whispered into his ear. “There are twelve holes that need your cock, and you are gonna fuck them all... I can’t wait until you fuck my ass.”

Spike gulped as he and Applejack switched positions and she positioned herself over his pelvis. Her perfume was faint, a mix of sunflowers, roses, and red apples, and her breasts were softer than pillows in his hands. He was surprised, and pleased, when Applejack reached down to guide him into her. Her hand was cool upon his flesh, and he reveled in her touch. She took him deep within her, tensing for only a moment as Spike thrust up to meet her and she slowly became accustomed to his size.

“Deeper... a little deeper...” she said softly. “This is so good!”

Spike felt her body accept him and then close around him in a silken sheathing that wrapped him in molten rapture. He shuddered. His body felt like it was going to snap, yet he exerted control over his raging desires and remained still within her. Spike would not rush; he did not want to let this pass too quickly.

Applejack cherished his closeness, and when he began to move, she met him thrust for thrust. She wanted this as much as he did. Her heart soared at the feeling of being in his arms, and her delight built as she gave herself over to Spike without hesitation. When he began to touch her again, seeking out the most sensitive places, she returned the joy, caressing him back. Daringly, she slipped a hand between their mating bodies to touch and explore their tender joining.

Spike glanced over at Pinkie and Fluttershy. Watching him be so passionate with Applejack was turning them on. Spike gave one final thrust and he and Applejack came together, causing her to let out a gasp as every shot splashed inside her.

Spike was still hard as Pinkie Pie opened her thighs wide for him and she wrapped her legs around his body as she lay, reclined, on the mattress next to Applejack and met his thrusts. Her heart sank as Spike ceased his caresses, and she tried to entice him to move again by grinding her hips against him. Spike, knowing that she was trying to drive him to the edge of oblivion, stopped all movement and held her close, still exerting iron-willed self-control. Pinkie suddenly feared that she’d done something wrong. Then Applejack pinched Pinkie’s clitoris and Pinkie squirted all over Applejack’s face.

Spike felt Pinkie shudder beneath him as she let out a cry that was almost a wail of terror. The sound frightened Fluttershy for a moment, but then waves of desire swept through Spike and his muscles grew taut as he began to pulse out of control. He and Pinkie clung together, entwined, as more violent climaxes convulsed them. Then Fluttershy gulped as she watched Spike remove himself from Pinkie, then push Sunset onto her stomach and started pounding her anus from behind as she began to rock back and forth on her knees.

“It seems so rough,” Fluttershy thought. “But he’s being so gentle...”

“Do me faster!” Sunset begged. “More! I-I want it!”

Spike came hard and fast as Sunset milked him until she was full.

“I want to share this gift with you too,” she told Fluttershy.

Fluttershy did not protest as Spike mounted her. He rammed into her from behind as Pinkie lay beneath her, suckling Fluttershy’s breasts as Spike thrusted.

“She looks so cute when she’s bent over like this,” Pinkie thought as she held one of Fluttershy’s nipples between her lips.

“I want to come!” Fluttershy cried. “I can’t hold it in anymore!”

“No, you can’t yet,” Sunset told her. “You have to come at the same time Spike does. You can do it, Fluttershy.”

“I’ll do my best...” she replied.

Her butt became filled with Spike’s thick cream and it poured out and into Sunset’s waiting mouth. Spike continued to pleasure them over and over again, and he didn’t stop until all four of them came from anal.

At 2:15 in the morning, Spike rose from his bed and walked across to his dresser where there stood an ice bucket with a bottle of Champagne cooling in it, right next to the framed photo of him and four of his former classmates from Celestia’s school. Spike was in the center, squeezed between Sunset Shimmer and Moon Dancer, with Trixie next to Moon Dancer and Sunburst next to Sunset.

“We’re gonna have to update that photo... now that we’re all back together again,” Spike thought with a smile as he uncorked the Champagne and poured each of them (Sunset, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and himself) a glass.

Sunset sipped hers, leaving a half-moon lipstick smear on the glass. She refilled her glass, her naked breasts jostling as she maneuvered the bottle; and Spike could only smile as he saw the passionate, and seductive, look on her face.

They all finished their Champagne as Spike lifted the covers and started to climb back into bed when Sunset shook her head.

“No. We want you in the middle,” she said.

Spike nodded as he positioned himself between Sunset and Applejack. Applejack snuggled against Spike’s right side with Sunset on his left. He cuddled his four favorite girls as they finally fell asleep, two on each side (Applejack and Fluttershy on his right, and Sunset and Pinkie on his left), and he held them tightly.

Author's Note

Next time, Spike unearths some dark secrets about the Resort’s past after the gang discovers a hidden room in the hotel: the former honeymoon suite, reputed to be haunted by the ghosts of a soldier and his bride.

Room 2339

Rainbow Dash regretted her quick decision to clean up by herself. She regretted her offer to swap assignments with one of the other maids, a blue-eyed platinum blonde named Night Glider, even more. As Dash made her way around the rooms on the 23rd floor, collecting the trash, she heard a rustling sound that was unlike the noise she was making with the trash bag. She stopped to listen, and the rustling noise stopped.

“It’s just my imagination,” she thought.

She continued to clean, and the rustling began again. This time, the noise was accompanied by a thin wail. Rainbow Dash dropped the trash bag and grabbed a broom from her maids’ cart for protection.

“There are no ghosts here! It’s just the wind and the rain and my imagination is getting to me,” she muttered to herself.

A loud crash made her jump.

“What was that?” she asked as she whipped her head around.

Dash held the broom out in front of her like a sword as she slowly made her way toward the vending machine near the center of the hallway. Then she sensed something close behind her. She turned around and screamed.

“Zeph, why are you walking around wearing a welding mask?” she asked.

“It gives me an air of mystery,” Zephyr Breeze replied. He flipped the mask down again and said, “The Faust is strong with this one!”

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash felt a rush of cold air coming from behind the vending machine. She told Zephyr to help her and they pushed it off to the side. Behind the vending machine was a door, a perfectly ordinary door with numbers on it—2339—and a peephole beneath those numbers, no different from any other door on any floor of the hotel.

“Whoa!” Zeph exclaimed. “A hidden room!”

Rainbow Dash pulled out her master key and slipped it into the lock. It slid in with no hitch, as if it had wanted to be there. She turned the key and the tumblers in the lock thumped back smoothly. She pushed the door open and it swung without a creak.

“Ladies first,” Zephyr offered.

“Oh, right, I almost forgot, you’re scared of the dark,” she smiled.

“No!” he denied.

Rainbow Dash picked up the broom again, walked through the doorway, reached to her right, and found the light switch. Two bulbs came on in the cut-glass chandelier overhead. Dash stepped further in and looked around the large sitting room. Most of the furniture was covered by white sheets, save for one overturned chair. There was a violet rug, a writing desk, and an old phonograph, all covered in cobwebs and reeking of... alcohol? Yes, alcohol. It hung around Rainbow Dash like a mist as she looked at the drapes, which had been pulled free and hung on their broken rod at an angle.

“This looks just like the V.I.P. suites,” she said, “but creepier.”

To her left was the bathroom door, the door to the bedroom was to the right. The wall by the door leading into the bedroom was splashed with what Dash thought was dried blood, and flecked with tiny bits of grayish-white tissue that could only be brain matter. It clotted the wallpaper.

Dash dropped the broom as another wail stopped her in her tracks.

“I can’t let a few scary sounds terrify me!” she reassured herself.

Zephyr Breeze gathered his courage and followed her into the suite.

Then the door slammed behind him with a loud crash.

“Let me out!” Zeph screamed as he fumbled with the locked doorknob.

“Smooth move, doofus!” Dash shouted. “Now we’re stuck in here!”

Rainbow Dash froze as she suddenly felt a tap on her shoulder. She slowly turned around and came face to face with a rattling skeleton.

“You’re not welcome here!” chattered the skull in a scratchy voice.

Rainbow Dash glanced over its shoulder and saw the sitting room was filled with ghostly figures!

Stumbling backwards, she let out a bloodcurdling scream. The door behind Zephyr Breeze suddenly opened and he and Dash raced out. They ran down the hall, not stopping until they got to the elevator, and Zephyr frantically pressed the “close doors” button. He looked at Rainbow Dash. Her hand clutched the lace collar of her maid’s uniform, her face twisted with terror.

“We’ve got to tell the others,” she gasped.

Spike was sitting in the kitchen, having one of his favorite lunches: tomato soup with grilled cheese. The soup was okay, but the toasted cheese was Cojack—Spike’s favorite—and tasted heavenly. Applejack poured Spike a glass of milk and sat down next to him with a plate of fried chicken and mashed potatoes with gravy. Discord and Pinkie were having a contest to see which of them could drink the most glasses of chocolate milk, and Sunset, Fluttershy, Starlight and Rarity were sharing a pot of tea. The kitchen had become Spike’s favorite place in the hotel, second to his suite. Eating in the dining rooms or the Café had become too depressing, even with the lights on and music playing from the jukebox... especially since there was an Undertakers’ Convention staying at the hotel that week, and they were displaying all of the latest caskets in the grand ballroom.

“Why does Spike look so upset?” Rarity asked Sunset. “Did something bad happen to him? More specifically, did you do something?”

“I don’t know,” Sunset replied. “He’s been like that all day. Although, something exciting did happened last night...”

“Sunset, I am a grown man,” Spike finally spoke. “Second base is nothing to brag about.”

“What’s wrong, Sugah Pie?” Applejack asked, very concerned.

“Twilight’s still barely speaking to him,” Discord answered.

“Really?” Starlight asked. “She’s still pissed off at you for saving her life?”

“Her default setting is mildly annoyed,” Spike said, even though they all knew that. “At least when she yelled at me, I could yell back, but this is different.”

“Congratulations,” Discord told him. “You have succeeded where even I failed: you broke her spirit.”

“So, how are you gonna fix this?” Applejack asked.

“I’m not going to, and I don’t plan to,” he answered, “mostly because it’s not my fault. But, I’m also not going to let her ruin this for me.”

“Ruin what?” Sunset asked.

Spike showed them one of his staff evaluation cards. “I got a ten out of ten!”

“Another perfect score?” Sunset asked. “That makes nine in a row!”

“One more and I get to blow off my next shift for some late night gambling,” Spike said happily.

After he finished eating, Applejack put their dirty dishes in the dishwasher and kissed Spike on the cheek.

“See ya tonight, Sugah,” she said as she left the kitchen.

“She’s really something,” Spike said to himself. “Every angle I look at her, she’s a woman.”

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash and Zephyr Breeze burst through the swinging doors on the opposite side of the room. There was fresh terror in their eyes. Spike looked at them closely (they all did), thinking they were pulling a joke. But Dash didn’t look like she was joking; what she looked like was scared half to death.

“Dash?” Spike touched her shoulder. He and Sunset exchanged a worried look. “What happened? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Gang... I think there is a ghost in the hotel,” Zephyr replied.

“What? Where?” Spike asked.

“In Room 2339,” Dash said.

“What were you doing in there?!” Discord thundered. “That room is strictly off-limits!” They all stared at him as he wiped his forehead with a handkerchief. “I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I guess the secret is out of the bag. It’s too bad, too. I’d had such great plans for the weekend—”

“Hold on!” Rarity spoke. “What’s this about a secret? Come on, out with it!”

“Why don’t we use that room?” Starlight asked.

“The Brothers ordered me to never discuss the... incident,” Discord replied.

“Spill it!” Sunset shouted. “Is there a ghost in Suite 2339?”

Discord looked at them shrewdly. “You’re not afraid of ghosts, are you?”

“Ghosts,” Rainbow Dash scoffed as she puffed out her chest, her courage suddenly back. “I ain’t afraid of no stinking ghosts! I eat ghosts for breakfast!”

“Yeah! Chocolate, sugary ghosts with lots of milk!” Pinkie Pie added.

“That’s good, because I have a ghostly little tale to tell you and we wouldn’t want to frighten you, now would we?” Discord cackled.

The girls were not startled by this. They knew that all of Equestria’s big, grand old hotels had ghosts and ghost stories, just like they had scandals. Hotels were superstitious places: no thirteenth floor or room thirteen, etc.

“Well, if you must know, it happened during the summer of 1986,” Discord began with a shrug. “His name was Sir Ragamuffin, a newlywed young soldier. He and his beautiful bride came to stay in the honeymoon suite. Frankly, I’d never seen a happier couple. And, boy, could he host a great session of O&O.”

“So, what happened?” Dash asked. “Was there a scandal?”

“Summarized: at some point during the honeymoon, the groom must have suffered some kind of mental breakdown,” Discord said. “He killed one of the maids, and then his wife... before killing himself.”

They stared at Discord, flabbergasted.

“I didn’t even know about it until a voice called out to me from the suite,” he went on. “I felt like I had to obey it. It was like I was in a trance, yet I was fully aware of what was happening.”

Discord remembered taking the elevator up and walking down the hall to the door to the honeymoon suite. His hand reached out and stroked the room’s doorknob. He had no idea how long he had been standing there, mesmerized. Several minutes at least. Finally, he plunged his right hand into his pocket and pulled out his master key. Bleary-eyed, he inserted the key into the lock and entered the suite, then stuffed the key back into his pocket.

Inside, the lights were on, and he found Sir Ragamuffin slumped on the coffee table, covered in blood, shards of broken glass around him. Discord could still remember seeing the dark red puddle. He straightened up, looked at the ceiling, and his eyes went wide. That’s where he saw the bride. She had been hung from the chandelier by her wrists, like she’d been crucified, a bullet hole through her chest. Then Discord saw a shaft of soft yellow light coming from the bathroom.

He walked forward, put his hand out, pressed it against the bathroom door, and it swung open. He looked in and saw the chambermaid lying naked in the bathtub; one of her hands dangling over the white porcelain lip of the tub, blood trickling slowly down her fingers.

Discord stood there for an unknown length of time, practically paralyzed by all that he had seen, but he eventually returned to the door to the hall. He turned the lights off behind him, stepped out into the hall, and pulled the door shut without looking back. He returned to his office and called the police.

“That is heartbreakingly sad,” Fluttershy said with a whimper.

“Yes, it is,” Discord agreed. “It’s still hard for me to believe it actually happened here. And ever since, strange things have been going on in that room. So we sealed it off, never to be used again. But every year, on the anniversary of his death, the ghost of Sir Ragamuffin returns to the room at midnight and terrorizes the hotel until dawn... I had almost completely forgotten that this weekend is when the ghost is to reappear.”

“I’m out of here!” Rainbow Dash said, heading toward the exit.

“Wait for me!” Fluttershy followed her.

“And me!” Sunset, Pinkie, and Starlight chorused.

“Consider this my notice,” Rarity said as she joined the girls in making a beeline for the door. “I quit.”

“That’s too bad,” Discord said, “because if you stayed, Sir Ragamuffin’s fortune could be yours.”

All six of them stopped and turned as one.

“Fortune? What fortune?”

“A small collection of priceless diamonds of various shapes and sizes,” Discord looked at them sheepishly.

“Diamonds, you say? I’m back on the job!” Rarity declared as she elbowed her way past the others.

“So all we have to do is stay in the hotel until dawn?” Rainbow Dash mused. “I think we can handle that.”

“No, you would have to stay in Suite 2339,” Discord corrected her. “That’s where the diamonds were last seen before they... disappeared. Of course, no one has ever been able to stay in the suite that long. They usually ran screaming into the night.”

“All right, then we’ll do it!” Dash replied.

Discord frowned, feeling another wave of irritation and anger. Whatever had come of it, Zephyr Breeze and Rainbow Dash had been trespassing.

“Just put the vending machine back where it was before you moved it, and tell no one what I’ve told you,” he instructed. “No one! And stay out! Do you understand? Stay! Out!”

They all nodded and Discord left with Spike close behind. The girls knew better than to cross their boss, but they were also not about to pass up such an opportunity... especially if diamonds were involved. And they all wanted to see the haunted honeymoon suite.

“I say we all meet back at the honeymoon suite an hour before midnight and battle this ghost together!” Rainbow Dash said.

“Splendid idea,” Rarity clapped her hands together. “And when dawn breaks, the fortune of Sir Ragamuffin will be mine,” she added to herself, a greedy green glint in her blue eyes.

“We’ll split the fortune equally!” Starlight stated. “It’s only fair if we’re all going to work together.”

Zeph and the girls formed a circle and each placed a hand in the center, one on top of another, and agreed.

After hearing Discord’s story about Sir Ragamuffin, Spike decided to pay Starlight’s father a visit after his shift ended. He had a hunch that if anyone would know the truth about Ragamuffin, or anything about the history of the Flimflam Brothers’ Resort, Firelight would. He was going through his stock portfolio in his office when Spike knocked on the door frame.

“Well, this is a most pleasant interruption!” Firelight smiled.

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything important, sir,” Spike said.

“Not at all! I’m never too busy for my daughter’s friends. And don’t be so formal, Spike. Starlight talks so much about you, I feel we’re practically family,”

“I was hoping you could help me find some answers to a little mystery that just fell into my lap,”

“You’ve made me half a billion dollars alone,” Firelight said. “I can tell you anything you want to know.”

Spike sat down and started by asking Firelight how much he knew about the founding of Las Pegasus, then for information related to Flimflam Resort, and Firelight was more than happy to oblige. Before the Brothers ran it, even before Gladmane ran it, the hotel had a smelly reputation. Multiple murders had been committed there, a bunch of hoods had run the place for a while, and cutthroat businessmen had run it after them. After Firelight had talked for almost an hour, he offered Spike a plate of warm chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk, as well as an apology for rambling on.

Spike thanked Firelight and finally asked him about the “incident” Discord had mentioned—the one about Sir Ragamuffin—it was a real slaying. Discord took care of it, and pretty well. So well, in fact, that he had managed to keep it almost completely out of the newspapers. There was a small article in the Post, and of course the obituaries, but that was all. Like he probably half-expected some reporter to dig it up again years later.

That’s why Flim and Flam paid him. As much as they may have disliked Discord, he earned his pay. It seemed like some people just came out to Las Pegasus to make a mess and they hired guys like Discord to clean it up.

Some big shot lawyer from Manehattan showed up, Sir Ragamuffin’s father, and gave Discord four different levels of Tartarus. “I’ll sue you and when I’m through, yada, yada, yada!” But Discord got him to shut up. Probably by asking him how he’d like to see his late son and daughter-in-law all over the news—a result of playing hide-the-salami with the help. Discord even pulled a few strings with the coroners; got them to change the verdicts on all the death certificates to natural causes. Now they were driving Cadillacs. Spike didn’t begrudge them.

“Sometimes a man’s got to take it where he can find it,” he thought.

Firelight pulled a three ring binder from one of the shelves behind his desk and opened it for Spike to read. It was a collection of articles related to the Resort... and Las Pegasus. Spike skimmed the pages until he came across an old newspaper clipping with a photo of Sir Ragamuffin and his wife on their wedding day. There was even a photograph of the maid that had been murdered, from the employee records.

Spike’s eyes widened when he looked at the photos. At first he couldn’t believe what he was seeing, but Ragamuffin’s wife looked very much like Rarity. But that wasn’t even the scariest thing about it: the thing that was most disturbing was that both Ragamuffin and the maid looked almost exactly like Applejack, the former if Applejack was a guy. Everything from their blond hair to their green eyes, even the freckles on their cheeks, they were exactly the same!

Spike then looked at a copy of the police report. According to that, a note had been found with Ragamuffin’s body. It said, “I have fooled them all, I may perish, but I’ll be as rich as Queen Cleopatrot.” Cleopatrot was an Egyptian. They kept their wealth after death by having it buried with them.

“But what does that have to do with Ragamuffin’s diamonds?” Spike thought out loud.

“I’ll tell you, Spike, I do a lot of financial planning. In money matters, you can’t take the future for granted,” Firelight said. “But all the money in the world means little if you don’t have loved ones to share it with... Nothing’s more important than family.”

“Is it all right if I borrow this for a while?” Spike asked about the binder.

“Be my guest, son,” Firelight replied.

Spike thanked him again for the information, the history lesson, and the milk and cookies as he left. He had some more research to do.

An hour before midnight, the girls (minus Applejack) stood in the hall outside Room 2339, their voices hushed with excitement.

“Are we all here?” Starlight asked.

“Nope,” Pinkie replied. “Where’s Rarity?”

“She said she had to pick up a few things,” Fluttershy said.

They saw her coming down the hall a minute later with Zephyr Breeze behind her, and he was carrying a massive trunk on his back.

“Sorry we’re late,” Rarity told them.

“I thought you said you were going to ‘rough it,’” Sunset said to her.

“I only brought my overnight bag, darling,” she replied, rather defensively.

“What’s the holdup, Dashie?” Pinkie asked.

“The holdup is I’m trying to pick a lock with a credit card since Discord confiscated my master key!” Rainbow Dash snapped in reply.

“How come you girls want to get in there so bad anyway?” Twilight asked.

“There’s a hidden treasure in that suite, guarded by a ghost, and I am going to have it!” Rarity answered.

“Girls, the nonmaterial embodiment, essence, or organism that’s seen as a specter, wraith or apparition has been scientifically proven to be sheer myth,” Twilight told them. “In other words, there are no such things as ghosts!”

“Yeah, but does the ghost know that?” Zephyr Breeze asked.

“Every ‘ghostly encounter’ has some rational explanation,” she replied.

“Okay, former star dealer, prove it, then,” Zephyr dared her. “Spend the night, with me, in the haunted honeymoon suite.”

“Ew! Pass!” Twilight gagged.

“Five million bucks says you run out first, chicken!” Dash told Zephyr.

“I’ll take that bet!” Zeph replied. “Even though I know you’ll never be able to pay me back. I would settle for a kiss... on the mouth... with a little tongue.”

And with that, Rainbow Dash finally managed to open the door. She flipped the switch for the chandelier (at least the two bulbs that still worked) and they all filed into the suite. If there was ever a place that should have ghosts, this was it.

“I-I-I would be worried about this place... if I weren’t so scared,” Fluttershy said. “What’s that sound?”

“It’s your teeth chattering,” said Rainbow Dash.

“And your knees knocking,” Rarity added as she pulled out her cell phone.

The battery was fully charged, but the phone wasn’t getting any reception. It was like they were (dare I say it?) ... in a dead zone!

The world suddenly turned black as the two bulbs in the chandelier burnt out and the door to the honeymoon suite slammed, plunging them into darkness. Twilight tried to open the door, but the knob wouldn’t turn.

“We’re locked in!” she shouted.

Rainbow Dash pounded uselessly on the door, screaming, “Let us out!”

As her eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, Starlight could see something moving in the far corner. She could make out a strange shape but couldn’t imagine what it might be. Rainbow Dash quickly ran her hands over the walls next to her, looking for a weapon, in case she had to defend herself against an attack. Her hand touched a flashlight, which she quickly turned on. The light was dim, but the girls could see the walls and furniture around them. Their eyes adjusted to the new light and they looked farther into the honeymoon suite.

Dash cast the flashlight’s beam over the covered furniture and onto the walls. The bloodstain had returned, only now it was fresh... and it was running.

She dropped the flashlight, and once again the honeymoon suite was plunged into darkness.

“I feel like I’ve been dipped in ink and let loose in a coal mine,” Rarity said.

A few seconds later, Zephyr Breeze stumbled into the bathroom and turned on the light within when he got back up. The bathtub was empty and dry. It had been scrubbed clean. Except for the rust stain under the twin faucets, it shined.

“Hey, there’s a hot tub!” he said. “Any takers?”

The girls collectively passed and said that they were going to keep an eye out for the ghost.

“And just to make sure nothing happens, we’ll all take turns keeping watch,” Twilight told them.

“Okay, but who’s gonna stand the first watch?” Dash wanted to know.

“Uh, girls, was Discord wearing a brown suit, red tie and tennis shoes?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yeah,” Dash confirmed. “When we last saw him.”

“I think I found him,” Fluttershy replied. “Only he looks a little older now.”

She pointed to one of the sitting room chairs, and there was Discord (or at least what was left of him). The flesh had rotted from his face and he clutched the arms of the chair with bony fingers.

“That’s about as old as you can get,” Dash stated.

“There has to be another way out of here!” Starlight exclaimed. “Start tapping on the walls!”

“Nope, we’re stuck here until morning when someone comes to fill the vending machine,” Zeph said.

“That’s my job!” Pinkie told him.

The girls tried hard to not panic, but it was difficult. They were trapped with a dead body and weren’t going to get out until someone came along. Suddenly, Fluttershy heard a long, low rumbling sound like a growl.

“What was that?!” she cried.

“That was my tummy,” Pinkie said. “I’m starving!”

Rainbow Dash sighed, “This is gonna be a long night.”

Pinkie quickly found the minifridge... and it was crammed full of fresh food! There was enough fancy eats in it for a small banquet: caviar, imported cheeses, fruits (including Egyptian dates), Turkish coffee and Danish pastries! The girls couldn’t believe it.

“But who would be eating it?” they all thought. “And why would they come here of all places?”

Suddenly, they heard a low moan.

“Please tell me that was your stomach again,” Fluttershy said to Pinkie.

“No,” she replied quietly.

Rainbow Dash shivered and asked, “Is it getting chilly in here?”

The air was definitely getting colder. It was cold enough she could see her breath. Her arms and legs all prickled with goose bumps, and the hair at the nape of her neck stiffened.

“Okay, everyone, enough!” Twilight shouted. “Ugh, who is making that awful screeching?”

The noise grew louder, louder, echoing everywhere, all around. A pair of tiny red eyes glowed on the other side of the room. Then, a shape began to come toward them, smelling of blood. It was clothed in a soldier’s dress uniform, it had a saber in one hand and it was swinging it from side to side, cutting the wallpaper.

“It’s the ghost!” they exclaimed.

“He’s he-e-e-re!” Fluttershy whimpered.

“Take her first!” Zeph said, shoving Twilight towards it.

“Those diamonds are rightfully mine!” the ghost stated. “This is your first and final warning! Unless they are returned to this suite before dawn, the entire hotel staff shall suffer the same terrible fate!”

The tip of his saber was pointing to Discord’s skeletal remains as he spoke. Then he pointed it at Rarity. He raised his blade and was about to take a swing at her when she and the others ran for the bathroom, and Rarity closed the door behind them.

“That was close,” she said.

“It’s got to be a hallucination or something!” Twilight told them.

“Is that a hallucination?!” Zephyr asked.

They looked at the once empty bathtub and saw brown liquid boiling in it. Then, the shower faucet turned on... by itself! The hot water ran full force and the stall quickly fogged over. They saw something floating through the cloud of steam.

“Relax, it’s just a bathrobe,” Twilight said.

She opened the shower door and pulled the robe out of the stall. Then it started floating above their heads.

“Ghost bathrobe!” Starlight shouted. “Run!”

Zephyr Breeze screamed as he tore the bathroom door open and they bolted for the bedroom. They slammed the doors shut behind them, and jammed one of the chairs under the doorknobs.

“Is everyone okay?” Sunset asked.

Zephyr Breeze screamed again.

“What?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“The bed! It’s possessed!”

“It’s a vibrating bed,” Dash told him. “All the V.I.P. suites have them, you knucklehead.”

“I am not a knucklehead!”

“Am too,”

“Am not,”

“Am too,”

“Am not!”

“What now?” Fluttershy asked, completely frightened.

“Now we wait till morning,” Pinkie said.

“Would you all quit it already?” Twilight shouted. “This ghost stuff is ridiculous!”

“Twilight, would you just admit this place is haunted by an undead, angry ghost solider out for revenge and that we’re all gonna die !?!” Zephyr cried.

“It’s some kind of trick or a figment of the imagination,” she continued to deny. “And even if it wasn’t, I’m not going to let that scare me. I am going to solve this mystery!”

That’s when Twilight noticed that the four poster bed was made up with sheets and covers and pillows. They weren’t supposed to be there. Then she remembered seeing a bathmat on the floor in front of the tub in the bathroom while everyone else was distracted by the boiling brown crud. Why was it there? They should have been in the linen closet at the end of the wing with the rest of the sheets and towels and pillow slips. Twilight also remembered seeing a professional makeup kit on the counter by the sink when the shower fogged over.

“Look what I found,” Rarity said.

She reached into the closet across from the bed and pulled out several suitcases, like someone had just checked in. What would they be doing in a closed off room?

“Somebody’s actually been living here,” Twilight said.

“And what’s this?” Starlight asked as she reached for something on the bedside table.

It was a wig head, but without a wig.

“If only we could set a trap for that ghost,” Zephyr thought out loud.

“We can,” Twilight replied. “We have enough clues here to turn the tables on this... whatever it is. Now here’s what we’re gonna do!”

The sky was dotted with clouds as the full moon shined down on Las Pegasus. In Spike’s suite, Applejack sat with him as they looked at a photo that Photo Finish had taken the night of A. K. Yearling’s book lecture. Applejack, Sunset, Fluttershy and Pinkie were still in their bunny suits and ears, standing on either side of Spike, which made him look like a playboy. He smiled at the thoughts of that night, especially his fivesome with them. It was moments like that that made Spike wish he could make copies of himself so that there was more of him to go around... and he could satisfy them even more.

Spike had been going over the contents of Firelight’s binder all night with a frantic feeling that time was short and he had to hurry. It seemed that the deeper he dug, the more he learned how dark the resort was. Still the vital clues, the connections that would make everything clear, eluded him. Applejack noticed his expression, and thought he was thinking about Twilight.

“What happened to her isn’t your fault,” she said at last. “It’s just the way things are here.”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

Spike knew what Applejack meant, but he still wanted to hear it from her. As the days went by, he had found out that a lot of his coworkers were associated with prominent groups, some political, some economic, but all very powerful. And if they were going to hold sway over each other, they needed to be good gamblers. The Flimflam Brothers controlled everything that happened in their casino. When it came to the employees, the number of wins, and the amount of money they won, determined their rank.

“The best dominate the rest, and the ones that can’t gamble are the first to get crushed underfoot,” Applejack said.

Spike nodded.

“This place... some pretty bad types owned it awhile back.” he said, recalling his talk with Firelight earlier that night. “Did you know anything about that?”

“Believe it or not, it didn’t used to be this bad,” AJ replied. “Everything changed two years ago, when Impossibly Rich came back. The city is divided into two factions: Old Las Pegasus, the gangsters and the gamblers, and New Las Pegasus, the performers and the culture icons.”

The Rich Family was part of the former.

“Impossibly Rich played Flim and Flam for the deed to the once vacant lot that was across the street; that’s when the discrimination between the resorts, and their employees, started. Things quickly got worse after that,” she went on.

“So the old battle axe is pretty good in her own right,” Spike said.

“The members of Impossibly Rich’s inner circle are the elite of the elite, masters of every game from Blackjack to Russian Roulette. To best one of them would be insane. In a way, Twilight’s fall was pretty extreme. She roped everyone into her schemes, and then suffered a crushing defeat. But for it to happen as soon as summer season began, that’s just bad luck.”

Suddenly, they heard screaming coming from three floors below.

Meanwhile, in the haunted honeymoon suite, the ghost of Sir Ragamuffin reappeared, and he was very angry.

“You did not do as I said,” he stated. “Now you shall pay!”

The ghost advanced on Zephyr Breeze and the girls, his saber’s blade cutting through the air with a wicked whisper, and then a great hiss as it cut through the silk couch cushions, sending dust flying around in a dry puff.

“I will paint the walls with your blood!”

Zephyr and Rainbow Dash ran into the bedroom while the ghost chased Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie around the sitting room.

Spike and Applejack ran down the stairwell, exited onto the 23rd floor, and raced down the hall to Suite 2239. Inside, the screaming went on, accompanied by thumps, crashes, booms, and the unmistakable sound of broken glass—the sounds of destruction. Spike tried the doorknob, but it wouldn’t turn.

“Break it,” Spike said. “Quick.”

Applejack raised one booted foot and brought it down against the door with the strength of ten men. The lock was weak; it gave immediately and the door flew open, banging the wall and sending the knob through it (so the door stayed open).

Pinkie and Fluttershy were huddled together near the fireplace.

“Run, Spike, run!” shouted Fluttershy. “Save yourself!”

Spike looked around the room until he saw a vacuum cleaner; the light on the front of the unit flashed on and off and dust was escaping out of the bag.

“Pinkie, Fluttershy, stay right there!” Spike yelled as he hid behind the couch and made his way toward the monstrous machine.

“I bet its circuits are blown,” he thought.

The vacuum turned suddenly, racing across the room toward him. He jumped over the couch to avoid it and sprinted for the plug on the other side of the room where the electrical cord ran. His only chance would be to pull the plug. Spike reached the outlet just ahead of the vacuum and what he saw made his heart jump: the plug was already out of the socket!

Then all of the furniture (the coffee table, chairs, and couch) started floating!

“Look out!” Applejack shouted as the coffee table flew at him.

They ducked as the table crashed into the wall behind them.

“Here it comes again!” Fluttershy cried.

The table flew like it was jet-propelled as it chased them around the room. Then several rolled up newspapers took flight and started swatting them.

“You can’t get away!” Ragamuffin shouted.

“Back to the bedroom!” Twilight cried as the record player was overturned.

“They’re coming back,” Zephyr said as he noticed Rainbow Dash trying to pull the covers from the bed. “What are you doing?” he asked. “Wait--Use the sheets for a trap? Great idea!”

He gave her a hand and they took up positions on either side of the bedroom doors. Once the girls were all inside the room, Zeph and Dash pulled the covers up to block the doorway. They didn’t stop the ghost of Sir Ragamuffin, but they blinded him so that he tumbled through the air, dropping his sword, and crashed into the vibrating four poster bed. The bed’s frame collapsed under him and the posts broke, which brought the canopy down on top of him, and the mattress curled around him so that he looked like a pig in a blanket.

“We got him!” Zephyr shouted.

“I guess that about wraps up this ghost story,” Pinkie said.

“Now let’s see who you really are!” Twilight exclaimed.

Rarity pulled a handkerchief out of her purse and as soon as she cleaned off his face, they recognized him.

“Discord!?” they all exclaimed.

“It was you all along!” Fluttershy gasped. “Why-why would you do this?”

“I was trying to scare you slackers away so I could have this sweet suite to myself,” he explained.

“So, there aren’t any ghosts?” Starlight asked.

“Or diamonds?” Rarity added sadly.

“No, just a V.I.P. room that’s not up to code,” Discord replied.

“So the brown stuff in the bathtub?” Sunset inquired.

“Rusty water,” he answered.

“And the cold air?” Dash asked.

“I broke the A/C when I snuck in through the air vent in the bathroom. The ghostly moans you heard were all recordings. And by a clever use of a wig and makeup, I made myself look like Sir Ragamuffin. I even rigged the blood on the wall and the floating furniture and bathrobe as part of it,”

Twilight examined the coffee table in the sitting room. Battery-powered fans and motors underneath gave it the power to fly.

“And I would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for you meddling punks!” Discord finished.

“Well, I am very disappointed in you for not telling us the truth about Ragamuffin and using it for your own personal gain!” Spike scolded him.

“What do you mean, Spike?” Sunset asked.

“After Discord told us his version of what happened to Ragamuffin, I decided to do some digging of my own,” Spike explained. “At first glance, this looks like an open and shut case of double murder-suicide. Right now, the Las Pegasus Police Department believes that Ragamuffin murdered his wife and their maid because Ragamuffin had a mental breakdown. But this crime took place over 30 years ago... and crime scene analysis and forensic science has come a long way in the last three decades. After a talk with Starlight’s father, who’s an expert on the history of Las Pegasus, I decided to pay Shining Armor a visit at his office downtown. Turns out he’s secretly reopened the Ragamuffin case and according to him, someone killed Ragamuffin, his wife, and the maid... and Ragamuffin was framed for the whole thing!”

The gang stared at Spike with wide eyes.

“But if Ragamuffin didn’t kill himself, his wife, or the maid, who did?” Rarity asked.

“Someone spooked their maid, so Ragamuffin and his wife kept her with them in the honeymoon suite, where they thought she would be safe... but she was anything but,” Spike continued. “The wife showed up later that night, entered the bathroom expecting to find her husband, and found the maid lying dead in the bathtub... a result of being electrocuted by a clock radio that her killer had dropped into the water. The cops were right - Ragamuffin was in the room the night the murders took place, but his fingerprints prove he was there AFTER the first murder was committed. So he couldn’t have killed the maid. The only other thing the police knew for certain was that, from the angle Ragamuffin’s wife was shot; her shooter was lying on the floor. Why?”

Spike pointed to a spot on the sitting room floor and they saw streaks of black shoe polish along the rug. Whoever shot Ragamuffin’s wife was dragged! Besides the victims, there were at least two other people in the room: the wife’s shooter, and whoever was dragging the shooter.

“A fight broke out when Ragamuffin came in later and attacked the maid’s killer - Ragamuffin lost. The killer didn’t hesitate to electrocute the maid and hang the wife from the chandelier by her wrists, but they wanted Ragamuffin alive for just a little bit longer. With the maid already dead, all the killer had to do was tie up loose ends. And what better way to do it than to pin it on the husband,” Spike concluded. “Ragamuffin didn’t kill his wife, at least not directly... What kind of monster forces a man to shoot the woman he loves?” he asked them.

The gang felt another rush of cold air. They turned as one and saw three figures floating on the other side of the sitting room. One wore a soldier’s dress uniform, one was dressed in a white wedding gown, and one was clothed in a simple black dress. It was the ghosts of Sir Ragamuffin, his wife, and the maid!

Their faces softened into smiles.

“Impossibly Rich,” they whispered, and they disappeared in a wisp of smoke, leaving them alone.

Light broke through the window—dawn finally came—and the chandelier dropped to the floor and broke apart. But the glass didn’t shatter... because it wasn’t glass at all! It was the Ragamuffins’ diamonds!

“That’s what the note meant,” Spike thought. “The Ragamuffin diamonds replaced the pieces of glass that made up the chandelier.”

He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Shining Armor directly, saying he’d made a huge break in the Ragamuffin case. Shining Armor arrived later and took the diamond chandelier into custody, but Spike told Shining in private that it would be difficult to prove that Impossibly Rich was the killer... especially since the only ones who could prove it were dead.

After Shining left, Spike pulled Starlight Glimmer aside.

“For the short amount of time your Dad’s been in Las Pegasus, he sure seems to know a lot about the city’s history,” Spike began.

“So, what?” Starlight replied. “Is it a crime to be curious by nature?”

“Shut up,” Spike told her. “Just shut up! You know, one of my problems, on a list that’s quite long and very distinguished, is that despite my skeptical nature, I have a very bad tendency to trust people. I used to look for the good in everyone! Unfortunately, humanity has a very bad habit of letting me down.”

Starlight blinked.

“The help your father gave me on the Ragamuffin case, he has unparalleled access to stuff that he shouldn’t know about and shouldn’t have in his possession,”

“Just what are you implying, Spike?” Starlight asked.

“I’m not implying anything,” he stated. “I know that you, and your father, know more about what’s really going on in this city than you’re telling me, and Impossibly Rich is at the center of it. NOW, why don’t you look me in BOTH my eyes and tell me that I’m WRONG... ‘friend’!”

Later, the mole at the Flimflam Brothers’ Resort called Impossibly Rich after Shining Armor had left and informed Impossibly that Spike had solved the Ragamuffin murder case.

“What are we going to do now?” the mole asked.

“I want everything ready by the time that Video Gamers’ Convention comes to Las Pegasus next week,” she said. “And if push comes to shove, I don’t want to see Spike Drake again... alive.”

She hung up on the mole and Abacus Cinch asked, “All due respect, Ma’am, but Spike Drake is just one man. How much trouble could he really be?”

“You have no idea,” Impossibly Rich stated.

Author's Note

Next time, the girls try to cheer Spike up by taking him to the launch party of a video game version of Ogres and Oubliettes only to get zapped into the game via a device created to further enhance the gameplay experience.

Ogres & Oubliettes: Dark Alliance, Act II

Sunlight soon came and Applejack/Lady Jacqueline and Fluttershy/Lady Silentflyer awoke to find Spike/Garbuncle already up and getting dressed.

“Oh, well, good morning,” Applejack said with a smile.

“Morning was over half an hour ago,” Spike replied bitterly.

AJ and Fluttershy propped themselves up in bed.

“Ooh, and good morning to you, too,” Fluttershy quipped.

Spike looked down at himself to see that she was staring at his massive dragon cock, and quickly closed his robe. Once he finished dressing, Spike went to wake the rest of the girls. Pinkie was already up, as were Starlight and Rainbow Dash—Dash had been up for hours, doing yoga on the roof of the inn, and had seen the sunrise—but Sunset, Twilight, and Rarity were still asleep. Spike knew that Sunset wasn’t a morning person; like him, she needed to ease into her day slowly. Spike was never himself until an hour after he woke up.

But he hauled her out of bed and brushed off the dirty look she gave him by saying, “The sooner we find Micro Chips’ friend and get out of this virtual world, the better. Now come on, breakfast is almost ready.”

Sunset nodded and Spike left her to get dressed. She and the rest of the girls eventually joined him downstairs, where he, Discord/Captain Wuzz, Big Mac/Sir McBiggun, Pinkie/Bard Pie, and Rainbow “Rogue” Dash were already having breakfast. And Fluttershy’s new wolf companion—who she had named Sandra—was sitting on the floor by Spike’s leg while Spike told Discord about the nightmare he’d had the night before; he was running from the daughters of a king.

“And he wants every one of them to have a child by me,” Spike concluded.

“Well, how many daughters has the old monarch got?” Discord asked.

“Fifty,”

“You sly dog,” Discord laughed. “You’ll take care of ‘em easy.”

“You, sir, truly are the strongest Dragonborn in the world if you can...” Pinkie began, “... hold 50 hearts in sway at once.”

“It’d be easier to deal with a Cyclops than fifty nubile maidens,” Spike replied. “All the women want is my body.”

The barmaid brought them several plates of eggs in a nest with bacon.

“Ah, yes,” Twilight said. “Fried eggs swimming in fat served in a delightfully hollowed-out piece of white bread. I can almost hear by left ventricle slamming shut as I speak.”

“You want cheese on that?” Pinkie offered.

“NO, I’d like to leave some blood flow for the clot to go swiftly to my brain,” she retorted.

After breakfast, Spike led his team (including Sandra) to the lower part of the city. The place where the people who performed the real work—the ones that loaded and unloaded the ships, that tallied the cargo and hauled the goods, and repaired the keels and mended the sails—lived. Several men, and even a few women, in steel gray uniforms—the Crescent Moon Mercenaries (who were responsible for keeping order in the city)—roamed among them.

The docks and shipping facilities were among the most efficient along the coast and Selena’s Gate relied heavily on the ships that docked there. A large marketplace, similar to a bazaar, dominated the heart of the city; and there was a great hall in the northeast side, which was where the seat of the government was located. There was a small fortress on an island in the center of the harbor to keep enemy vessels out; and to keep vermin from spreading into the city, cats were bred and encouraged to roam the streets.

“This world is massive,” Twilight observed. “The user interface is nonrepeating for up to thirty million acres. That’s over seven hundred terabytes of Terra firma.”

“Of course it’s big,” Pinkie said. “It’s got to be. There are over a million avatars walking around! And a million gamers in the real world making them walk and talk and live the game life. Or, at least they will be if Micro Chips decides to release his game to the public after this is all done.”

“It’s beautiful,” Rarity said in awe.

“It’s like a Renaissance Fair without all the chubby couples,” Discord added.

“It seems like all the races of this world are here,” Fluttershy said. “Look how they’re all getting along.”

She was right; there were people of all kinds in the marketplace, and not just humans, elves and half-elves, but everything in between. There were dwarves (shield and gold), gnomes, halflings, even a half-orc or two, and all of them were happy. As they walked through the market, they were encountered by merchants and peddlers selling everything from food (including coconuts, bananas, sugared dates, figs, and pistachios) to jewelry to livestock.

“Goat for sale!”

“Chickens! Chicken! Here’s a chicken!”

“I don’t like my chickens live,” Rainbow Dash said. “I like ‘em dead and deep fried. You ever heard of the Colonel’s chicken?”

The vendor was about to cut off a chicken’s head when Fluttershy shouted, “I’m warning you, I’m a druid, put the blade down and let the bird go, right now!”

The vendor looked at her, stared her up and down, her eyes narrowed... then very slowly put down the knife and silently handed Fluttershy the chicken, who she named Elizabeth.

Next to the chicken stall was a fish stall with tubs of turtles and live eels. A woman came up, picked out the ones she wanted, and the peddler put them on a butcher block, took a cleaver, and chopped them up right in front of her. He chopped off the eel’s head and the head went flying right onto Twilight’s forehead! She screamed so loudly that she ran back down the street. Starlight went after her and brought her back (after she’d calmed down), and as they walked, many of the women greeted Spike with smiles.

“Hello, Garbuncle,” one giggled.

“Hi,” said another.

“It seems everyone knows Spike’s character,” Rarity observed. “At least the women do...”

“Where is it?” Spike asked himself.

“Is there something you’re looking for?” Applejack asked him.

“If what Micro Chips said is true, we’re gonna need better gear and more experience points to make ourselves as strong as possible if we’re gonna survive in here,” he said. “Let’s see if we can find the blacksmith.”

They were approached by a blind man (blind in the sense that he had a blindfold over his eyes) dressed in gray robes and carrying a wooden staff.

“Looking for weapons, sir?” he asked as he pointed with his walking stick. “This place has the finest weapons in the city. Please, have a look.”

The group exchanged looks, most of them wondering how and/or why a blind man would know the location of the local blacksmith.

“The blind are often blessed with keen insight,” Spike thought.

Spike thanked the blind man as he and his party entered the shop, which had a variety of fine items on display. It was run by a burly, crusty old man with thinning white hair, a gray beard, and a voice that sounded like it came from deep within an empty wine cask.

“Welcome, friends. If you’re looking for a good blade or a sturdy shirt of chainmail, you’ve come to the right place,” he began. “Say, I know you! You’re the adventurers that helped Lady Cashmere back on the Trade Way, yes?”

“Perhaps,” Twilight replied. “What of it?”

Applejack and Spike both elbowed Twilight hard.

“Yes, that was us,” Spike/Garbuncle said.

“We helped them, though Celeste guides our hands,” Sunset added.

“Ho-ho, it’s an honor to meet you! Lady Cashmere spoke highly of you, and her word is better than gold. I’m Barley, and my shop boasts many fine deals. I’ve also hired on Cinnamon Buns, a skilled artisan, so if you’re looking to have equipment custom-made or broken down, my workshop will serve you well. Our stock may be a bit low at the moment with the recent demand for weapons and armor, but a new shipment should be coming soon,”

“What caused this demand?” Spike inquired.

“Well, I don’t know the cause, friend, but the word is there’s been some trouble between the thieves’ guilds of late. No matter to me if the two groups kill each other--never had much use for thieves, myself. Now what can I do for you?”

“Let’s see what you have,” Spike said.

Barley had a little of everything: wooden and iron shields, padded, leather, and studded leather armor (helmets, boots and gloves), suits of scale mail, chainmail (including bikinis), and plate mail armor (half plate and full plate), robes, thick furs, and hooded cloaks. Weapons included staffs, daggers, maces, handaxes, short swords, battle axes, warhammers, shortbows, spears, long swords, throwing axes, great axes, morning stars, bastard swords (massive blades which required both hands), crossbows, and halberds.

Rainbow Dash unloaded the several dozen daggers, throwing knives, scimitars, and other weak/shoddy weapons she had picked up on the Trade Way—and had been dragging around since—while the rest of the group browsed.

“We have many fine deals,” Barley said. “What are you looking for?”

“Something to split someone’s skull would be nice,” Twilight replied.

“A shield would be better,” Starlight added.

“My shop carries the finest Dwarven weapons, brought here all the way from the Forbidden Mountains; the works of local craftsmen, as well as imports from Shallowpond and Uz,”

As the gang looked at the prices on everything, they hoped they had enough money... because none of it was cheap.

“If quality and price are your chief concerns, then look no farther. You’ll find my shop has excellent products at reasonable prices,” Barley told them. “You’ll find no quality to match mine... I’ve been supplying adventurers for over a decade,” he bragged.

Pinkie didn’t see anything that really caught her eye.

“I receive new shipments frequently,” Barley said, “so if you don’t see anything you like, check back from time to time.”

Starlight picked up a Flaming Oak Staff—it weighed four pounds, caused anywhere between 8 and 48 points of damage, and was worth 3,285 gold—while Fluttershy examined an Icy Burst Short Sword (that weighed three pounds, did 3-19 damage, and cost 7,859 gold), a Masterwork Long Sword +2 (four pounds, 8-20 damage, and only 2,977 gold), an Adamantine Handaxe +1 (five pounds, 8-28 damage, worth 3,285 gold), and a Great Sword +2 (fifteen pounds, 12-26 damage, and 2,920 gold), but none of them felt right to her.

Discord picked up an Icy Burst Oak Shortbow +2 (two pounds, 28-88 damage, worth 22,258 gold) while Big Mac took up a Jeweled Mithral Great Sword of Defense +3 (fifteen pounds, 39-81 Damage, worth 65,779 gold).

“Try it out, try it out,” Barley told them.

Barley guided the two men to the next room, which had been converted into a training area so they could test the weapons, while Rarity/Ruvia and Applejack/Lady Jacqueline were looking at the choices for armor.

“You could try wearing chainmail,” Rarity suggested.

“Nah,” AJ replied. “That’d just attract a kinkier group.”

While the women shopped, Spike followed the sounds of hot iron hissing—and the hammering out of the last of a dozen swords—to the blacksmith’s forge at the back of the building.

“Hello? Is anyone home?” he called out.

“Back here,” a female voice replied.

“Oh, hi, I... Um...”

There was a beautiful woman at the forge. She was a stunning blonde with bronze skin and her brown leather outfit (which was shaped like a leotard, complete with a matching thong) was so small she might as well have not been wearing anything at all.

“I was wondering if you do custom orders,” Spike said, finding his voice. “I need some weapons forged, and the shop owner said I’d find the blacksmith here.”

“You did,” she replied.

“But you’re a woman,”

“And you’re a man, which I could have figured out even if you didn’t have your foot in your mouth,” she countered.

“Well, it’s... no offense. It was the steam. It got in my eyes,”

“I’m Cinnamon Buns,” she introduced herself. “What’s your name?”

“Garbuncle,”

“Well, you’re big and you look fit,” she observed, as she removed her blacksmith apron. “But there’s only one way to tell for sure.”

She led Spike by the arm to a small table by the forge. She placed her right arm on the surface with her elbow bent and he gripped it with his own hand.

They were going to arm-wrestle!

“Is this really necessary?” he asked her.

“No one’s ever been able to beat me, so I figure it would take someone like the great Garbuncle. So shut up and say, ‘One, two, three.’ Come on. Say it,”

Spike rolled his eyes. “One, two, three.”

Cinnamon Buns almost smashed Garbuncle’s hand into the table, but he quickly pushed her arm back, causing her to grunt; and Garbuncle would have won... if he hadn’t spied her cleavage and was distracted just long enough for her to pin him at the critical moment.

“What’s the matter, Garb? More steam in your eyes?” Cinnamon Buns asked as she stroked his chin. “Well, you just proved you’re as much of a man as you are a dragon. So what brings the great Garbuncle to Selena’s Gate?” she added as she stroked his bicep. “And more importantly, how long are you planning on staying?”

“Long enough,” he answered. “Now, about those weapons...”

“Slipped your mind, did they?” she asked.

“I’m not worried about the cost,” he told her. “I just want the best blades you can make as soon as possible.”

Cinnamon Buns returned to her forge and she chuckled when she caught him sneaking a peek at her practically bare ass—wondering what it would look like covered in his own special icing—and quickly averted his gaze.

“So, how does your process work?” he asked her.

“It’s simple and affordable. If you’ve collected any magical components--magical gems and the like--I can craft them into whatever you need,” she explained. “Or, if you have magical equipment that you’d like broken down for the raw components--and perhaps even reforged into something else--I do that for a small fee as well!”

Spike/Garbuncle cast off his robe, leaving himself bare-chested, and laid it out like a tablecloth across the table. It contained a lot more than it should have: four Grand Great Swords (each fifteen pounds, and could deal 30-72 damage), a Flawless Shortbow, two Flawless Amulets, seven Flawless Rings, and two leather purses (one for gemstones, the other for gold).

He opened the pouches. The first held over a dozen sapphires, 30 jacinth, 21 pieces of jade, 12 amethyst, six topazes, 19 pieces of coral, 24 jet, 36 aquamarine, 15 diamonds, 18 pearls, 17 moonstones, 63 rubies, 16 emeralds, and 116 rune stones... and the other held 1,059,997 gold coins to pay for it all!

He handed Cinnamon Buns the four swords as well as gemstones for her to forge into them. For the first sword, he gave her ten rune stones, ten jacinth, and ten rubies, and she forged it into a Grand Infernal Great Sword (which inflicted +4-24 Fire Damage in addition to its 42-84 hit point range and its victim would bleed 4 damage points per second for 4 seconds) worth 64,799 gold. The second sword, he gave her ten emeralds (as well as ten rubies and ten rune stones), and it became a Grand Vampiric Great Sword (+20% Damage inflicted added to Hit Points and +20% Damage inflicted added to Magic Energy) worth 56,699 gold. The other two became a Grand Frost Great Sword (the ten aquamarines added +4-16 Cold Damage) and a Grand Defending Great Sword (which added +2 Armor Class to each piece of armor worn, thanks to the ten pieces of jet).

After that, he had her create a Flawless Shortbow of Wounding (16 rubies caused the target to bleed 5 Damage per second for five seconds). Then, he gave her one of his flawless rings (as well as ten rune stones, ten sapphires and ten aquamarines) and it became a “Flawless Ring of the North” (+4 Sunder and +4 Intelligence) worth 50,039 gold coins. He gave her another flawless ring, but with ten rubies (as well as the ten rune stones and ten aquamarines), and it became a “Flawless Ring of the Wolf” (+4 Great Fortitude and Intelligence) worth 58,139. And finally, a flawless amulet (with five rune stones, five jacinth and five topazes), and it became a “Flawless Firestorm Amulet” (+3 Strength and +3 Dexterity) worth 34,964.

Once that was accomplished, Discord, Big Mac and the girls joined Spike so that they could pay Barley for their items. Sunset wanted to buy a Flaming Burst Adamantine Morning Star of Purity +4 (twelve pounds and 52-88 damage) for 77,048; a blue Flawless Ring of Retribution (studded with two diamonds and two moonstones) worth 8,859; a green Flawless Angelic Ring (studded with two diamonds and two pearls) worth 10,985; and golden a Superior Guardian’s Amulet (with two jets and one diamond) worth 6,577 gold. Starlight wanted a Flawless Necromancer’s Ring (four diamonds and four jade) for 27,674; and Twilight wanted a Flawless Ice Witch’s Amulet (10 emeralds and aquamarines) for 59,435.

Cinnamon Buns handed the four blades to Spike as soon as they finished cooling, saying, “The best swords I’ve ever forged.”

Spike took up the Grand Infernal Great Sword and the Grand Vampiric Great Sword, and twirled both in his hands.

“It feels like you forged your soul into them!” he said.

“Will that be all?” Cinnamon Buns asked. “Or you got something else in mind?” she flirted, her gaze drifting to the pile of hay in the corner.

Spike put down the blades and started to leave.

“Don’t walk away before you hear my offer, Garbuncle,” she added.

“Look, I’m flattered...” he began.

“I was talking about your weapons that time,” she said.

“Good, because there’s a time and a place for everything and this is the time and place for business,” he replied.

“As you can attest, I just forged you four of the finest blades that can be made for a thousand miles in any direction,” she said. “I’ll tell you what I’ll do: I’ll give you all four swords, and everything else your friends want to buy, for 600,000 gold. Or if you’ll spend a little time with me, I’ll drop the total down to 200,000.”

“You have a lot of nerve, trying to take advantage of--!” Rarity shouted.

Spike glared at her, cutting her off.

“What do you say, handsome? I won’t bite... unless you want me to,” Cinnamon Buns said. “What’s wrong? Scared of a real woman?”

“No, it’s not that, it’s just...”

“I am a virgin, if that’s what’s bothering you,”

“Cinnamon Buns, no matter what you think, I’m not opposed to beautiful women, but I don’t want to go through life leaving a string of fatherless children behind. I hope you understand,”

She smiled. “Are you always so noble?”

“I try to be,”

“All right, 600,000 gold,” she told him.

“Thanks, it’s been a pleasure doing business with you,”

“There’s always 400,000 waiting for you back here... if you change your mind,” she added. “And I’d like to be your exclusive blacksmith from now on.”

“What do you mean by that?” he asked.

“Anytime you come back, stop by and let me do maintenance on your gear, from now till the end of days. If you ever need your weapons repaired, my door’s always open. You’ll always be welcome in my forge,”

The cost to have the work done was exorbitant, but well worth it. And they still had over 400,000 gold left over. Spike paid Barley for the items as Cinnamon Buns pulled Applejack aside.

“He might be a little weird, but he’s not such a bad guy,” she whispered. “Don’t screw it up, he’s a keeper.”

As the party left the shop, they saw a gargantuan guy cracking a whip and pushing people around.

“Get in line, low-life scum!” he shouted.

“What’s going on?” Spike asked.

“Slave traders,” Barley snarled. “They come through here every month.”

“I hate slavery,” Spike said. “It’s not right.”

He followed the crowd to the auction block, and his friends followed him. When they reached it, the second to last slave was being auctioned off.

“Sold! And next, fresh off the livery, a young scrapper. He’ll work your fields, tend to your livestock, and he’ll take a good whipping, besides. Who’ll start the bidding at 150? Do I have 150? I have 150! Do I hear two? I have two. Two-fifty? Two-fifty! Do I have more? Do I have any more? Three! Three hundred! Three-fifty? Three-fifty. Four? Four hundred! Do I have more? Five hundred? Five hundred! Five hundred, once, twice... sold for 500 gold!”

The slave was hauled away and replaced by a beautiful woman with raven hair, fair skin, and dressed in tattered golden garments.

“And now, what you’ve all been waiting for, the best for last, a fine young wench for your bidding. She’ll cook your dinner, scrub your floor, and with that soft skin and pretty face... she’ll warm those cold, lonely nights,” the slave trader chuckled.

Spike overheard two of the younger bidders talking.

“Once we buy the wench, we’ll charge others to use her!” one of them said.

Spike growled and the bidding war began.

“Who’ll start the bidding for this flower of the mystic East?”

An old man raised his hand and said, “One hundred!”

“Two hundred!” Spike shouted.

“What are you doing?” Twilight asked.

“Trying to save her,” Spike replied.

“I’ve got two hundred from Garbuncle the Great, Dragonborn Wizard and Hero of the Realms, but surely this is not enough for a woman who has so much untapped potential as a concubine,” the trader said. “Do I hear 250?”

“Two-fifty!” one of the younger men cried out.

“Do I hear 300? Come now, gentlemen, a lass this lovely is certainly worth at least 300 gold,”

“Four hundred!” Spike shouted.

“What are you doing?” Discord asked. “No one’s bid 300 yet.”

“Four hundred? Hah! At last, a man who appreciates pulchritude,” the trader said. “Do I hear five?”

“Five hundred!” the old man replied.

“Five hundred... ten,” one of the young bidders added.

“One. Thousand,” Spike stated.

“Oh!” several of them exclaimed.

Spike/Garbuncle looked around, stared down the other competing bidders, and they all bowed out.

“I have one thousand. Do I hear any more bids? All right, then, going once, going twice... sold to our Dragonborn hero with the shimmer in his eye for one thousand gold. Congratulations, Garbuncle. Enjoy your purchase,” the trader said.

Once the auction was over and the crowd had dispersed, Spike handed over the gold, and then told the trader to take the girl’s shackles off.

“You think you can handle her?” he asked.

Spike just glared at him, and the trader complied.

“You’re free to go,” Spike told her.

“What, just like that, I’m free?”

“Just like that,”

“Why are you doing this?”

“I don’t believe in slavery,” he answered.

The former slave looked at him in awe.

“You really are Garbuncle the Great, aren’t you?”

“You know, I’m sick and tired of people asking me that,”

“No, I believe you. Thank you,”

Spike just nodded as she left and he led his party back to the Siren’s Song. When they returned to the inn, they were met by Valkyrie.

“Well met again, adventurers,” she greeted them. “Many are grateful for your help, I’m certain.”

“Hear any rumors of note lately?” Spike asked her.

“I’ve heard little... only that adventurers are hard up for work in the city. So many came to fight the Betrayer, but he’s already been vanquished,”

“What happened?” Starlight asked.

“What happened? There was the Betrayer, and the dark alliance he was gathering to destroy this city. But that’s why you came to Selena’s Gate, isn’t it, to defeat him?”

“Yes. Go on...” Rarity said.

“Well, it’s been done. Three adventurers journeyed into the wild, found the Betrayer’s black castle, and slew him. The castle crumbled, vanished... and the three heroes with it. That’s all I know,”

“Do you know anything about the three adventurers?” Spike inquired.

“I met them, once, when they came into this tavern: a human archer, a warrior--a half-elf, I think--and a Dragonborn sorceress. I came into the city with a caravan from Uz. Catrina’s thieves robbed it, but the adventurers helped recover everything. They also killed all the thieves, even Catrina herself... but then the Bloody Eye came,”

“The Bloody Eye?” Rainbow Dash repeated.

“A society of assassins who’ve risen to power in the city’s criminal underworld,” Valkyrie said. “Catrina destroyed the old thieves’ guild, adventurers destroyed Catrina’s, and now it’s the Bloody Eye: the worst of the lot so far.”

Spike and the others wanted to ask her more questions, but they were joined by Lady Cashmere.

“Ha! I thought you might seek me out,” she said to them. “Come! Have a seat, and we shall drink and sing the day away...”

“I do not sing,” Twilight stated.

“Another time, Milady,” Spike added, more politely. “We are seeking work. You spoke of associates that could use our skills?”

“I have two troubling tales to tell: firstly, there has been a series of kidnappings; some victims number among the city’s wealthy elite. Death lies in their future should ransom or rescue not be made... There has also been a rash of mysterious, grisly murders. There have been some leads, but little progress, and more mutilated corpses turn up each night. So, still interested? You’ll be paid for your efforts, of course.”

The group huddled up and spoke so softly that Valkyrie and Lady Cashmere couldn’t make out what was said. When the huddle broke, Discord volunteered himself, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Starlight and Twilight to investigate the murders.

“The citizenry is on edge; the bodies are often left so mutilated that they are unrecognizable,” Lady Cashmere told them. “Some witnesses claim to have seen misshapen and contorted figures leaving murder sites... and similar sightings have been reported around Broodmare Manor. Perhaps you should start your search there. It’s on the northeastern side of the city.”

“Broodmare Manor?” Rarity echoed.

“It is the home of Sylvia Broodmare, sole heiress to a vast fortune. Many have sent sons there in hopes of marrying Broodmare gold, but she turns them all away. She’s an eccentric woman: morose and, it’s said, macabre,”

“We’ll return when we find something,” Discord said. “Farewell.”

Spike, Applejack, Big Mac, Sunset, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie volunteered to look into the kidnappings.

“The Bloody Eye, a band of vicious criminals, are responsible. The ransom demands are ridiculous, far beyond the means of even the wealthiest victims’ families. Some think it all merely a sadistic excuse to send back severed body parts,” Lady Cashmere said. “The city guard knows a frontal attack could result in the murder of the hostages. Many families think a small group would have the best chance of success: this is you. No one knows where their guild hall is, but one of my, ah, less savory friends has informed me of where the victims are held: a dungeon hidden beneath an old warehouse in the southwest part of the city.”

“Tell us more about the Bloody Eye,” said Sunset.

“The Eye? They’re the new thieves’ guild in town, a band of assassins that took advantage of the power vacuum created when the last guild was destroyed. Word is they’re also responsible for the murder of two city watchmen, and the disappearances of several members of other, smaller guilds... murderous scum, all of them. No one knows who leads them,”

“We’ll return when we’ve succeeded,” Spike told her. “Farewell.”

“Luck be with you,”

After speaking with Lady Cashmere, the two groups set off to find their respective targets. The Thieves’ Guild levels contained an assortment of monsters, along with several different types of nefarious thieves, and powerful traps that would impede their progress as they got closer and closer to their goal.

As soon as they entered the warehouse, a trio of guards swarmed them, but Big Mac made short work of them with his sword. The next couple of rooms were mostly barren. Spike took out the sole thief in the second room before they moved further into the warehouse. They opened a door and entered a long corridor, where they battled a small pack of thieves.

Spike and Big Mac led the charge into the dining hall, which was crowded with thieves armed with throwing knives. Then they travelled through the adjacent room where they saw several assassins surrounded by crates in the center of it. They threw knives at them from their safe spot as Spike leapt over their barricade, avoiding the attack dogs that circled it, and hacked them (the thieves and the dogs) up with his swords.

The heroes scampered down the hall, broke into the treasure room, and looted its many chests, full of rubies, diamonds, sapphires, emeralds and gold. When they exited the treasure chamber, more thieves opened a series of cages to release four bloodthirsty mutts. Spike fell back and Applejack took the dogs out with her bow while Pinkie rushed another assassin barricade, and cleared it out, before slipping through a secret door at the end of the hallway, which descended down a spiral staircase, into the shadowy organization’s guildhall.

The second level of the Guild mostly eschewed creatures for powerful traps—including statues that hurled incendiary fireballs. Fireball traps were extremely deadly, but they could be turned to the heroes’ advantage. Standing outside the statue’s line of fire, they could lure nearby creatures into the trap, and the fireballs provided added damage potential against the level’s difficult enemies. Rushing the knife-throwing assassins was a dangerous plan, especially since the statue in the center of the room would blast fireballs at anything that ran past it. So, instead of a frontal assault, the heroes hung back as Applejack shot down the assassins with her bow. After that, they slowly approached the statue until it fired and then ran through after the fireball passed.

The dangers escalated as they cautiously approached a large chamber, where the first two hostages were being kept... and where bugbears and kobolds had set up a sizeable camp between the warehouse and the guildhall’s throne room.

One kobold was easy pickings, but a group of ten was a disaster waiting to happen. Kobolds were nasty, physically weak, cowardly little dog-headed humanoids known for their rapid breeding and their tendency to mob any adventurers that invaded their territory. They travelled in large packs and preferred to attack from a distance when possible with spears or spells, and many shamans could be found amongst their tribes. They worshipped evil dragons as demigods and served them as minions or toadies.

And as for the bugbears, tough by themselves, they were even worse when they traveled with a horde of kobolds. Born for battle and mayhem, they survived by raiding, hunting, bullying the weak, and they despised being bossed around. Their love for carnage meant they would fight for powerful masters if bloodshed and treasure were assured, but even when paid they were unreliable allies at best. They attacked in a very straightforward way: they saw you, walked up to you, and then pounded you into a bloody pulp with their huge spiked clubs.

The kobolds had been warming themselves by a fire when one of the bugbears, the chieftain, commanded them to, “Kill the intruders!”

Spike, Big Mac, and Applejack hacked and slashed their way through the kobolds before going toe-to-toe with the bugbears, which were no trouble after the three heroes wiped out the entire kobold camp. Fluttershy and Sunset found a ring of keys on the chieftain’s body, and used them to unlock the rooms that held the first two prisoners.

A pack of giant spiders guarded the cages where the “lower class” hostages were being kept; poor souls who didn’t even get the dignity of a small cell. The two men (and AJ) cleared out the spiders, freed the three captives, and continued down the corridor, staying alert, until finally they came face to face with the Bloody Eye’s second-in-command, and he was flanked by several goblins—members of the Silver Fang Marauders.

They’d finally gained an opportunity to seek out their attackers—as well as the enigmatic beast that may be in control of them.

“So, you’ve come all this way,” the Bloody Eye thief said. “To think I missed the chance to kill you when we first met.”

“I think you will find us tougher opponents when you can’t strike as a coward from the shadows,” Spike replied.

“Surrender,” Fluttershy added. “Your men are dead, and you have nowhere left to run.”

“You both speak the truth,” the thief replied. “I had not expected you to make it through the gauntlet. Still, it matters little whether you kill me or not, for either way, you will still die.”

“What do you mean?” Sunset asked.

“Even if you kill me, my Lord waits within. Your death at his hands will be a slow one compared to the mercy I will show you,”

“We shall see who dies this day, thief,” Spike said. “Prepare yourself.”

Applejack and Big Mac used their shields to block the thief’s knife throws as Spike approached him for melee combat, darting left and right to dodge his ranged attacks. Unfortunately, the thief was resistant to cold, fire and electricity, so spells weren’t going to have much effect on him. He also had a bull rush attack (similar to Big Mac’s, but couldn’t be blocked against), but once Spike was right in the thief’s face, the thief just used simple jabs as well as his sword.

AJ, Sunset and Fluttershy disposed of the thief’s various allies while Spike blocked against the thief’s strikes, then quickly retaliated with blows of his own. They defeated the Bloody Eye’s second-in-command, and his squad of Silver Fang goblins, and headed to the throne room door.

They proceeded into the ominous chamber. Although it appeared vacant, there was something waiting for them at the end of the room.

It was a large Beholder!

Aggressive, hateful, and greedy, Beholders were xenophobic isolationists. They dismissed all other creatures as lesser beings—crude and disgusting—toying with them or destroying them as they chose. The disdain they had for others extended to other beholders, as each believed its form to be ideal, that it was the epitome of its kind, and that any deviation from that form was a flaw in the racial purity of its race. This one had a smooth hide, with eyestalks that writhed like tentacles, and a purple color to it.

“So... you are the strangers that were spoken of,” it spoke in a deep, dark tone. “You humanoids all look alike to me... weak and fragile.”

“There is nowhere left for you to run,” Spike said. “Your guild is broken, your thieves lie dead.”

“And you will answer for those deaths! Do you think that your efforts here have saved this city? You are wrong. Our power extends far beyond these city streets. You cannot hope to stop us all!”

“Enough of your words, monster!” Applejack shouted. “Prepare to die!”

“It is you who will die. And your death will be a slow one.”

“We’ll see about that,” Big Mac stated.

They charged the Beholder and danced around it as they punished it. The Beholder was slow to turn and couldn’t keep up with their quick feet. It tried to launch a ground flame attack via its magic, but they continued rotating around it until it finally fell to the floor and bled to death.

Spike, Big Mac, Applejack, Sunset and Fluttershy returned to the Siren’s Song, where they were welcomed back by Lady Cashmere.

“Oh ho, is that a swagger I see in your stride?” she asked. “Shall I now bow to thee as you pass, destroyer of the Bloody Eye? Hm-hm!”

“I see word of success travels quickly around here,” Spike replied.

“Yes. The families of the freed send their warmest regards,”

While Spike’s group rescued the kidnapped citizens from the Bloody Eye, Discord’s group continued north along Selena’s Gate’s main street until they ended up at Broodmare Manor. It was a huge house, and within its walls were a small army of flesh hounds (evil dog-like creatures with tails that shot poison) and reanimateds (zombie-like humanoids). As undead creatures, the reanimateds had no life to drain (so Twilight’s Life Drain ability was worthless), but Starlight was able to seize control of them with Dark Possession, and turned them against the flesh hounds, giving her and her comrades a free crack at them.

From the entrance, the heroines (and Discord) headed to the east room, where they found the library. They inspected a bookcase by the grand piano to reveal a hidden passage, activated by a lever in a false bookshelf. They jumped through the passage, only to be confronted by an ancient spirit.

“You have gazed upon the crypts of House Fellmane, living, and for that you must perish,” it said.

“House ‘Fellmane?’” Rarity asked. “This is Broodmare Manor. Isn’t it?”

“The manor of Fellmane it was, before a great conflagration destroyed it. ‘Broodmare’ is the manse she and Razer built upon its ruins, curse their souls,”

“Why do you curse them?” Discord inquired.

“Because their audacity would reveal the shame of the Fellmane!” the ghost replied. “That these hideous ghouls are all that remain of a once-glorious family.”

“How did this happen?” Rarity asked.

“Decades past, my family fell into a corrupting spiral of hedonistic decadence and sadism. Over the years, their acts became so depraved that they devolved into incestuous, drug-crazed cannibals... those who died rose again as flesh-eating ghouls. As a ghost, I could only silently witness the atrocity of it all. Fortuitously, a freak accident destroyed the manor and hid any evidence of the Fellmane’s terrible secret... until now, may the Tartaruses take that vile woman! But you... you can help me! You must destroy the manor again, and with it the shame of House Fellmane!”

“Our services carry a price, spirit,” Twilight said. “I don’t work for free, whether or not my employer is alive, woeful tales or otherwise.”

“Rest assured that I will make it worth your while; the Fellmanes are not ones to shirk debts,” the ghost replied.

“We will do what we can, spirit,” Discord said.

“We will meet again once you have succeeded, living, at which time you will know the gratitude of House Fellmane. Farewell,”

The ghost disappeared as they dropped down through a trap door in the crypt’s floor and ended up in Sylvia Broodmare’s laboratory, where they found a few things that called her mental stability into question—the creatures in the cell area, for example: ghouls, skeletons, giant bats, giant rats, giant beetles, and giant spiders. After making short work of the creatures, they found a table covered with beakers, notes, and what looked like a brown book. It was actually a letter... and Starlight found its information interesting.

Dear Lord R,

I do hope this letter finds you well. Your last shipment of supplies and gold has been most generous. Please inform the Bloody Eye that fresh supplies will be needed... preferably live.

Faithfully yours,

Sylvia Broodmare

“We’re here to put Sylvia to rest, not to collect evidence against her,” Twilight reminded them.

She was right, but (unbeknownst to them) it connected Sylvia Broodmare to Lady Cashmere’s other quest.

“And who is this Lord R?” Starlight wondered.

After fighting though a dozen more ghouls, the heroines (and Discord) finally caught up with Sylvia Broodmare. She was even worse than Lady Cashmere described her. Despite her impressive bust and brunette hair, she looked sickly, malnourished, and her gown was drenched in blood.

“Ah, you’ve finally arrived. I do hope my creations haven’t given you too much trouble,” she said. “Lovely, aren’t they? It took me years to perfect the technique to successfully transfer limbs and organs from one creature to the next.”

“And how many died for this discovery?” Rarity asked.

“What does it matter? Perhaps hundreds died for me to learn this, but it was a small price to pay in the name of science! But you shouldn’t concern yourself over the welfare of others. Your thoughts should lie in the here and now,”

“We’re going to kill you,” Dash stated, “here and now.”

“Fame is not always a friend. I’d heard of your coming and have had time to prepare this just for you. Try not to play too hard, I might still have use for you later... provided your bodies aren’t too mutilated. Farewell,”

And with that, she set her latest creation on them: a much larger flesh hound... with three heads!

Fortunately, Sylvia spent too much time on limb transplants and not enough on brain transplants, because this creature fell for every trick in the book. Once it was defeated, Sylvia (ever the poor loser) pulled two levers: one turned on the poison vents while the other opened all the flesh hound cells between her safe room and the exit. The group ran back to the crypts, pushed one of the coffins over the trap door in the floor, and returned to the Manor.

After they had escaped Sylvia’s laboratory, they heard three people talking from just inside the chamber ahead. They slipped into the nearby alcove and listened in. They peeked around the corner and saw two finely dressed cat-like creatures and a reptilian humanoid resembling a lizard-man talking to what appeared to be a male human in a blood red nobleman’s suit.

“That is grave news, Lord Razer,” the cat-man said. “But no matter. The Four Foundations are nigh within the grasp of our patrons. When the Castle is theirs, the reward for your aid will make what your brigands brought you seem a paltry sum.”

“I should hope so, Capper,” the man in red replied. “These schemes have grown even more tiresome than looting forgotten tombs and stealing other dragon hordes have become.”

“Fear not,” the cat-woman told her. “The Dark Web leaves no debt unpaid. That is why we work for them, after all. Now, about this meddler, or meddlers? How many of these ‘adventurers’ have you caught?”

“Do not concern yourself, Catrina. They are mine to deal with,” Razer replied. “Nothing will escape those dungeons... especially not after I bring this manor burning down atop them.”

“You intend to destroy your home?” Catrina asked.

“‘Home?’ Hah!” Razer laughed. “I grow weary of this tiny structure. No, with the Silver Fangs scattered and the Bloody Eye’s work done, I will retire to my lair. Your masters will know how to find me if they require my services again. Farewell, Catrina.”

“Farewell, my Lord,”

The two cat-people departed, their lizard folk servant behind them, and the man in red shouted, “You there, come here! What? Did you think I could not sense your foul presence?”

Discord and the others revealed themselves.

“Do your chests swell with pride, ‘adventurers,’ imagining that you’ve accomplished something of import? Oh, but you’re too late! I am finished with this place. Even my treasure has been moved; nothing awaits you here but death. You are but insects, mindlessly scuttling across the last page of a book before you are crushed by the closing of the cover,”

“A coward’s boast,” said Twilight. “I’ll carve it on your tombstone.”

“Cork your ale-hole, dragon!” Discord added. “We’ve been paid to see the Silver Fangs dead... and you’re the last of them.”

“Your reign of terror ends here,” Starlight stated.

“We will not allow you to continue preying upon the good people of Selena’s Gate, Razer,” Rarity commanded. “Surrender, or by Celeste we will destroy you.”

Razer laughed. “Foolish little creatures! Before I turn this hovel into your funeral pyre, I shall bless you with a glimpse of greatness. Gaze trembling upon my true form, worms, and cower before the might of Razer, the Red Death!”

Razer fell on all fours, became consumed by fire, and transformed into a massive Red Dragon, with huge leathery bat-like wings, swept-back horns, a beak-like snout, and eyes that danced with flames!

“BURN!” he bellowed.

Flaming debris fell from the ceiling as they fled the burning grand ballroom after Razer crashed through the roof. Twilight immediately ran for the exit while the rest rescued the Manor’s trapped servants, saving them from a burning death.

When they returned to the Siren’s Song, they were met with several stares... including one from Barley, the weapons merchant.

“We all heard about what you did in the Manor,” he said. “It’s good hearing my weapons and armor were being put to good use.”

They joined Spike’s party and Lady Cashmere at one of the tables.

“We heard many terrible, malformed creatures fled Broodmare Manor,” she said. “City guards killed several, but some escaped. What happened?”

“Sylvia was creating monsters beneath the manor for someone referred to as ‘Lord R,’” Twilight shared. “She flooded the place with poison gas and fled.”

“So it was her vile creations that have been causing so much havoc each night. I’m glad you put an end to it, though it’s a shame you could not have put an end to her, the evil woman,” Lady Cashmere said.

“The Silver Fang Marauders and the Bloody Eye Guild were both led by the red dragon Razer, who’s been using sorcery to disguise himself as a nobleman,” Rainbow Dash added. “He’d been funding Sylvia Broodmare’s work, and controlled the two groups. He set fire to Broodmare Manor and left, thinking it a death trap, but the Silver Fangs and the Bloody Eye are finished in Selena’s Gate.”

Back in the real world, at Flimflam Brothers’ Resort, everyone from Celestia to Micro Chips to Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Soarin, Zephyr Breeze, Midnight Radiance, Adagio, Aria, Sonata, and Chrysalis continued to watch Spike, Discord, Big Mac and the girls’ exploits. No sooner had the group got strapped into their chairs, they were gone from the room... and on the big screen that displayed Micro Chips’ video game.

“That was a close one,” Sonata said.

“Yeah, but they’re doing pretty good so far,” Aria added.

Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo had called Sweetie Bot down from the Sky Resort to help Micro Chips with his machine.

“Well, can you fix it?” Celestia asked.

“I can’t get in,” Sweetie Bot replied. “Everything’s encrypted and these barriers are keeping me from issuing commands.”

“I don’t understand,” Micro Chips said. “I’m the only one who has full access to the console’s security system.”

They kept trying to regain access, but were met with a pop-up of a familiar face that taunted them, saying, “You didn’t say the magic word.”

“Impossibly Rich restricted our access,” Apple Bloom said. “I hate that dolled up hag!”

“Bring them back right now!” Sweetie Belle shouted.

“Micro Chips and I have been locked out of the gaming system,” Sweetie Bot replied. “We can’t control it.”

“We can’t get them back if we don’t take back control!” Scootaloo added. “They’re stuck in there!”

“Like birds in a cage,” Apple Bloom added.

Back in the video game, Spike, Discord, Big Mac and the girls rested before returning to the tavern for dinner. The barmaid was about to serve them when she whispered to Spike.

“It looks like your deeds are drawing some attention,” she said. “Alden, that Centaur, told me he wanted to speak with you when you returned; he’s been speaking with Valkyrie and Lady Cashmere for the past few hours.”

“Did he say what he wanted?” Spike asked.

“Only that he wanted to speak with you,” she replied.

“We’ll speak with him, then,” he said.

So, Spike and his crew approached the Centaur’s private booth in the corner. Lady Cashmere and Valkyrie were sitting with him.

“Tales of your deeds are spreading, even beyond the city’s walls, my friends,” Lady Cashmere said to them. “In fact, I have someone who wants to meet you - my associate, Alden, here. He’s a man with... very powerful friends, many connections. I’ve told him of your exploits, and he’s eager to make your acquaintance. He’s worth your while, I assure you; and don’t worry, he can be trusted. We... work together, him and me.”

The heroes took their seats around the table as the Centaur finally removed his hood, revealing a handsome face, complete with a golden summer tan and a sophisticated black beard, underneath.

“Well met, adventurers. Valkyrie and Lady Cashmere have told me of how you rescued them on the Trade Way, and, like all of these people, I have heard of your bravery in the Bloody Eye’s Guildhall and at Broodmare Manor. I decided that I would see these heroes for myself. I am not disappointed. I hope you shall not disappoint me,”

“What do you mean?” Spike asked.

“Your actions in the guild and manor showed great courage and sacrifice... a willingness to risk your lives to help others, an admirable quality. I have many things to tell you--secret, dangerous things--but first, you must know: Valkyrie, Lady Cashmere and I are members of the Harpers, a group whose members have dedicated their lives to the safety of the Realms and its people,” Alden went on. “We seek men and women of courage to band with us to protect the Realms, when the Realms cannot protect themselves. This is why Lady Cashmere approached and hired you. I invite you to join us. As Harpers, you will have our support - we will do what we can to help you and the Realms. We are in need of your help against a grave threat to Selena’s Gate... It’s dangerous work, but fairly compensated. What say you?”

Spike was conflicted. This was not a decision to be made lightly, and he wanted some time to think about it. He knew that Twilight’s character preferred to operate alone; she didn’t wish to join with any group, no matter how well intentioned. But Spike also knew that many people benefited from the existence of the Harpers, that legendary society known for recruiting independent agents to struggle against the forces of evil. Even Pinkie Pie, whose character was a Bard, could benefit from joining up. Even though most bards in the region weren’t Harpers (and many who were didn’t advertise the fact), common folk behaved as if all bards were legendary wandering heroes, and were often as likely to ask a bard for a solution to a problem troubling the community as they were to ask a fighter or a wizard. However, this reputation cut both ways, as some enemies of the Harpers suspiciously assumed that any humble minstrel might secretly be a Harper agent.

Looking at his companions, Spike was met with positive gazes, as if they had all voted that they should join up.

“We would be honored, Alden,” Spike said.

“Excellent!” the Centaur exclaimed. “There is no time to waste... we need you to perform a task for us.”

“Very well,” Discord replied. “What is this task?”

“There are a number of treasures scattered across the Realms that I intend to collect,” he said. “I mean to do so by hiring trustworthy, capable adventurers... men and women like you. Still intrigued?”

“Yes,” Starlight answered. “What are these treasures?”

“There are four in total: the Ruby of Femininity, the Jade Tiger, the Scimitar of Strength and the Razor of Masculinity,”

“Tell us more,” Rarity said.

“The Ruby of Femininity is an enormous, fifty-thousand carat gemstone that was used to power a weather machine in the observatory of Clover’s Hold, located in the Forest of the Forgotten, now a fell and haunted place,” Alden replied. “The Jade Tiger, a carved jade stone the size of a troll’s fist, is located in the Halls of the Half-Orcs, an abandoned stronghold located north of the Forbidden Mountains. The Scimitar of Strength is a long, curved, silver blade studded with sparkling rubies. It was once in the treasury of Dragonblast Castle, but lies somewhere in the caverns beneath the place now, having been stolen by monsters. And the Razor of Masculinity is an aquamarine-studded golden blade, last seen in the hands of pirates based out of Plunder Cove. One of Lady Cashmere’s ships could get you there, though you’d have to row ashore yourself.”

“Why do you want these treasures?” Spike inquired.

“They are not for me, but for my patrons, who need not be named. Rest assured that this is not for some nefarious purpose, but I cannot make you trust me. The choice is yours,”

“We will return when we have recovered the artifacts,” Spike stated.

“Please be careful,” Alden told them.

“We will be,” Spike said. “Farewell.”

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Realms, the Dark Elf Tempest Shadow reported to the Storm King about their agents’ progress.

“Your man has fed the Dark Web the required information: they now know how to restore the Midnight Castle,” she said. “However, Harper spies have found out what they’re up to and are sending agents to counter the Dark Web even now.”

“Good. Good,” the Storm King smiled.

“Good, Your Highness?”

“Yes, Tempest, good. The Dark Web and the Harpers will both serve my cause. They will activate the Four Foundations and restore the Castle to the Material Plane, all without realizing that I hold the only remaining Shadow Gate!”

“The ‘Shadow Gate.’ The black arch we found when we captured the three adventurers?”

“The very same. And that black arch will be the only way into the castle when it returns. My castle!”

Ogres & Oubliettes: Dark Alliance, Act III

The next morning, Discord, Big Mac and the girls awoke to the sounds of explosions coming from outside the Singing Siren.

“What is that?” Discord asked.

“An earthquake?” asked Fluttershy.

“Are we under attack?” Rainbow Dash inquired.

Discord and Applejack led the group outside, their bows and arrows drawn, expecting the worst. They followed Barley, Cinnamon Buns, and Lady Cashmere down the street, and their jaws dropped when they saw that the cause of the tremors was a brawl—right in the middle of the city square—and Spike was at the center of it! He cast off his robe (leaving himself shirtless once again) as Sunset Shimmer threw a fireball at him... and Spike ate it up!

“Oh, this is so gross!” he exclaimed. “Are you sure you’re a fire wielder, because these are the worst flames I’ve ever tasted!”

Spike slammed his fists together before taking up his wizard staff and he exhaled through the gem at the end, creating a stream of emerald green flames. He and Sunset had been up early, training with a guild of wizards, sexy witches, and warlocks—men and women who had dedicated their lives to the art, and practice, of magic—who had just happened to be passing through Selena’s Gate that day. The training quickly escalated to the point that Sunset challenged Spike to a fight and he came dangerously close to burning her.

Spike and Sunset had been doing some experimenting with their characters’ skills and abilities, as well as the rules and principles of the video game. After all, they and the rest of their party had cleared only the first few levels... and still weren’t any closer to the end. They had to find the way out, and fast, otherwise they would be stuck in the game forever. Spike learned that fire magic didn’t work on him; not only could he consume fire, but his lungs allowed him to breathe fire, his scales could dissolve fire, and his claws enhanced his melee attacks. As well as various degrees of fire magic, he had mastered the art of conjuring many different flavors of pies... but he wowed them by creating a pepperoni pizza!

After that, the wizards offered to make him a member of their guild—since one wasn’t considered a “full-fledged wizard” until one joined a guild—and they wanted a Dragonborn on their side. Even in this magnificent world, Dragons and Dragonborns were considered extraordinary, mystical creatures... and were rarely seen by human eyes. Unfortunately, getting into the wizard guilds was tough, especially the popular ones. Spike/Garbuncle politely refused, but they told him that if he changed his mind, they would put in a good word for him.

Spike learned from Micro Chips that there were no Beta testers for the game, so besides Micro himself, Spike, Discord, Big Mac and the girls were the very first ones to roam this digital world. Spike also learned that Micro Chips had created no cheat codes, no backdoors, and no shortcuts; nothing that could help them or give them an extra advantage.

Spike also noticed three little lines that ran parallel along the inside of his left forearm, from his wrist to the opposite side of his elbow, where his arm bent. He and all the other players had them. One line was red, the second line was green, and the third was blue. The red line was his health bar (anytime he took damage, it would deplete), the green line was his experience bar (every time he completed a task or defeated a monster, it would fill up), and the blue line was his mana/magic energy (which went down with each spell he cast). And if he ran out of health... there were no replays, and no restarts.

After retrieving his robe, Spike returned to the Singing Siren and sat out on the veranda, next to a dwarf who was halfway through a pint of beer.

“Away with you!” the dwarf grunted. “Didn’t your mother ever teach you to never bother a dwarf in his cups?”

“What, are you afraid I’ll out-drink you?” Spike asked. “I’ll buy your next mug if it will soothe your mood. Waitress, get this dwarf an ale, on me!”

“HAH! That’s different, then; my thanks for the drink,” the dwarf replied. “Now, what do you want?”

“Hear any rumors of note lately?”

“Yes. It so happens I have the vault key for a treasure chamber in the Hall of the Half-Orcs, an abandoned hold far to the north of here, across the Forbidden Mountains. Could be of some use if you’re ever there,”

Spike offered 4,000 gold for the key, which the dwarf thought was a fair sum. Spike finished his own drink and returned to the group, only for Twilight to ask him why he wasted his money on such a thing.

“Harpy,” he muttered.

“Did you just call me a harpy, dragon-boy?” Twilight shouted.

“And what if I did?” Spike replied. “What are you gonna do about it?”

“Sulfur-breath!”

“At least I’m not a spineless coward!”

“Would the two of you knock it off?” Rainbow Dash interjected.

“Spike started it!” Twilight snapped.

“You’re the one who was provoking me, you damn dirty dark elf!”

“And what exactly did I do to provoke you, you pervy flasher?”

And just like that, they were at it again. But they weren’t at it for long because Valkyrie came running down the street like she’d seen a monster.

“We’ve got a problem!” she screamed. “It’s Thrash! He’s back!!”

The mention of the word “Thrash” caused everyone in the street to gasp (among other things). Judging from their reactions, you’d think Thrash was some kind of demon. Even the air had gone completely still.

“He’s the best pirate captain in all the Realms,” Cinnamon Buns told Spike and his friends, “and more than a bit intimidating.”

“It’s him all right,” Barley added. “I know those footsteps anywhere.”

Captain Thrash was often described, at best, as “scary.” At worst, worse than the wildest animal, the vilest beast, and the evilest monster put together. Some said that he once took down three mountain trolls with a single kick! Thrash fought Garbuncle to a stalemate a few years ago. After that, he caught a bard walking around naked, so he decided to beat him up. He also punched a female elf for coming onto him... of course, she deserved it.

When Thrash finally came into view, they were surprised that he was not anything like they had imagined. He was a handsome human man with handsome black hair and a sophisticated beard—like one of the protagonists from one of Fluttershy’s smutty romance novels—clothed in royal blue and royal purple, a major color clash but he somehow pulled the look off; heavy black leather boots with gold buckles, and the sabre at his side was as big as his leg.

“I’m back, bitches,” he said. “Where are the Dukes?”

“Welcome back, Captain,” Lady Cashmere greeted him. “The Dukes are in session right now.”

“Of course,” Thrash replied, as if he expected nothing less.

“What’s that?” one of the townspeople inquired about the humungous bone the Captain had been hauling around.

“It’s the skull of a Sea Serpent I killed. The locals were so thankful they decorated it and gave it to me as a souvenir,” Thrash replied. “Does anyone have a problem with that?”

“No, not at all!” they replied.

“I bet he’s heard about all that’s been happening lately,” Cinnamon Buns whispered.

“You think so?” Starlight asked nervously.

“Listen up!” Thrash shouted. “While I’ve been away, I’ve heard a few things. Word is you Harpers have been causing nothing but trouble lately! You may not give a damn about your reputation, but I do!”

Then he started tearing into them, one by one.

“Jacqueline, I suggest you start controlling your drinking! Dasheyes, keep your hands to yourself. Ruvia, if you can’t get rid of that disgusting habit, the least you could do is take it where the rest of us don’t have to smell it! Captain Wuzz...”

Thrash sighed.

“Don’t just sigh at me, say something!” Discord exclaimed.

“I don’t even know where to start,” Thrash replied. “You cause so much trouble I’ve almost given up altogether. And where are Sistine and Garbuncle?”

“Oh, hey, Thrash!” Sunset replied. “We’re just hanging out.”

“Good. It warms my heart to see the two of you getting along,” Thrash smiled. “That being said, it’s only natural for even the best of friends to butt heads once in a while.”

“I wouldn’t call us ‘best friends,’” Spike admitted.

“Lady Cashmere told me about the quests Alden’s offered you,” Thrash said. “I would like to do you a favor. While travelling, I overheard something that has me worried,” he went on. “Normally, I would consult with the Dukes before acting, but this is a matter of grave importance. Garbuncle, you, Jacqueline, Fauna and Sistine are the four strongest warriors in the Realms, and I would really like to help you... in any way that I can.”

The crowd murmured.

“Did that just happen?”

“Thrash offering them help?”

“That’s definitely a first,”

“I’ll meet you at my ship in the harbor in three days,” Thrash told them.

After Thrash departed, Spike and company discussed how they were going to go about Alden’s various quests.

“It’s probably best if we split up,” Spike suggested.

“Good idea,” Rainbow Dash agreed. “We can cover more ground and cause more damage that way.”

“I’ll take Applejack, Sunset, and Fluttershy with me to the Forbidden Mountains,” said Spike.

“Garbuncle, Lady Applesmith, Lady Sextus, and Lady Silentflyer working together? On the same team?” Cinnamon Buns thought out loud. “Even I never saw that one coming. This could be... the most powerful group of heroes the Realms has ever seen!”

“I’ll go with you, Spike,” Sunset said, “but only on one condition.”

“Shut up!” Applejack whispered to her.

“Oh?” Spike asked. “What’s that?”

“I want a rematch when we get back!” Sunset stated.

“What’s wrong with you?” Applejack asked. “You got a death wish?”

“I’m getting stronger, but this time will be different... because I’m gonna beat you!”

Spike smiled. “I know you’re improving, but as to whether or not you can beat me, we’ll just have to see. I accept your challenge!”

“Big Mac, Discord and I can go to Dragonblast Castle!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“Will we have to search through treacherous lands to find this citadel?” Discord asked.

“Beyond treacherous,” Pinkie replied.

“Typical,” Discord mumbled.

“I guess that means Twilight, Starlight and I shall go to Clover’s Hold to recover the Ruby of Femininity,” said Rarity.

“You better go with them, Dash,” Spike said. “They’ll be at each other’s throats, so I want you to keep the peace.”

“Well, I’d rather go with you, but if you say so,” she replied.

And the three groups went their separate ways.

Before Spike’s team left the city, Lady Cashmere pulled him aside.

“Garbuncle, word of your deeds has reached even the keepers of the White Tail Woods, well east of here. The druid Swan Song seeks your help,” she said. “I’ll mark the location of her home on your map.”

“My thanks, my Lady,” Spike replied. “Farewell.”

Applejack bought some bread, cheese, apples and carrots from one of the vendors in the marketplace before they left Selena’s Gate. They were just about to exit the city’s gates when a knight in silver and gold armor stopped them. But it wasn’t a knight; he was one of the priests of Celeste.

“Sistine!” he addressed Sunset Shimmer. “It warms my heart to see you again: this city grew a bit dimmer without your light. Things are well, I trust?”

“They are good, Horus,” Sunset replied. “Though, I left my home as soon as I received your letter.”

“Yes, the letter; I sent it too late. You may have already heard, but the Betrayer has been defeated. Still, though, Selena’s Gate is not at peace. There is much work here for a crusading cleric of the faith, Sistine,” Horus said. “There is a perilous quest our superiors in the church have asked that I assign you.”

“Of course,” Sunset answered.

“We have received word that Black Ice, a vile cleric of that foul goddess Argent, is raising an army of skeletons in preparation to invade Selena’s Gate. He is gathering these forces in an ancient mausoleum at the foot of the Forbidden Mountains. You must assault the unholy crypt and defeat him,”

Spike pulled Sunset aside and spoke to her in a whisper.

“The White Tail Woods isn’t far from here,” he said, “and we’re going to the Forbidden Mountains anyway, we can stop at this mausoleum on the way.”

Sunset nodded as she turned back to Horus.

“I accept, and shall leave the city shortly. But first, I would like to make an offering to the church,” she said.

“As you know, we abolished the tithe long ago... but the church is always grateful for whatever you can offer, Sistine,”

Sunset’s character was very kind and generous woman. Her offerings had been used to build (among other things) a home for the orphans of war veterans, four massive catapults emblazoned with the symbol of Celeste (each which occupied a tower on the walls of the city), a defensible wayside temple to Celeste north of Spork Village; whose clerics watched over passing caravans as well as nearby settlements and farmsteads, and the warship “Celeste’s Glory,” which patrolled the harbor of Selena’s Gate.

“I wish to offer 30,000 gold,” she said.

“I am grateful. We will all pray for your success,”

“Farewell, Horus,”

And with that, Spike led his party (Applejack, Sunset, Fluttershy, and their wolf companion Sandra) to the White Tail Woods.

It was the start of their quest for the Jade Tiger—the second of the four treasures Alden the Centaur had mentioned. They would reach the Forbidden Mountains if they could get through the White Tail Woods. For those dark, enchanted areas, Alden said, were filled with fairies... and orcs... and ogres... and goblins... and who knew how much worse.

They had been walking for what felt like hours when Applejack finally asked, “Spike, why did you pick us to join your team?”

“Well, because we’re dating, we’ve already slept together, and I know how good of people you are,” he answered.

“Was that a compliment,” Sunset flirted, “from the great Garbuncle?”

Spike just smiled and shook his head in reply. Garbuncle had earned quite the reputation. With the Silver Fangs gone, merchants could start running wagons to Shallowpond again. Still, it was too bad that Razer got away.

The White Tail Woods was a small forest that bridged the gap between Selena’s Gate and the Forbidden Mountains. Small size notwithstanding, it was a beautiful place, full of life, especially whitetail deer (the creatures the forest was named after) and a variety of birds, from cardinals and blue jays to woodpeckers and great horned owls.

“We’re certainly a lot safer here than we would be at the top of the Forbidden Mountains,” Spike said.

“But Spike, in order to retrieve the Jade Tiger from the Hall of the Half-Orcs, don’t we have to climb over the Forbidden Mountains?” Fluttershy asked. “I wouldn’t mind climbing them in daylight, but if we have to spend the night there I have a feeling that something terrible is going to happen. What do you think?”

“I think we should stop and rest,” he replied.

The four companions sat on the edge of a babbling brook and shared the food that Applejack had packed. As Spike helped himself to a drink from a tiny waterfall close by, he could have sworn he heard tiny voices; the sounds of giggling, gasps, and the occasional sigh. Very different from any of the sounds he knew that his three lady friends made.

While they ate, Fluttershy looked at Spike with concern. Since they entered the game, Spike seemed cold, distant, and depressed; and she wondered if it had anything to do with his mother. Just because they were coworkers, didn’t mean that they didn’t have their own personal issues.

And Spike had had more than his fair share of suffering... and loss.

“Spike, can I ask you something personal?”

“Fluttershy, you’ve seen me naked, you should know by now that you can ask me anything,” he said.

“Why do you get so upset when anyone mentions your mother?”

Applejack and Sunset both looked at Fluttershy like she had just stepped on a landmine. They expected Spike to explode, but he just sighed before answering.

“Before she died, my mother, my real mother, Barbara, taught me the joy of being able to write and a love of reading and literature,” he said. “When Celestia took me in, she continued to nurse those passions... I don’t know exactly when it happened, but I suddenly wanted to know what gambling was like... I used to hate card games with a vengeance. Even Go Fish and Old Maid. I blamed them for stealing my mother away from me. But later on, I got curious. I didn’t know why my mother loved them so much, so I figured maybe I should find out why for myself. I didn’t know what to expect at first, but after a while, I was surprised by how much I loved taking chances. It was a feeling unlike any other. My skills could have taken me as high and as far as I wanted. And that’s when I understood... I live for the day when I’ll finally see my mother, my real mother, again... I’m so pathetic!”

In his anger, Spike swung his staff at a boulder. He would have smashed the rock clean in half if he hadn’t felt the earth shake beneath his feet. He and the girls whipped their heads around to see a herd of elephants moving through the forest. They followed the elephants to a cottage in a clearing up ahead. They approached the house and saw a pack of wolves, a pair of rabbits, a fox and his vixen, a family of field mice, and a handsome stag surrounding it. And with them was a beautiful young maiden holding a wooden staff similar to Fluttershy’s, but she had brown hair and brown eyes, she wore tight brown leather pants, a matching halter top, which barely contained her big, beautiful breasts; a forest green cloak, fur boots and fur bracers.

“Well met, Garbuncle,” she said. “I am Swan Song, one of the caretakers of the White Tail Woods. I have been expecting you.”

“Expecting me?”

“Yes. Can you not feel the trees and the animals of the forest sing of your arrival? They believe it is you that will rid them of the evil that disturbs the harmony of these lands,”

“What is this evil they speak of?” Fluttershy inquired.

“The vile green dragon, Gostir, has taken up residence in the White Tail Woods. His very presence befouls the land. You must find and destroy him,”

A forest controlled by a green dragon was easy to spot: a perpetual fog hung in the air, carrying an acrid whiff of the creature’s poison breath.

“How do we find him?” Sunset asked.

“Follow the path past my home. It will lead you to where the dragon dwells. Be careful: many monsters have come to serve Gostir, and will try to bar your way,” Swan Song warned.

“We will return when the dragon is dead,” Spike replied. “Farewell.”

The most cunning and treacherous of their kind, green dragons used misdirection and trickery to get the upper hand against their enemies. Nasty tempered and thoroughly evil, they were honey-tongued, smooth-talking liars and masters of double talk who took special pleasure in corrupting the good-hearted, bending them to their will, and gaining wealth and power with as little effort as possible. Green dragons were easily recognized by their curved jawlines and the crests that began near their eyes and continued down their spines. They had no external ears, but bore leathery spiked plates that ran down the sides of their necks. They attacked with no provocation, especially when dealing with potential threats to their forest territory. They stalked their victims, sometimes for days; they hunted by patrolling from the air as well as the ground, and ate any creature they could find, but their favorite prey was elves.

Spike told Sunset and Fluttershy to hang back behind him and Applejack; mostly because Sunset’s character was a Sun Elf, and Fluttershy was a Half-Elf, but also because Spike and AJ were the stronger melee fighters... and they didn’t know what kind of monsters they would have to deal with.

A trio of tan-skinned hill giants prowled the path ahead. Hill giants were selfish, dim-witted brutes that hunted, foraged, and raided in constant search of food; blundering through forests devouring what they could, and bullying smaller creatures into feeding them. Their laziness would have spelled their end long ago if not for their formidable strength and size. Farmers feared and loathed hill giants. Where a normal predator might burrow through fields and consume a cow or two before being driven off, a hill giant would consume a whole herd of cattle before moving on to the sheep, goats, chickens, even tearing into fruits, vegetables, and the grains. And if a farm family was at hand, the giant would snack on them too. Fortunately for the four heroes, the hill giants were easy to defeat: it was just a simple matter of blocking their club swings and retaliating with quick hits.

Spike and the girls eventually reached the center of the forest, where they found the dragon’s cave. Unfortunately, another creature guarded the entrance. It was a small, hideous monstrosity that looked like a hybrid of lizard, bird, and bat... infamous for its ability to turn flesh to stone.

“What is that thing?” Sunset asked.

“A Cockatrice,” Spike and Fluttershy replied.

An omnivorous creature, a cockatrice’s diet consisted of berries, nuts, flowers, and small animals such as insects, mice, and frogs—things it could swallow whole. They would be no threat to anything else if not for their fierce and frenzied response to even a hint of danger. Cockatrice flew into the face of any threat, squawking and madly beating their wings as their heads darted out to peck.

And that’s just what it did to the four heroes. It came at them with such ferocity that it forced them to scatter. It went after Fluttershy, who had tripped over a rock. Spike aimed his staff at the beast as it tried to attack Fluttershy. Even the smallest scratch from a cockatrice’s beak spelled doom as its victim slowly turned to stone from the injury. But Fluttershy looked the cockatrice right in the face as she slowly got to her feet, never breaking eye contact with it. She stared the monster down and it slithered away in fright.

“And don’t ever let me catch you in this forest again!” she shouted.

Spike, Sunset and Applejack stared awestruck at Fluttershy, who brushed off her dress and led them into Gostir’s cave.

“Well, well, well. Quite foolhardy, storming my lair so. Your kind does not live many years. What, a handful of decades? One would imagine you’d be more careful with such a brief flickering flame,” the green dragon laughed. “What? Are you still here? Very well. I’ve little else to do... and besides, some of your equipment will match my collection nicely.”

Gostir wasn’t too tough on defense, but his poison breath was devastating. They couldn’t stand in front of his mouth, or they’d be dead; and if they went within range of his foot stomps, they were in for a world of hurt. The key was to find a sweet spot—which was at the side of his feet—where Spike, Sunset, and Applejack could hack away safely while his ground-based techniques missed.

They dodged the rain of poison until Gostir landed, then sprinted into position (coming from the side, not from the front) so he couldn’t get any hits in before they started attacking. When Gostir blocked, they just kept hacking, getting some solid hits when he finally gave up his defense to take to the air. Upon slaying Gostir, they found a tarnished copper key hanging from a chain wrapped around one of the dragon’s talons. It was the key to his treasure horde.

The treasure hordes of dragons rarely disappoint, and the pile of loot in the northeast chamber of the cave contained a great many items of value, including a +2 Remarkable Ring of Thunder (which increased its wearer’s Charisma by two points), and best of all – a coral and ruby-encrusted black and gold bikini of +4 Imperial Chainmail of Rage (for Applejack). In addition to an AC of 38, it could send her Barbarian Rage skill through the roof. In turn, she would be sending scum of countless varieties through walls. The heroes returned to Swan Song after defeating Gostir, and she rewarded each of them with 8,000 experience points. Even better, she strengthened Fluttershy’s druid abilities.

“You have done well,” she said. “The stain of evil already begins to fade. Listen: the spirit of the forest rejoices.”

“Yes, I can hear it...” Fluttershy replied.

“Of course you can. The woods, the earth, they are in your blood, Fauna,” Swan Song told her. “Listen to them. Listen, and learn to harness the abilities they reveal to you.”

“She will,” Garbuncle replied. “We both will.”

Suddenly, a herd of three white unicorns with golden manes emerged from the trees and trotted up to them.

“They will take you as far as the base of the Forbidden Mountains,” Swan Song said. “They know the way. After that, they will return to the forest.”

“Farewell again, Swan Song,” Spike said as Fluttershy ran into a beautiful meadow, her eyes shut tightly.

Opening her eyes, Fluttershy smiled. Wildflowers lined a stream and a waterfall flowed down the side of a hill. At the bottom, she found a cluster of butterflies resembling flowers, and one of them landed on her nose. It fluttered around her a bit, and then landed on her ear before tugging on her sleeve.

The butterfly flapped its wings as another butterfly fluttered over. More joined and hovered around Fluttershy, some pulling at her dress; and she beamed joyfully as the colorful insects lifted her into the air. Her timid expression melted into a joyous smile as they flew higher. The butterflies slowly returned Fluttershy to the ground and released her gown.

“See? Magic isn’t just some miraculous power,” Spike told her. “It’s a talent that only works when the flow of energy inside of us all and the flow of energy in the natural world are in perfect harmony. To perform magic, one must have a strong mind and the ability to focus. It should take over your body and come pouring out of your very soul! If all you do is worry, then you will never progress. Don’t let anything scare you; follow what you believe in! If you do, you’ll show everyone that a druid can be much more terrifying than any dark wizard!”

Applejack and Sunset smiled as the each mounted a unicorn and rode them down the road to the Forbidden Mountains. Spike was about to mount up and follow them, but turned back to find Fluttershy looking sad.

“Are you all right?” he asked her.

“Spike... if I had the courage to die, I wouldn’t be hiding within the safety of the city, would I? But, really, why can’t we just log off and leave whenever we want to? Why do we have to clear every level just to get back out again? Why do we have to die even though this is just a video game? What’s the point of going through all that, all this?”

Spike wished he could give her an answer.

“I’m afraid of dying in here,” she confessed. “I’m so scared I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

“You won’t die,” he said.

“How can you be so sure?”

“We’re strong together, our margin of safety is way above average, plus you’ve got me out front. So you don’t need to force yourself to the front with me,”

“You really don’t think we’ll die? Will we make it back to the real world?”

“You’re not going to die. You’ll see, we’ll clear this game and be back with our loved ones soon,” he said. “As long as I’m here, you’ll be safe. We’ll all make it back to reality. No matter what, I will protect all of you. And that’s a promise.”

Fluttershy smiled, and Spike began to wonder if any of the others were afraid of dying in the game. But they still laughed, cried, and tried to do the best they could. He didn’t think about it like that until that moment. He climbed atop the unicorn and pulled Fluttershy up with him.

“Thank you, Spike,” she told him. “You’re so brave.”

“But you’re brave too, Fluttershy,” he replied. “Braver than you believe.”

In life, Clover the Clever had been a wizard of no mean skill, with a dark and ominous reputation. He dwelled in a great clock tower hidden in the depths of the Forest of the Forgotten, where it was rumored that he studied chronomancy and other strange arts. Twilight’s character, Therstine Read, served him as an apprentice, and wrote that black book she carried under his tutelage.

On their way to Clover’s Hold through the Forest of the Forgotten, Twilight, Starlight, Rarity and Rainbow Dash were ambushed by a marauding band of hobgoblins and six ettins (two-headed giants that were as dangerous as they looked). They were foul, ugly creatures with the crude characteristics of orcs. They never bathed if they could help it, and their thick skin was encrusted with a thick layer of dirt beneath the stinking hides they wore. Their long stringy hair hung in unkempt messes about their faces and their breath reeked from mouths filled with crooked teeth and tusks. The girls had no choice but to fight their way out!

They ran around the monsters and blocked their blows until they gave them an opening to attack. After they had torn apart their enemies, the girls started (metaphorically) tearing into each other.

“Teaming up with you is the worst idea ever!” Starlight growled at Rarity.

“I made a big mistake coming along with you!” Rarity told her and Twilight.

Their bickering eventually stopped when they were approached by a woman.

“Hello there, travelers,” she said, “one itinerant serf and wandering wastrel, at your service.”

Rainbow Dash asked the drifter if she knew the way to Clover’s Hold, and the serf was more than happy to show them the way.

“You know, Garbuncle wouldn’t be lost,” Rarity said.

“Don’t bet on it,” Twilight replied bitterly. “He doesn’t know everything.”

“And how would you know?” Rarity asked.

“I know him,” Twilight stated.

“You know Garbuncle the Great?” the serf exclaimed. “I mean, personally?”

“We travel in the same circles,” Twilight answered.

“What’s he like?”

“Big, tall, shoulders like an ox, has the strength of ten men, like that,”

“They say he’s got beautiful eyes... for a Dragonborn,” the serf sighed.

“Oh, sure,” Twilight scoffed.

“Is it true that he spends most of his time just helping people?”

“Oh, yeah, he’s very helpful,” Twilight said sarcastically. “He never stops helping people.”

“Well, I don’t think you know him at all,”

“It so happens I’m his best friend,”

“You are not!” the serf said.

“I am, too!”

“You can’t be,”

“Why not?”

“Nobody talks about their best friend that way,”

Twilight stopped in her tracks for a moment... long enough for Dash to lean in close and whisper into her ear.

“Burn,” she said.

Unfortunately, the women didn’t realize that they were being followed... by a female humanoid cat and her lizardman assistant.

“I’ve tracked Alden’s new allies to Clover’s Hold, Catrina,” he reported. “They must also seek the Ruby of Femininity.”

“That meddling Centaur,” Catrina meowed. “One of these days, I’m going to have to kill him for good. Of course, I’m sure he feels the same way about me. Rep, I don’t care what you do with any adventurers you come across, but get the Ruby! It’s crucial to the success of the greater plan.”

“Consider the deed done, Catrina,” Rep said with a bow. “I shall return to you when I have it.”

The first foes that greeted Twilight’s group in Clover’s Hold were suits of animated armor. Crafted with potent magic to follow the commands of their creators, animated objects (like these suits of armor) acted independently to fulfill simple instructions. When not commanded, they followed the last order they received to the best of their ability. In this case, it was to protect their master’s home. They required no air, food, drink, or sleep. And they were led by the ghost of Clover the Clever.

“You?” he directed at Twilight. “I did not think I would see you again, my student of old. But... what is that expression on your face? Confusion? Do you... not remember me? HA! Only a fool would disturb me here. My guards will see you out... or what is left of you, at any rate. Good day.”

The ghost disappeared and the animated suits of armor attacked. The empty shells clamored as they moved, heavy metal plates banging and grinding against one another like the vengeful spirits of fallen knights. Fortunately, they were slow, so they were easy to dodge. Starlight used her Animate Dead spell to summon an undead ally—a skeleton—which distracted the animated armors while the girls hacked the armors up until they dropped (becoming inanimate once again).

They walked down the wing to the first room and Rainbow Dash gestured for them to stop. She crouched down and carefully brushed her fingers over a large diamond-shaped plate in the tile floor. She took Twilight’s staff, pressed it down onto the floor plate, and huge metal spears shot up from the floor. Each of the diamond tiles had a booby trap in it!

“This whole room is rigged,” Dash said. “And who knows with what else. You girls wait here.”

“We shall follow in thy dainty footsteps,” Twilight told her.

As Dash cautiously stepped around the many pressure plates set into the floor, Starlight shot Twilight a look that said, “What the Tartarus?”

“If she wants to go on ahead, let her,” Twilight said, “better than us risking our necks.”

“Spoken like a true dark elf,” Starlight replied.

Rainbow Dash stuck close to the walls as she crossed the hallway. Not only were there blades hidden in the floor, but there were fireball throwers and floating eye disintegrator traps, too. Dash proceeded very carefully to avoid the tricky arrangement of traps. Just as she made her way through the safe path between them, another trap triggered: the pillar in the center of the room fired streams of arrows in every direction and she narrowly avoided them. Then the sounds of fireballs hitting the walls echoed through the chamber; another fireball trap. Dash passed by the statue after a fireball had been launched, across the statue’s line of sight, waited a moment to avoid taking damage (namely in the form of third-degree burns), and deactivated the trap before moving on to the next one.

The girls watched tensely as Dash disabled every trap and then signaled for them to follow her, right into Clover the Clever’s study, where he was waiting.

“You survived? You are more powerful than you appear,” he said.

“What’s happened, Clover?” Twilight asked. “Why can’t I remember you, or this place?”

“Heh. Heh-heh. Heh, heh heh heh!!! Yes, very well, I will tell you, Therstine Read. Yours is a noble name, which you might have found out had you not been turned away from Mount Aris; a name of princesses. You are no longer welcome on Aris--last of the great hidden cities of the elves... Your book that you hold so dear... all that work in the back, incomprehensible, a code that you devised, the symbols... that’s Shadow Magic,”

“I don’t... I don’t recall any of that,”

“It is dark, dark stuff, Therstine. A thing of Nightmare, that dark goddess who so loathes Celeste and her Sun. The Shadow Weave is an alternative conduit and methodology for casting spells, but dangerous and shunned by most who know of it. Do you recall much of Aris, Therstine; the last major elven settlement following the Retreat? It almost seems as if to speak of you is forbidden there,” Clover said. “It seems that you were exiled from Aris more than fifty years ago. Why? Some say you murdered your betrothed and his lover. I know this to be false. A rumor or perhaps something more... A deliberate twisting of facts to hide the truth? After your banishment from Mount Aris, you wandered the Realms for no more than a dozen years before making for this place. Many years ago, you approached me to serve as an apprentice. Me, Clover the Clever, who so many feared! I was impressed by your boldness, and accepted you on a whim,” he explained. “Oh, but I’d let a viper into my home. So much I taught you Therstine, the secrets of the dead, of the shadows, these darkest of arts... but your secret, that I had to discover on my own.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I am talking about Therstine Read the Man-Slayer, the butcher of humanity. You were exiled by your own kindred. Your radical, bloody view regarding the extermination of all humans across the Realms disgusted even them... You would have slain me once I taught you all I could, and used my knowledge to further your ridiculous schemes. It is no small wonder that you escaped my wrath with only your memory destroyed. But this is easy enough to remedy. This time, Therstine Read, there will be no escaping me,”

As one could imagine, Clover the Clever was not an easy boss to beat. Starlight’s spells were useless against him, and he used a Mirror Image spell to make duplicates of himself! The girls quickly dispelled the fakes and focused all their energy on Clover. After defeating him, they gained access to his observatory.

As soon as they made their way up the stone stairs to the tower, Rainbow Dash extracted the Ruby of Femininity from Clover’s weather machine, and the pedestal that had been holding the Ruby lowered into the floor as the device fell apart. Clutching the Ruby, Dash felt a slight pain in her chest, but it quickly subsided. She hurried back across the room, only to be confronted by a humanoid lizard and a pair of archers dressed in black. The heroines recognized the lizardman as the one they saw back at Broodmare Manor.

It was Catrina’s servant, Rep.

“Give us the Ruby of Femininity,” he said. “We are many, with sharp blades and skins of iron, and you are so few. Leave the gem, and go.”

“Who are you, and why do you want it?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Like you, I seek the ruby for a master. But your master reeks of ill fortune, did you not know this? Those who aid Alden, die,”

“What do you mean?” asked Rarity.

“I mean just what is spoken. Those who serve Alden soon fall, much like the three that preceded you. They vanished with the Midnight Castle. You should choose who you serve more carefully,”

“Alden is not my ‘master,’” said Twilight.

“You are willing to die in his service: if that was not so, you would surrender the Ruby of Femininity. This is what I call a master,” Rep replied.

“Enough,” Twilight stated. “We won’t surrender the Ruby to you or anyone else. If you want it, come and take it from us, you scaly, lisping cretin!”

“Then you will perish. Attack them!”

Rep threw a ball of lightning from his hand, which could not be avoided, and the girls took serious damage from it. Fortunately, Rep didn’t have a lot of hit points, so rushing him with a knife in each hand was Dash’s best strategy. He teleported across the room, but the girls finished him in a few seconds. Once they slayed Rep, he seemed to disappear into the floor. And when he went down, so did his two henchmen. They eventually returned to Selena’s Gate... and to Alden.

“I see you survived Clover’s Hold and recovered the Ruby... impressive. Your reward is well-deserved. Here,” he said as he paid them two hundred thousand gold coins.

“You should know we were ambushed by black-armored men led by a lizardman,” Rarity shared.

“The Dark Web,” Alden growled. “I was hoping we’d be working too quickly for them to interfere. I’ll raise the reward on future missions to reflect the increased risk.”

“Who are the Dark Web?” Starlight inquired.

“The Black Network, as they were originally known, began as a group of powerful merchants, now their ranks include assassins, thieves, spies, and a small army of mercenaries. They’re a powerful political organization with the exclusive backing of the church of Nightmare, the goddess of strife and hatred,” Alden explained. “The Dark Web is always looking to collect objects of power, and will do anything to achieve their goals, no matter what. No doubt their agents have sniffed out our purpose, and now they look to steal the artifacts for their own.”

The four women began to worry, wondering if either of the other teams had encountered the Dark Web on their quests.

Meanwhile, Discord, Big Mac and Pinkie Pie made their way back up the Trade Way. Lightning flashed to reveal a ruin in the distance—Dragonblast Castle.

When the hero Daeros Dragonblast passed away, his castle was abandoned and inhabited by a succession of fell beasts and monsters. In time, a fiendish gate to the very Tartaruses was opened in the castle’s bowels. Armies purged the place, but the hordes of monsters continued to work their way into the castle dungeons below. It was then that a group of weretigers—generally neutral, ferocious hunters and warriors of a haughty and fastidious nature, that were tall, lithe, sleekly muscular and meticulously groomed—came to see themselves as the guardians of Dragonblast Castle. They tended the wounds of any who aided them in their fight, and allowed them to keep whatever treasure they found.

“A basilisk lurks in the depths of the castle’s ruins,” Discord said. “Alden saw the last of a dwarf clan who’d been turned to stone trying to storm the place. Stay together. There’s no telling what else we might run into--What was that?”

“I don’t know, but it didn’t sound friendly,” Pinkie replied.

The ruin was infested with orcs; savage raiders and pillagers with gray skin, stooped postures, low foreheads, piggish faces, and prominent lower canines that resembled tusks, who slayed anything that stood in their way. These goons lusted for death, and they respected and feared the size and power of evil giants and often served them as guards and/or soldiers. The orcs came in five flavors: axmen, swordsmen, spearmen, shamans and plain-old fighters. Meanwhile, fire giants prowled the castle courtyard. Ruthless and militaristic, fire giants were master crafters and organized warriors. Their fighting prowess came from endless discipline and training; they lived for combat and were shrewd tacticians.

Discord and Big Mac hunted the monsters down and slaughtered all of them before moving through the gates to the inner courtyard, up the steps to the castle’s central chamber, where a small family of half a dozen weretigers, male and female, stood watch.

“Greetings, travelers,” their leader said. “I am Thokar. Have you come here to enter the dungeons beneath Dragonblast Castle?”

“We have,” Discord replied.

“Very well,” Thokar said. “Mighty Celeste, place your blessings upon these brave warriors who would do battle with the foul denizens of Dragonblast Castle. May your victories be many and your death swift. Celeste be with you.”

The three heroes thanked the lycanthropes for their prayers and then made their way down to the fabled Dragonblast Dungeons.

Discord used the pillars as cover from a group of orc archers while he and Big Mac took out their fighters. He popped out, shot at the archers, and ducked back behind the pillar before they could retaliate. As they made their way through the tunnel, Discord noticed three black circles on the walls. He knew what that meant: proceed with caution or end up eating a triple dose of fiery death.

When they entered the wing that led to the castle’s tomb, a pack of hell hounds—monstrous, fire-breathing fiends that took the form of powerful dogs—attacked them. The hell hounds targeted Big Mac with their savage bites, and he was thankful for his iron armor (in no particular order, his helmet, his boots, his gauntlets, and his sword). He circled around them and stabbed at their flanks so that he wouldn’t get singed while Discord shot more arrows at them. When the hell hounds died, their internal fires consumed their remains in a billowing eruption of smoke and blazing embers, leaving nothing behind but scorched tufts of black fur.

When the trio reached the castle’s bowels, they found remarkably lifelike stone carvings of several dwarves, many of which were flinching and had missing pieces that appeared to have been bitten off.

Seasoned explorers regarded such relics as warnings.

No one carved statues of frightened warriors.

It was then that they knew they were getting close to the basilisk’s lair.

Basilisks were lazy and cowardly creatures, but evilly cunning. They made their lairs in dark underground caves where there was a ready and easily accessible food and water supply. They were easy to anger, though they never fought to the death if it could be helped.

Their only real “weakness” was a very slow metabolism, which made their movements sluggish and clumsy. As a result, basilisks relied upon their powerful magical characteristics for hunting and were unprepared for hard pursuit, as a result prey that fled usually got away unharmed. To prevent this, basilisks typically laired in hidden dens waiting for any prey unfortunate enough to wander in.

That’s when the three heroes spotted the large, dark orange, eight-legged reptilian horror!

Meeting a basilisk’s gaze was enough to trigger a rapid transformation, turning a victim into porous stone. With their strong jaws, basilisks could consume the stone, which returned to organic form in the creature’s gullet.

Fortunately, its gaze couldn’t hurt them if they couldn’t see it; Pinkie and Big Mac turned away so that it was looking at their backs, and it couldn’t bite them when Discord fired his bow at it. It was a long and difficult fight, but the heroes weren’t complaining... especially when they saw the treasure the basilisk dropped.

“The Scimitar of Strength!” Pinkie exclaimed.

They made their way safely back to the surface and ventured back to Selena’s Gate with their bounty.

“The Weretigers must have been sad to see you leave the halls of Dragonblast Castle,” Alden said. “But you recovered the Scimitar of Strength. Here, you reward.”

Pinkie started to worry with the rest of the girls. Spike’s team was the only one that hadn’t made it back from their quest. She hoped that they were all right.

Meanwhile, in a secret Dark Web meeting hall on the other side of the Realms, Catrina slapped Rep hard across the face, sending him to the floor.

“Let me see if I heard that right,” Catrina said. “You not only allowed some dark elf bitch and her friends to obtain the Ruby of Femininity but you also let them get away? Is that true?!”

“They don’t know about our plans,” Rep added. “And even if they did, they won’t be able to stop us.”

“We can’t afford to take any chances!” Catrina shouted. “Fortunately, we have a fallback plan. Capper, find Razer and inform of what’s happened. Rep, you do the same with Sylvia Broodmare. I will consult with our other allies. Go, now!”

“Yes, Catrina!” the two males replied.

Ogres & Oubliettes: Dark Alliance, Act IV

Spike, Applejack, Sunset and Fluttershy (as well as their animal allies; Sandra the wolf, Elizabeth the chicken, and the three white unicorns) arrived at a heavily guarded mausoleum at the base of the Forbidden Mountains. All of the enemies within the crypt were undead... and brutally fierce. Applejack had to fire arrows at almost rapid-fire speed just to stand a chance against the skeletal archers. And there was a new type of trap: giant scythes that swung like pendulums out of gaps in the walls to slice anything nearby. They were easy to dodge, but they activated irregularly so the heroes had no choice but to proceed slowly. They found Black Ice, foul cleric of the goddess Argent, in the central chamber; kneeling before an altar and praying to her. Clad in shadowy armor and wielding a rusted sword and shield, he looked like a depraved spawn of evil.

“Death to all who oppose Argent,” he chanted. “We bow before her supreme power and yield to her the blood of those who do not believe in her supremacy. We fear and obey those who command us, and slay those that are weak or of good persuasion. We will fell one foe at a time and keep all folk afraid, uneasy, and in constant strife. Glory to the Blood Moon, our lady Argent!”

Black Ice stood and turned to face Sunset Shimmer/Lady Sistine Sextus.

“So, you would destroy the army I have created in Argent’s name?” he asked. “Prepare for battle, child of light. Your goddess will fail you this fell night.”

Sunset used the basic fighter-to-fighter strategy of circling around him counter-clockwise (so she was always opposite his sword arm) and hacking at his side. Her Flaming Burst Adamantine Morning Star of Purity +4 (which was a fantastically powerful weapon) worked great, especially since its flames staggered Black Ice and prevented him from retaliating. He was dead within a few seconds.

After defeating Black Ice and his undead army, the four heroes ventured on, into the unknown. Eventually, they reached the path that led up the Forbidden Mountains, and the unicorns lowered so they could dismount. The mythical creatures nodded farewell to the heroes and then cantered back the way they came.

“We walk from here,” Spike told the three women.

As they began their ascent up the narrow mountain path, they soon realized that they were not alone. They heard howling in the distance, but it didn’t sound like any wolf they’d ever heard. As they rounded a corner on the path, they found it blocked by a pack of ravenous monsters.

“Gnolls,” Spike growled. “I hate gnolls.”

Gnolls were feral, hyena-headed humanoids that traveled in massive groups. They attacked settlements along the frontiers and borderlands of civilization, striking at random and without warning, plundering and slaughtering everything in their way and devouring their victims’ flesh. They swarmed like locusts, pillaging villages and leaving little behind but razed buildings, gnawed corpses, and befouled land. They chose easy targets; armored warriors holed up in a fortified castle would survive a rampaging gnoll horde unscathed while the towns and farms that surrounded them burned, their people murdered and eaten.

No goodness or compassion resided in the heart of a gnoll. Like demons, they lacked anything resembling a conscience, and they couldn’t be taught or coerced to put aside their destructive tendencies. Their frenzied bloodlust made them an enemy to all, and when they lacked a common foe, they fought among themselves. Even the most savage orcs avoided allying with gnolls.

Spike and the girls tried to move with caution as to not alert the gnolls to their presence, but the monsters’ already large numbers increased as they rounded another tight bend and ran into more unarmored gnolls accompanied by two of their tougher, armored cousins... and several ogres.

About nine to ten feet tall at the shoulder, weighing close to a thousand pounds, and strong enough to rip a tree out of the ground, ogres were savage, fearsome creatures known for their voracious appetites and foul tempers. As lazy of mind as they were strong of body, they were frequently found in the company of other evil humanoids (such as gnolls and bugbears) and were more than content to let those creatures do the thinking for them.

They lived by raiding, scavenging, and killing for food as well as pleasure. They ate almost anything, but they especially enjoyed the taste of dwarves, halflings, and elves. Their favorite method of attack was tossing giant boulders. In combat, ogres tended to smash anything in their way with their fists or great clubs; only rarely did an enemy survive one or two blows from those dim-witted brutes. They tended to not get along with their own kind, and that’s why they were often seen running with a pack of gnolls or wandering alone.

The gnolls were fairly easy to defeat one-on-one, but there was some difficulty when they started surrounding the four heroes. Fortunately, the narrow path presented an excellent opportunity for both ranged and spell attacks. Since it offered little room to maneuver, it was easier to strike the incoming beasts.

They continued down the path, pummeling more gnoll squads before tackling the ogres, until they finally came upon the pack lord—the alpha of the gnolls—who ruled with might and cunning, and earned the best of the spoils (food, valuable trinkets, and magic items). Its body was ornamented with brutal piercings and grotesque trophies, including a bloody necklace made up of body parts from its victims: ears, teeth, and scalps.

Spike fought the pack lord with his spells before switching to hand-to-hand combat. After slaying the pack lord, the group continued up to the summit where, all of a sudden, the landscape seemed to transform into a frozen wasteland.

“I’m... so... cold...” Fluttershy said.

“Why is it so cold?” Sunset asked. “I know we’re in the mountains, but it’s the middle of summer. There shouldn’t be a blizzard like this anywhere.”

Later that night, snow whipped around them as the temperature dropped and Spike, who had been leading the way, started slowing down. The snow was so cold it burned and the girls squinted as they tried to see through the flurries.

“How much further?” Sunset inquired.

“At least three miles,” Spike said back.

Applejack, who was worn-out, said, “We’ll get there in the morning.”

Fluttershy turned back to see Spike lagging behind them. Then she gasped when she saw him collapse in the snow. She tried to get a firm grip on him, but it was difficult with his smooth scales.

“Spike, wake up!” she shouted. “Girls, we’ve got to get him out of this wind! He can’t survive out here!”

Fluttershy was tripping over her own feet as she tried to help Spike up, who could barely stand. His character was a Dragonborn, which meant he was reptilian, and she knew the significance of reptiles getting too cold.

“If we don’t get him warmed up soon, he’ll die!” she cried.

Applejack looked up the snowy trail and saw a small cave just ahead. Spike faded in and out of consciousness as Sunset and Fluttershy each draped one of his arms over their shoulders and they pulled him into the cave.

Applejack had started tearing out roots that hung from the cave’s ceiling and Sunset cast a spell on the pile AJ had already accumulated with her fire magic. They tried warming Spike by the fire, but he lay motionless.

“He’s still cold!” Fluttershy exclaimed. “He’s barely breathing!” She put her ear to his chest. “I can’t hear his heartbeat!”

Spike seemed lifeless. The heat from the fire was not warming him up fast enough. Fluttershy tried to get him to wake up, but he didn’t respond. His body was starting to shut down. That’s when Fluttershy realized that Spike’s only chance was her own five-eight, 120 pounds of warmth. She knew what she had to do... and she started taking off her dress.

“We have to share our body heat!” she shouted.

Shivers rippled down Sunset and AJ’s spines as they watched Fluttershy remove Spike’s robe, then his pants.

“Spike, don’t you dare die on me!” she yelled furiously as she finished stripping him of his garments. “I won’t let you die! Open your eyes!”

“I can’t let him die! I won’t!” Fluttershy thought.

If that happened, she would never forgive herself. And she’d never be able to face Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, or any of the other girls.

Applejack and Sunset shared a look and started shedding their clothes too.

“Don’t worry, Spike,” Sunset said. “We’ll save you.”

“You poor, tortured creature,” Applejack whispered tearfully. “So strong, so brave, so tough in the face of danger...”

The girls wrapped themselves tight around Spike. Applejack and Fluttershy pressed their naked bodies against his chest as Sunset stroked his shaft before she climbed atop him. Then she plunged his cock into her eager, waiting orifice. She felt him glide into her warm, moist opening. She slid all the way down and then some. He was bigger in this form and it was heating her up.

She impaled herself on her lover; it was like fucking a fixed dildo that awaited her every move. Sunset knew she wasn’t going to last much longer as she moved her hips faster. Suddenly, her skin glowed as fire burst from her hair and shot up to the roof of the cave as she climaxed. Hard.

The heat from that magic burst started warming Spike up and the three women kept him from freezing until he regained consciousness. Finally, his eyes fluttered open. He was starting to come back to life. The last thing he remembered was passing out from the numbness of the snow. He was still so cold and exhausted that it took him a few seconds to fully comprehend what was going on.

“It’s us, Spike,” Applejack said.

“Where are my clothes?” he asked.

“We had to get you out of them,” Fluttershy replied.

“You would have frozen to death,” Sunset added.

“It was Fluttershy’s idea,” AJ said.

“Trust me, it works,” Fluttershy told him.

They gently covered him with their bodies again as they each tried to hold his hands in theirs.

“It’s kind of weird,” Fluttershy said. “This kind of thing wouldn’t happen in real life. Going to strange places, meeting a total stranger, and sleeping with them... Spike, can I ask you something?”

“I’m all ears,” he said weakly.

“Why did you risk being trapped in this game to save Micro Chips’ friend?”

“I can’t just sit back and watch someone die,” he answered. “I’d rather die alongside them than do nothing... especially if that someone is you.”

“You’re the only guy I know who would think that,” she said.

They cuddled even closer; a pile of warm, naked bodies.

“You’re so warm,” said Sunset, “even though we’re just a series of ones and zeroes in a virtual world.”

“I know,” he replied.

Spike’s hands roamed over their bodies. Their soft, warm skin; round, curvy asses; full, soft breasts; everything else didn’t matter, all that mattered was making them feel good—the same thing that was happening to him—hands caressing his body in the warm darkness of the cave, a pair of lips slowly moving to swallow his long, Dragonborn shaft... Spike gasped, feeling him slide into Fluttershy’s mouth. Sunset and Applejack cried as Spike’s fingers probed them between their legs while Fluttershy sucked him harder and harder until his hips bucked and stream after stream shot down her throat.

They made love, generating still more heat underneath thick, fur blankets. Unheard was the swirling wind. Forgotten was the immeasurable snow. Unfelt was the numbing cold. All that remained was a loving harem slowly working toward a perfect moment of intimate unity, and when AJ’s voice pierced the night air, Spike ground against her to prolong her release, keeping her full as he tugged at a nipple, riding her pleasure until he could no longer contain his own.

Spike was still inside Applejack as she, Sunset and Fluttershy collapsed in a heap under the fur blankets and drifted into slumber as Spike whispered, “Thank you for saving me.”

The girls awoke to find the blizzard had ended... and the cave full of monsters. Several goblins aimed spears at them while others wielded bows and arrows. But these goblins were very different from the ones they had previously encountered. These were tall, some as big as a human child, with leathery bat-like wings protruding from their backs, and clad in black half-plate armor. Some of them even had beards.

The heroines stared at the goblins, who were accompanied by a company of half-orcs, male and female. The half-orcs’ skin ranged from brown to green, with eye colors including brown, hazel, amber, red and even the quite rare blue. The males weighed between 250 and 300 pounds and stood anywhere from six to seven feet in height. They were large, massive, and frightening; wielding battle axes and war hammers in massive fists. The female half-orcs were a half-foot or so shorter and 50-100 pounds lighter than their male counterparts, had very shapely bodies, and long hair styled in thick braids.

Half-orc troops were among the finest in the Realms, often feared for their Berserker Rage. Their armor was thick and their shields were broad. Born warriors, they were a very strong-willed race. It was rare to find a timid half-orc; even the females were strong. They almost always followed their leader, no matter who the leader was or the choices that leader made. There was a time when orcs and half-orcs were common species, but were now rare.

To their enemies, they were brutal and fearsome opponents, without parallel in their ferocity and cunning. To their allies, they were noble and honorable. Though brutal in combat, they fought with a feral grace that equaled even the finest fencing of an Elven noble. For a half-orc, great skill in battle brought great honor. They prized honor over all other things in life - first to bring honor to their clan, and secondly bringing honor to the self and to their sense of self-worth as an individual. For a half-orc, personal reputation was as important as his or her clan, and most would fight to the death in defense of either. While half-orcs seemed quick to anger, they were tempered by the wisdom of their leaders and their shamans. Strength (both physical and mental), courage, initiative, and independence are prized traits in all half-orcs.

Four of the half-orc men stepped to the front of the group. The first (whose name the girls would learn later was Bahk Barash) was heavily tattooed, with dark green skin, a blue beard, and he wielded a war hammer. He was the tallest among them and the fiercest. Renowned as a great warrior, he spoke his mind plainly and was not one to suffer fools lightly. Intensely loyal, he possessed an unshakable belief in his chief’s leadership. A powerful and bruising fighter, Bahk had a natural tendency to distrust anyone who was not a half-orc and was particularly suspicious of dwarves and elves. Proud but brave, Bahk would bow to no one but those who had earned his respect.

The second and third (named Belian and Belril) were twin brothers, each as strong as 30 human men; strong enough to shatter stone walls, lift and catch boulders, and fight off scores of enemies at a time. The fourth, and the leader of the company, had green skin, brown eyes and black hair. His name was Belros.

“What business do a human barbarian, an elf cleric, and a half-elf druid have in our territory?” he asked. “Speak!”

“Give me your name, warrior, and I’ll give you mine,” Sunset replied.

Bahk stepped between Sunset and Belros, clutching his hammer, and said, “I’d knock your head off, elf, if it was a little higher off the ground.”

Applejack grabbed her bow and aimed an arrow at the half-orc, point-blank.

“You would die before your hammer fell!” she stated.

The shadow goblins and half-orcs would have killed Applejack if Spike hadn’t awoken at that very moment.

“Girls, what’s going on?” he yawned.

The shadow goblins and half-orcs gasped at the sight of Spike, lowered their weapons, then fell on their hands and knees and bowed their heads.

“We are not worthy!” they shouted.

“Uh, did I miss something?” Spike asked his harem.

Just then, a small creature floated into the cave from behind the monsters.

It was a fairy, more specifically a pixie.

Cheeky, silly, and a little tempestuous, pixies loved to dance, tell jokes, and be the center of attention. They resembled elves with gossamer wings like those of butterflies. Curious as cats and shy as deer, they liked to spy on other creatures. Though small (standing barely a foot tall), they were not to be trifled with because they could mess people up almost as well as their warrior cousins, the sprites.

Her hair was incredibly long and sleek and golden, her skin the color of honey, her eyes emerald, her green wings delicate, ears pointed, and she wore a form-fitting gown the color of autumn leaves. Spike thought he was looking at a tiny version of Applejack, right down to the freckles on her cheeks.

He gasped. “Fairy Princess Willowstream!”

“Fairy Princess?” Applejack, Sunset, and Fluttershy echoed.

“Your Highness, what are you doing here?” Belros asked.

“Please, there isn’t much time,” the Fairy Princess said. “They must speak with my father.”

Belros and his band gave Spike and the girls a few moments to get dressed. Then they escorted them from the cave and down the other side of the mountain.

“Sorry about the rough reception,” Belros apologized. “I’ve gotta keep out the riff-raff.”

The half-orcs led Spike’s group to a grove of oaks on the other side of the Forbidden Mountains, and nestled in the ring of trees was a large camp.

“Welcome to the home of the Brotherhood of Noble Monsters!” Princess Willowstream said.

Fluttershy’s jaw dropped as she looked at the numerous fairies, pixies, winged goblins, and half-orcs sitting in trees all around them. While the pixies had made their homes (practically a small city) in the boughs of the trees, the half-orcs and goblins had constructed crude huts for shelter. They passed a hut similar in design to Cinnamon Buns’ blacksmith forge; orcish smiths were prized for their craftsmanship. Then the women and children slowly came into view. A game of tag came to a halt when the children saw the newcomers, and the women spoke to one another in whispers.

“Are you serious? He’s really here?”

“Garbuncle? The wizard who defeated 20 Gelatinous Cubes single-handed?”

“Wow!”

Walking through the camp, the heroes passed several fire pits. Female fairies in colorful outfits followed them. They approached the center of the camp and the fairies swarmed Spike. Some of them knelt in front of him while others floated and ran their hands over him; and several of them wondered why their hearts were beating so fast.

“What’s gotten into me all of a sudden?” they thought.

Many of them blushed from a mere glance from Garbuncle.

“He looked at me! Is it because he’s a famous Dragonborn wizard? Is that why my heart’s throbbing out of control?”

Spike was feeling just as uncomfortable... but for different reasons. The pixies were mere inches from his face, staring at him dreamily, as if they had never seen a Dragonborn before. They couldn’t contain their excitement around him; their urge to introduce themselves and strike up a friendship was overwhelming.

The first pixie to approach him wore a dress made of rose pedals and she had scarlet hair and turquoise wings.

“I’m Firesong,” she said.

The second wore a dress of black bird feathers. She also had red hair and wings the color of yellow corn.

“I’m Honeypepper,”

The third pixie wore a dress stitched with bright orange crystals and had matching hair and wings.

“I’m Amberglow,”

And the fourth wore a bluebell-blue dress, had silver hair and translucent wings like a dragonfly.

“And I’m Morningdew,”

The four pixies reached for Garbuncle and rubbed their bodies all over him. They raised his hands and attempted to drive his fingers between their legs. Realizing that the pixies were using his hands to try to get themselves off, Spike quickly withdrew his fingers from them, but they continued to float close to him.

“What’s this?” a voice bellowed.

It was the leader of the Shadow Goblins! He was extremely tall, at least twelve feet, and muscular. He had the largest wings of them all, almost as big as a dragon’s; he had pointed ears like an elf, green skin, and was surprisingly handsome compared to his subjects. He wore gray chainmail armor, a long, crimson cloak, and he wielded a dark magic scepter with a crystal ball at the end.

“Who dares disturb the dominion of the great Goblin King?” he demanded.

“He’s a friend,” Belros said. “We found him wandering in the Mountains.”

Spike immediately bowed.

“Garbuncle the Great, at your service,” he said.

“The Son of the Serpent, the great Dragonborn wizard... to what purpose do you seek out the ruler of the goblin hordes?” the Goblin King asked.

Princess Willowstream floated up from behind Spike and his friends.

“Perhaps I can explain,” she said.

“Princess Willowstream! You snuck out again!” the Goblin King shouted.

“I know, and I’m sorry, Daddy,” she replied.

“‘Daddy’?” Spike, Applejack, Sunset and Fluttershy echoed.

“I shouldn’t have snuck out, and I’ll never do it again, I promise,”

“As of now, you are officially grounded for one year,” the Goblin King stated. “But I’m glad you’re safe, my little princess.”

He smiled as she kissed him on the cheek.

“Please, Your Majesty,” Belros interjected. “We should go inside to talk.”

The Goblin King nodded and he led Spike and company into the largest hut at the foot of the tallest tree in the grove.

“Aratona, we have company!” Princess Willowstream called out.

As the Goblin King took a seat near the head of the table, the heroes were met by a beautiful half-orc woman with green skin, brown eyes, and long blue hair in a French braid.

“Belros!” she said. “We’ve been so worried about you! Come and sit down, you all must be hungry.”

Applejack, Sunset and Fluttershy took their seats while Spike chose to stand.

“I know you’ve traveled a long way,” Aratona said, “the least I can do is offer you something to eat and a place to rest.”

Spike nodded. “I’d appreciate that.”

“I’m sorry, I haven’t even asked your name,” she added. “I hope you don’t think I’m always this rude. It’s not every day we get visitors here.”

“Don’t apologize,” Spike chuckled. “I’m Garbuncle.”

Aratona stared at him with wide eyes.

“If I’d known the son of the Serpent was going to be in my house...”

“It looks fine to me,” he told her.

“Even with only half a roof?” she asked, pointing to a hole in the ceiling.

“I thought that was something to enjoy the stars by,” he replied.

“I wish it was. This place is always falling apart. But I guess we’re no worse than the rest of the Brotherhood. There are too many jobs and not enough people,”

“Then let us give you a hand before we go back on the road,” Spike said.

“You know, you don’t have to,” Aratona replied.

“It’s the least we can do to repay your hospitality,” said Applejack.

“Well, any friend of the Great Garbuncle’s is a friend of ours,” Belros told them. “We’re glad to help however we can. But, I need your help. We need your help. But we’ll talk more about that later. Right now, let’s eat!”

Spike finally sat down as the camp’s main cook, a male half-orc called Kal, came in with another set of half-orc twins, Balok and Talok. Each was balancing several plates on each arm. There was steak, the finest cuts from the wilds; as well as salmon, turkey, venison, chicken eggs, rabbit stew, wedges of cheese, and wine. The sweet aroma of the food made their mouths water.

“Thank you,” Spike said humbly.

Sunset took a plate from Applejack, who then passed along a plate of fresh-baked loaves of bread, still warm from the oven. AJ noticed Fluttershy staring uneasily at the various meats.

“Try it,” she said, “just a bite.”

“I can’t stand the thought of eating meat,” Fluttershy replied.

“You’ve got to get your protein somehow,” Sunset added.

“It’s against my principles,” she protested.

“This is more than they eat in a month,” Spike told her. “They’re starving.”

Fluttershy was trying hard to not be rude while Spike tried hard to not glare at her. Hospitality was considered one of the greatest honors that could be bestowed in half-orc society.

“You’re insulting them,” he said. “And you’re insulting me.”

“We do have some greens,” Aratona put in.

Fluttershy thanked Aratona as she stepped out for a moment and brought back a salad, as well as plate of garlic, potatoes, carrots, red apples, and various berries, and a bowl of potato soup. The meal was delicious, and there was plenty; so much that it was difficult to believe that the clan was on the brink of starvation.

As they ate, Belros spoke of how he and his band came across Spike’s party in the Forbidden Mountains.

“Nephew, let him tell his story,” Aratona said.

“Well, there’s not much to tell,” Spike replied. “Although, Your Highness,” he addressed the Goblin King, “in our travels, we have stumbled upon several packs of goblins without wings. As ruler of the goblin hordes, I was hoping you could tell us why they attacked us.”

“The wingless goblins who attacked you are not my people - once perhaps, but no longer,” the Goblin King answered. “They have chosen to serve Razer, the Red Death. He has great power, terrible anger...”

The red dragon Discord, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Starlight and Twilight met back at Broodmare Manor.

“What does he want with your people?” Fluttershy asked.

“He gives them weapons of metal, so they may take cities for him. Now they slay trees, build great wooden machines that throw spears and rock... He leads them to war, a war they cannot win. He will make the sky rain with their blood, turn them into a feast for the vultures,” the Goblin King said.

Suddenly, a gray-skinned, white-haired half-orc entered the meeting hall. He wore a robe and hooded cloak of deep crimson and he wielded a long wooden staff as well as a battle axe.

“Who are ye?” he demanded. “Tell me what yer doing here, or my axe will be the one askin’ next!”

“We are from Selena’s Gate,” Sunset explained. “I am Lady Sistine Sextus, cleric of Celeste. This is Lady Jacqueline of Clan Applesmith, and Lady Fauna Silentflyer. We came with Garbuncle to investigate disturbances in the region.”

The white-haired half-orc stared at her, almost as if he were examining her.

“Hmmmn... Ye don’t have the look of the dark elves about ye,” he said. “My name is Vrelok. As shaman of the Wolfswift Clan, my job is to deal with all dangers that threaten the chief and his people. So you have my attention.”

It was then that the half-orc chief, Thoendithas Wolfswift, father of Belian and Belril, and uncle to Belros, entered the hut. Clad in black leather armor, standing at just over six feet tall and weighing in at 240 pounds, the green skin, sloping forehead, jutting jaw, and towering build made his orcish heritage plain to see. True, he had a strong streak of human blood in his veins, and he found the daylight less bothersome than most of his kind did, but like many half-orcs, he was judged by his strength, fierceness and wit. Some said that he was as strong as seven elephants. When it came to combat, Thoendithas prioritized cunning and efficiency over brute strength. He would rather make one precise strike, placing it exactly where it would hurt his opponent the most rather than wear them down with a barrage of attacks.

“Husband, look who’s here,” Aratona said.

“Garbuncle!” he exclaimed. “Can it be you have come back to us? I fear you have returned in a dark hour.”

“Thoendithas, I remember you,” Spike replied. “It has been too long. What happened here? Where is the rest of the Wolfswift Clan?”

“This camp is all that remains of our clan - we were forced to fall back when a patrol of dark elves invaded our Hall,” the half-orc chief explained as he took his place at the head of the table. “It started with them raiding our crop supplies and pillaging our food stores, leaving us to starve during the winter months.”

“But stealing our food wasn’t enough!” Princess Willowstream exclaimed. “Once they had a little power over us, all they wanted was more, more, more!”

The Goblin King motioned for his daughter to calm down and she did.

“Scores of us fell beneath their poisoned blades, and they knew when and how to strike us... we were forced to collapse all exits save one, and regroup here in the forest,” Thoendithas went on. “Now only a handful of us remain.”

“We came here to seek the source of troubles that have been plaguing Selena’s Gate recently,” Sunset said. “Perhaps these troubles and the attack of these dark elves are linked.”

“Turn back from here, travelers,” Vrelok told them. “The Hall is closed and there’s nothing for ye here.”

“I will not abandon my friends to the dark elves,” Spike said to Thoendithas. “Let my allies and I enter the Hall and we’ll drive them out of there ourselves.”

“In exchange for what?” the Goblin King inquired.

“A trade; we will drive the dark elves from the Hall of the Half-Orcs in return for the Jade Tiger within,” Spike replied.

“Most honorable and noble wizard, you tempt powers beyond your grasp,” the Goblin King growled. “You know not the forces you are dealing with.”

“Peace, Your Highness,” Thoendithas said. “Garbuncle: if you can slay the dark elves and recover the Hall, my clan will be able to claim it as our own again. You will be a hero among heroes and we can begin crafting in the earnest once more, sell our goods, pay off our debt to those elves, and clear the Wolfswift name once and for all!”

“We won’t ask for yer help, travelers, but if ye could help us drive those shadow-cloaked demons back into the depths, we’d welcome the extra blades,” Vrelok added.

“Getting back into the Hall is the second of our troubles,” Thoendithas continued. “One of the clan elders, Thoven, took the key for the Hall entrance with him, when he and three of our clan went to climb that peak in the distance.”

“Why did they leave the camp?” Sunset asked.

“They seek to light the signal fire and summon our brothers from the East. Trouble is, it’s been near a day and a half, and I’ve seen no signal fire from the top of the peak. I fear they may have been ambushed on the way there,” Thoendithas said. “Without the signal fire, we can expect no aid from the nearby towns, and without the key, we cannot even re-enter the Hall to try and take it back from the drow. We need to get word to our brothers, to send whatever soldiers they can. If you’ll do that, we’ll be in your debt.”

“Can the door to the Hall be forced?” Applejack asked.

“The gate to the Hall was sealed with no ordinary key. Merely touching it to the gate causes the cracks and spaces of the gate to become solid stone - not even a battering ram could break the gate now,” Thoendithas replied. “It keeps us from entering, but at least it keeps the drow trapped in the Hall... for now.”

“First thing in the morning, we will go in search of Thoven and his band and see if we can persuade him to let us use the key to enter the Hall,” Spike said.

“You are going nowhere,” Applejack stated. “You aren’t even close to fully recovered from that fall in the snow. You have to regain your strength. I’ll take Sunset and Fluttershy and we’ll find Thoven and his band.”

Spike agreed. After the meal, Aratona showed the girls to their quarters while Princess Willowstream made Spike a leafy nest-bed high up in the tree right next to her apartment.

“There. How’s that? Comfy?” she asked.

“It’s fine, Princess,” Spike replied solemnly.

The look on his face did not convince her. She started placing tiny kisses on his forehead before slowly working her way down his neck until he turned away from her. He could still feel her eyes on him.

“Garbuncle, what’s wrong?”

“I’m not a good wizard,” he said. “I can’t even survive in the snow.”

“You are a good wizard,” she replied.

“I’m lucky you were there with the others when they found us. If you hadn’t been, who knows what would have happened,”

“I’ll tell you what, if a monster ever tries to harm you, I’ll save you,” she said. “You can count on it.”

“But, then you’d be in danger because of me,” he said sadly. “Everyone would be better off if I wasn’t around.”

Princess Willowstream frowned.

“Come with me. I want to show you something,”

Using her fairy magic, she levitated Spike down from her tree and back to the ground. He walked with her until they came to a tree; one that had fallen and had been dead for quite some time.

“This tree used to stand here, all by itself,” she began.

“What happened to it?”

“Well, one day there was a big storm, and the wind pushed on the tree until it finally blew over,” Willowstream said. “But now, look over here.”

She led him through the half-orc camp until they were back at the place where they’d had dinner.

“This is the strongest tree in this forest, because it has many trunks, all working together, lifting its leaves into the sky. And, like the shadow goblins, pixies and half-orcs, all of the trunks are different. Some are thin, some are thick, some twisted, some straight... but they all help make the tree strong, strong enough to weather any storm,” she said. “Like friends... like a family. You need your friends, Garbuncle, and your friends need you.”

“Nobody needs me,”

“I do,” she replied. “And I always will.”

She hugged his snout with her whole body as he noticed a young female half-orc of eighteen with brown eyes and a streak of black in her blue hair practicing her swordsmanship.

All half-orcs, regardless of gender or station, were expected to pull their own weight and weakness was considered a grave liability. There was no discrimination between genders in their society: women were able to pursue the same career choices as men, rise to positions of power, and were even expected to answer to the call for battle just as the men were.

“Give me your sword,” Spike said to her.

The teenage half-orc complied as she held it out to him.

“What is your name?” he inquired.

“Marony, daughter of Leoamrus, Great Dragonborn,” she replied. “My father believes we will not survive much longer. He believes that it is hopeless.”

“Is that what you believe?” Spike asked her.

“Thoendithas has led us this far; he has not led us astray,” she answered.

She watched the fireflies for a moment before her gaze wandered up the Forbidden Mountains, to where the Hall of the Half-Orcs was.

“When I was a girl, that place always used to give me nightmares,” she said. “Dark elves creeping down the mountains to climb through my window at night...”

Spike twirled Marony’s sword in his hand.

“This is a good sword,” he said as he gave it back to her. “There is always hope, Marony, daughter of Leoamrus.”

They exchanged smiles before Spike and Princess Willowstream returned to the tree and drifted into a sound sleep.

Applejack awoke when a firm hand made sound contact with her naked derriere. She jerked up and discovered Spike was standing over her, fully dressed from his emerald robe down to a pair of black leather hunting boots.

“‘Tis morning, my love, and we have things to do. Get up!”

It wasn’t morning at all. There was only the palest flicker of soft light finding its way into the grove. AJ hadn’t risen so early in a very long time. Not since she picked apples before dawn to save her mother, father and big brother the labor after she failed to catch the Great Seedling.

“You’ve been out already?” she asked.

“Aye, milady, I have. The hunting is best in the very early morning, when the creatures of the forest awake to break their own fasts of the eve,” he said. “You should join us next time, after you girls return from the peak.”

“Spike, don’t forget, we’re here to find Micro Chips’ friend and get out,” AJ reminded him.

“Sorry, you’re right, I don’t know what came over me,” he apologized.

Applejack flushed a bit. “I will get dressed.”

Spike sighed with drama before he kissed her, sweetly, deeply and tenderly, and left her to dress. As she rubbed the cheek that Spike had spanked, Applejack found herself turned on by it, and began to wonder if he would spank her more often when they got back to the real world. And that kiss... it was sweet, enflaming, and it sent a surge of molten flame streaking through her.

After AJ, Sunset and Fluttershy dressed, they joined Spike, Princess Willowstream, Thoendithas, Aratona, Vrelok, and the Goblin King for breakfast. When the meal was finished, Thoendithas was the first to rise, pulling back his wife’s chair. Vrelok approached the three heroines and handed them each a vial filled with a dark purple, almost black liquid.

“Take these,” he told them. “They’re recall potions. Simply take a sip and ye will be teleported back here. Ye can use them again to return to the location ye recalled from.”

The girls thanked him.

“I wish ye luck,” he added. “And may Clopgeddin’s twin axes bury themselves in yer enemies!”

Before they departed, Sunset noticed Spike looking sad.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Nothing,” he lied quickly.

Sunset swore. “I wish I knew what it was that could unlock your mind.”

“You have everything!” Spike shouted. “You have even that which I would hold back—”

“Exactly! You try to hold back,”

“I’m not allowed to do so?” he asked bitterly.

“Spike, you are a handsome, compassionate man, and nothing else beyond that matters!” she told him.

Spike lowered his gaze, for he knew that she was as honest as AJ, and that she was not mocking him.

“Humanoids are so complicated,” Princess Willowstream said. “Honestly, your very psychology is confusing. Why do you act so horribly to each other when all you want is companionship?”

“What do you mean?” Fluttershy asked.

“If it were me,” she said, kissing Garbuncle on the cheek, “I’d do that. It’s simple, straightforward, and efficient.”

“That’s an amazing point of view,” Fluttershy said. “Do all pixies act like that, or just around Garbuncle?”

“No, it’s just me,” Spike replied.

Sunset forced a smile and told Spike that they would be back soon. She and Applejack prayed that Spike didn’t see that they were both seething as they walked. It had not occurred to them that he might do to other women, more specifically those horny pixies and (rather attractive) female half-orcs what he had done to them and Fluttershy. They were dismayed at the rage that swept through them. He could not! He couldn’t desire those NPCs over them! He would never!

Applejack’s teeth were grating as she, Sunset and Fluttershy began their ascent up the mountain in search of Thoven, his band of half-orcs, and hopefully the key to the Hall. As they moved along the road, the lush green forest quickly turned into stark, icy blue snow. They continued until more gnolls emerged from both sides of the road and the girls took them down one at a time. They kept moving until they encountered a small encampment further up the path. It was filled with gnolls, but also stocked with chests of gold. After they defeated the monsters in the camp, they continued down the narrow, winding path up the mountain, which mirrored the way they came from White Tail Woods—before Spike almost froze to death. They battled each foe that attempted to block their way as they ascended the steep incline to the plateau about halfway up.

A few more gnolls appeared as they neared the upper plateau; they slayed them and proceeded up the snowy path. Sunset’s area-effect spells served them well, especially since it was very easy to become overwhelmed by an attack from multiple opponents. Monsters typically attacked in groups, making it wise to use ranged weapons and attacks to weaken them before closing for melee combat. A little further up, a large group of yetis tried to dissuade them from continuing.

Yetis could smell living flesh from miles away, and their snow-white fur let them move like ghosts against the frozen landscape. These hulking, furry bipedal beasts boasted both close-range melee and ranged attacks. Their special ability was to toss giant snowballs over long distances, which could temporarily freeze opponents and slow their movements.

Sunset dodged the icy boulders and countered the monsters with her Ball Lightning, Lightning Bolt, Burning Hands, Fireball, Flame Strike attacks, as well as her other lightning and fire-based spells. More yetis protected the last stretch; they took swipes at Applejack with their huge claws, but she sliced through them. After dispatching the final yeti, the three women pressed on.

The Sun’s rays shined through the trees and a few leaves fell from the branches as Spike prepared the afternoon meal, and cooked it upon a stone he had transformed into a makeshift grill, which he proved to be quite manly at. There was always something to do: since dawn he’d helped Belros hunt for food, saw logs, the animals had to be attended, and candles and soap had to be made. With Garbuncle in charge of the laborers, the camp quickly became more habitable.

“I have prepared steaks, hamburgers and veggie burgers,” he said. “I have also grilled hot dogs.”

“Are they good?” Bahk inquired.

“Are they good?” Spike echoed. “Words fail me.”

“They smell good,” one of the shadow goblins commented before taking a bite. “Ah! Hey! Now that’s what I call FOOD!!”

“I’ll have a hot dog,” Belian said.

“Me too,” Belril added.

“Such bravery,” Vrelok said. “I’ll take two.”

The women spoke in whispers and watched in awe as Spike cooked and served up the food.

“Boy, he’s a sight for sore eyes, isn’t he?”

“I’d almost forgotten what a real man looked like,”

“Why don’t you go and talk to him?”

“Oh, no. Why don’t you?”

“No, you go,”

“I don’t think I can,”

Marony approached Spike with a leather wineskin.

“You must be thirsty, Garbuncle,” she stammered. “I brought you something to drink.”

He thanked her and took a swig as Princess Willowstream floated up to him.

“I need to talk to you,” she said.

Belros offered to take over the grill and Spike agreed.

“Where’s he going?” one of the women asked.

And one by one, they all groaned in disappointment.

Spike followed Princess Willowstream until they came to a clearing in the grove where Firesong, Honeypepper, Amberglow and Morningdew were waiting. He was a little uneasy being alone with them.

“You want to be able to survive in the cold?” Willowstream began. “Well, Morningdew has agreed to teach you how to use ice magic. Once you master that, you will be that much closer to your goal.”

Spike thought it was a good idea, especially since two of the spells in his arsenal were Icy Sphere and Snowblind.

Morningdew made a few gestures with her fingers and a snowball appeared in her right hand. She threw it, hitting a target upon a distant tree dead center.

“Aim low; the first few throws will kick back,” she warned him. “Take care, lest you give yourself frostbite.”

Spike concentrated and aimed low as she had suggested. His claw ignited with ice and a frigid globe of cold energy the size of a sling stone flew from his fingertips. There was a mighty roar, tremendous recoil, and it sent him flying backward, to the ground.

“You get used to it,” Morningdew said as Spike got to his feet. “Try again.”

Spike was exhausted by the time he did not fall back with the kick of the spells’ power.

“Now, you’re ready,” Princess Willowstream said.

Silently, the five fairies led Spike back to the tree he was staying in and Willowstream poured each of them a cup of wine.

“We’d like to toast you... to Garbuncle!” she said.

“To Garbuncle!” they echoed.

Before Spike could bring the chalice to his lips, the liquid floated out of it in tiny bubbles that hovered around him.

“Now, open wide and savor the taste of each drop,” Willowstream said.

That’s when Spike understood her (and the others’) intentions. The pixies looked so innocent, but they venerated the Dragonborn like a god, with effigies in his honor, performing sexual rituals for him. His presence took those rites even further. They became even more inhibited, desperate to give in to their desires. They couldn’t get enough from their rituals anymore.

They all had strong feelings for him... warm, but also lustful, an obsession.

“Are all the women in this video game so perverted?” Spike thought.

Willowstream made a few gestures with her fingers and Spike’s robe flew open via her magic.

“Wow, I almost forgot what a nice figure you have,” she breathed. “Why don’t you give me a kiss?”

When Spike refused to give in to her, the pixie Princess decided to take stronger measures.

“Okay, girls, the treatment,”

The five fairies suddenly grew to the point that they were as large as humans, and their clothes disappeared.

“Hey, wait, wait. Wait a minute. Whoa, whoa, whoa... Hey, hey, be careful,” Spike protested. “Whoa! Hey! Ooh! Okay, you can look, but don’t touch.”

Princess Willowstream clung to him, her arms about his neck, her bare breasts crushed to his chest. Her skin was so soft and she buried her face against his neck until he finally couldn’t fight back anymore.

Meanwhile, another pack of gnolls and their ogre companion greeted Applejack, Sunset and Fluttershy on the summit. The girls quickly defeated them and continued to a clearing ahead, where they found a small cave near the peak of the mountain. They found the half-orc elder Thoven inside, wounded and weary.

“Stay back - I’ve still enough strength ta gut ye...” he said.

“We’re here to help you, Thoven,” Sunset said. “Let us tend your wounds.”

“There’s no time for that! Ye... ye’ve come too late... I’m nearly done. Thrice-damned ogres... too many of ‘em. Ye need to light the signal fire atop the peak, or else the Clan will be butchered by those dark elves as soon as they find a way out of the Hall!”

“We have already volunteered to go into the Hall, Thoven,” Fluttershy said. “We just need the key you have.”

The half-orc didn’t reply.

“Thoven, where’s the key to the Hall?” Applejack asked.

“I... don’t have it. One of the others has it. We were attacked by a dragon atop the peak... an ice dragon. It froze the one holding the key in a block of ice... ye’ll need to light the signal fire to get to his body,”

“How do we light the signal fire?” Fluttershy inquired.

“Me band... each one of my men was carrying fuel and tinder for the watchtower... find them and get it from them. Take this flask from me... ye’ll need it to fuel the flames,”

“Very well,” Applejack said. “We’ll find your fallen brothers and light the signal fire as quickly as we can.”

“Thank ye, strangers... the hopes of me people rest on yer shoulders,”

“We will see to it they are saved,” Sunset promised. “Rest easy, Thoven.”

Thoven’s eyes fluttered shut. His wounds were too great for him to be saved.

The girls exited the cave and made their final climb to the signal fire tower. There, they found a trio of corpses; the three slain members of Thoven’s party. They held the items necessary to light the signal fire: Drak held the flint, Fekk held the torch, and Tolkoth, the one frozen in the block of ice, was the one who held the key which opened the door into the Hall of the Half-Orcs. With the oil flask, flint, and torch in hand, the girls had everything needed to light the fire and melt the ice surrounding Tolkoth. They lit the fire, which defrosted Tolkoth and melted the ice imprisoning him and the hall key.

After acquiring the key, the girls used their recall potions to return to the half-orc camp. It tasted like cough syrup. Grape-flavored cough syrup.

Spike was awaiting them in the meeting hall when they returned. He sat at the table sipping wine with Vrelok and Thoendithas, who offered the women something to eat and drink while they spoke about the mission. Spike poured the girls each a glass of wine as they sat beside him at the table.

“I saw the signal fire alight upon the slopes... and ye have brought the key,” Vrelok said. “But tell me... did any of the men from the expedition survive?”

“No, some were slain by a dragon, and the rest were killed by ogres upon the slopes,” AJ replied. “They fought bravely, but their opponents outnumbered them.”

“More deaths our enemies shall answer for. Ye have done enough, travelers, no need for ye to risk yourselves for our clan any longer,” said Vrelok.

“Vrelok, we wish to enter the Hall and help your people - the drow may decide to leave the Hall before the reinforcements arrive, and we cannot allow that,” Fluttershy replied firmly.

“Very well, then. I’ll not argue with one with fire in the eyes such as ye - simply hold the key in your left hand as ye approach the gate, then push it into the stone door - it should melt inside and the door will open itself. Luck be with ye,”

“We will return when the drow are driven from the Hall,” Sunset stated.

“And we will pray for your success,” Thoendithas added.

They finished the last of the wine, then Spike and the girls stood up and departed for the entrance to the Hall of the Half-Orcs. Spike inserted the key into the door. Upon turning the key, the magic protection around the hall door began to fade away... along with the stone. Once the door had been unlocked, they entered the hall to begin the next stage of their adventure.

Unfortunately, the act of doing so awakened a new menace in the distance...

Ogres & Oubliettes: Dark Alliance, Act V

As Thoendithas stated, the nefarious drow had assumed control of the Hall of the Half-Orcs, a dark, dangerous labyrinth filled with piles of gold and dead ends. A pair of green trolls greeted Spike, Applejack, Sunset and Fluttershy’s arrival onto the Hall’s first level. Spike eliminated them with his Grand Infernal Great Sword (since trolls could only be killed with fire or poison) before they headed down the tunnel to a wider chamber containing an army of dark elves that waited on the other side of a chasm.

Tens of thousands of years ago, the elves were divided, the benevolent ones against the malevolent. The war among elvenkind ended when the good elves (like Sunset’s character) banished their selfish and cruel kin to the subterranean depths. And it was in those lightless caverns that the dark elves built an empire!

The wickedest of elves, drow were seldom seen by the surface world. And because they had been forced to live underground for so long, they couldn’t stand sunlight. All female drow used magic, preferring to throw fireballs or icy spheres from a distance. Up close, they pulled out wicked black blades that could do significant damage. For the most part, female drow were content to cast spell after spell, only occasionally maneuvering to get a better line of attack, whereas male drow attacked in many different ways. When using melee weapons, they closed the gap before attacking. When equipped with crossbows, they moved to get within firing range and ran if a foe tried to approach them. Drow warriors with ranged weapons were especially deadly, as they could fire poison-tipped arrows. If infected, one slowly lost health for several seconds until the poison dissipated.

Applejack sniped the onslaught of dark elves guarding the bridge from afar with her bow and arrows. It was much easier than rushing them, especially since her range was longer than theirs. Between dodging all of the incoming spells and moving across the bridge, firing her bow was tough. The four heroes proceeded slowly across the thin bridge, being careful not to fall into the pit below, battling the drow attempting to halt their progress, until they reached the stone staircase leading down to the second level.

The next level was filled with Helmed Horrors—animated suits of empty plate armor that wielded weapons with an ever-shifting array of magical effects. Like traditional animated suits of armor, they didn’t require air, food, drink or sleep. However, unlike the usual animated armors, these constructs possessed intelligence, the ability to reason, adjust their tactics, and possessed unswerving devotion to their maker that persisted even after the maker’s demise. They served without ambition or emotion, were resistant to magic effects (besides damage), and took half the damage from ranged weapons.

Though it took more magical resources to create a helmed horror than a lesser suit of animated armor, the helmed horror required less direction and maintenance as it carried out its appointed tasks. A helmed horror always followed its orders with completely loyalty, and was intelligent enough to understand the difference between an order’s intent and its exact wording. Unlike many constructs, it sought to fulfill the former rather than slavishly follow the latter.

The helmed horrors fought with the cunning of a skilled warrior, taking to the air as it targeted weaker characters and spell casters first. However, helmed horrors lacked the insight to change their environment, fortify it, or otherwise take active measures to improve their defenses. Vrelok’s work, Spike thought.

Applejack used the central pillars that dotted the halls to provide cover from the crossbow-wielding horrors while she battled the melee attackers. They followed her down the dark corridor to a sharp right turn, into a large chamber full of treasure chests. Sunset reached out to open one, when Spike quickly slapped her hand away.

“Ow!” she cried.

“Get back!” Spike shouted.

Suddenly, the chest attacked! But it wasn’t a chest, it was a mimic!

Mimics were cunning shapeshifting predators able to take on the form of any inanimate object to lure creatures to their doom. They could alter their outward texture to resemble wood, stone, and other basic materials, and they had evolved to assume the appearances of objects that other creatures were likely to come into contact with; most often doors and chests, having learned that such forms attract a steady stream of prey. In their altered form, mimics were nearly unrecognizable until potential prey blundered into their reach, whereupon the monster sprouted pseudopods and attacked.

Half the treasure chests in the chamber were mimics posing as chests. Their positions changed randomly, so Spike and the girls assumed that every chest was an enemy in disguise. Fortunately, they didn’t need to give the mimics the first hit; if Spike stood to the side of the chest when he approached it, the mimic would need to turn before it could attack, giving him time to take the first swing.

They quickly dispatched the mimics and continued on to the door to the treasure room. Using the key he had bought from the dwarf back in Selena’s Gate, Spike unlocked the door, and several drow mages—dark elves who specialized in fireball and poison spells—and four driders came out of the shadowy corners and surrounded them. When a drow failed to pass a test of faith and strength to rise higher in rank, they were transformed into driders—horrid half-drow, half-giant spider hybrids that served as living representatives of their goddess’ dark power. The drow both feared and shunned the driders, holding them in lower esteem than slaves. However, they tolerated the presence of them as a reminder of the fate that awaited all who failed the Spider Queen.

The driders (whose names were Idavos, Ironu, Kerru, and Rixur) wore studded leather armor adorned with spider motifs, and they were led by a white-haired dark elf in all black named Captain Celat.

“Who are you that have come here?” he asked.

“We’re here to stop you from killing the half-orcs,” Spike said.

“Stop us?” Celat laughed. “Whoa! Wrong! Wrong!”

He was quickly silenced by his superior, a female dark elf with high white hair and multiple tattoos.

“So you’re Lady Fauna Silentflyer, the cutest elf?” she inquired.

Fluttershy batted her eyelashes as a butterfly fluttered out of nowhere and landed on her finger.

“You cut that out!” the drow commander snapped. “I don’t know how you got in here, but heads will roll for this, I promise you.” She turned to Captain Celat and added, “Don’t let them escape!”

Celat nodded. In Drow society, the males were subservient to the females; they might lead a patrol or a raiding party (much like Celat did), but they always reported to a woman—either the matron of his house or one of her hand-picked female subordinates.

“I’m sorry to do this,” Celat apologized, “but it’s my job.”

He and his squadron of driders locked Spike and the girls in the treasure chamber, but Fluttershy had a plan.

“Let me handle this,” she said. “Oh, Captain Celat, I would like you to set us free now, please.”

“No can do, pretty missy. I have my orders,” Celat replied.

“Please, let us go,” she said cutely.

“No way, man. Forget it,”

Then Fluttershy started using her feminine wiles on him. Well, it wasn’t so much “feminine wiles” as it was her making her eyes big as a puppy’s, batting her eyelashes at him, and using baby talk.

“Pretty please with whipped cream and a cherry on top?”

“Whoa! You’re cute, man!” Celat said. “You’ve got this whole cute don’t-make-me-stay-in-here thing happening, man!”

“Pwease, wet us out of this cagey-wagey,” she said.

“You’re-You’re working your cuteness on me, man! Your irresistible cuteness! Stop it! Wrong, wrong. Knock it off!”

“Pleasy-squeezy-weezy-weeze?”

“No! No way, man!”

“Pleasy-weasy-weasy-wease,” she said.

Celat tried to cover his eyes, but he couldn’t look away from her.

“Okay, I’ll let you out,” he said as he unlocked the door.

“How can we ever thanky-wanky you?” Fluttershy asked him.

“Don’t! You’re free. Just no more of the thing of cute! We can’t take it!”

“You’re too cute!” the driders all cried.

“Now go!” Celat shouted.

Fluttershy looked at her friends and smirked, “Some elf girls got it, and some elf girls don’t.”

(Don’t try being that cute; she’s a trained professional.)

The final level of the Hall was heavily populated by Drow. Fortunately, the spacious main chamber created a lot of enemy crossfire for the girls as they followed Spike through a tight corridor to the well-guarded room at the other end. They crossed the chamber and found the dark elves’ ruthless commander, a drow priestess who wore little more than what looked like a black leather sling bikini... and she had something chained to the wall behind her.

It was the Jade Tiger!

And it wasn’t just a treasure! It was a living, breathing creature!

“You... a Sun elf, a darthirr... you dare attack us? You and the rest of your sun-cursed race of traitors will pay dearly for the deaths you have caused here today,” the priestess said.

“As you will pay for the deaths of the half-orcs, Eradeka,” Sunset replied. “Your attack on the Forbidden Mountains ends here.”

“My attack? You presume much. The half-orcs’ hall was to be ours, but we care nothing for the Forbidden Mountains or your filthy surface cities - those have been promised to others, and they may have them,”

“Promised to others?” Spike asked. “By whom?”

“Can it be that you’ve come all this way without knowing your enemy?” Eradeka answered. “Then it is ignorance that has made you brave.”

“Enough of your words, dark elf,” Spike said. “Prepare to die.”

“You will soon choke on your own screams, intruders. And then I shall offer up your bodies to my goddess,”

“We’ll see about that,” Applejack replied.

“It is you who will perish this day,” Sunset stated.

The priestess snapped her fingers and she was joined by her pet monster. With the hindquarters of a large goat, the forequarters of a lion, and the leathery wings of a dragon, along with the heads of all three of those creatures, it combined the worst aspects of its three parts. Its dragon head drove it to raid, plunder, and accumulate a great hoard. Its leonine nature compelled it to hunt and kill powerful creatures that threatened its territory. And its goat head granted it a vicious, stubborn streak that compelled it to fight to the death.

“Let’s just see how this plays out,” Eradeka told them.

“A Chimera, huh?” Spike asked. “Fuckin’ sweet!”

As soon as Spike charged Eradeka, she started summoning skeletons to fight for her, before casting icy spheres... and the occasional fireball. The girls dodged Eradeka’s magic blasts as they approached the skeletal warriors and retaliated with melee, ranged weapons, and their own spells.

It was a tough boss battle: between her spells and powerful kick attack, Eradeka was much tougher than she appeared. And the only two times the group had a safe shot at the Chimera were when it was taking off and when it landed, but they could do a good deal of damage on the ground without taking much in return if they positioned themselves carefully. While the Chimera was on the ground, they ran circles around it. Every now and then it cast a ball of lightning, which they couldn’t do anything about, and every time Spike got close to Eradeka, she teleported from one side of the chamber to the other.

Spike spat a fireball at her, which missed, but obliterated the chain holding the Jade Tiger in place, and it attacked and dealt the killing blow to the Chimera. Spike finally impaled Eradeka on one of his swords, forcing her to drop her scimitar, as well as several potions, and she disappeared in an explosion of light, leaving only her black leather sling bikini behind.

The Jade Tiger approached Spike and licked his claw as a gesture of gratefulness for being rescued before leading him and the girls to single holding cell next to where it had been chained up. There was a green-skinned, brown-bearded half-orc inside and he was covered in blood.

“Who... who are ye?” he asked.

“We are enemies of the dark elves,” Spike said. “We have defeated their commander and are here to set you free.”

“I... I am Bonm... tell me, are ye of the Harpers?”

“Yes, we are,” Fluttershy replied. “Are you one of their agents as well?”

“Aye. I was their eyes and ears in the Forbidden Mountains. There was... something stirring within the mountains, organizing the gnolls, the ogres... then the dragon appeared,”

“We have fought them, though the dragon eluded us,” said Sunset. “What do you know of these forces?”

“I know little... but the fact the dark elves are working with them is a cause for worry... whatever leads this army, it must be powerful to have such troops as allies,” Bonm said. “I heard the drow speak often of their plans... their goal was to exterminate my tribe’s settlement in the forest, in order to protect the movements of the gnolls and ogres in the mountains. In exchange for their help, they were promised the Hall and all within it.”

“The drow killed the half-orcs so the gnolls and ogres could move freely?” Fluttershy asked.

“Aye aye... though I know not why. They care nothing for the gnolls and ogres. I had been searching for the source of the troubles in the region when the drow struck the Hall,” Bonm explained.

“We came from Selena’s Gate,” Spike said. “Alden sent us to find and acquire a treasure from the Hall.” He motioned to the Jade Tiger. “It could be someone intended to move the gnoll and ogres troops through the White Tail Woods and attack the city.”

“A treasure? I... I heard the drow speak of a treasure, but it was the Razor of Masculinity,” Bonm replied. “If my hunch proves true, then the Razor may lie within a cave just outside of Plunder Cove. Finding yer way to it may prove to be a trick, but ye should be able to reach it from the swamp there.”

“We’ll head to Plunder Cove and look for the Razor,” Applejack said. “I’m starting to think the danger to Selena’s Gate and the Realms may be greater than we first thought.”

“I fear ye right, friends, I fear ye right... Well, let us squander no more time talkin’ of it. If Alden believes that these treasures will work against the beast that’s stalking us, then ye must recover the Razor and find the out the exact nature of this threat,” Bonm said.

“We will,” Spike replied.

“What about you?” Fluttershy asked.

“Don’t worry about my wounds,” Bonm told her. “Give me a while to regain my strength and I’ll make my way to the surface soon enough.”

“Farewell,” Spike told him.

The girls each shared a bit from their recall potions so that Spike could teleport with them, and they returned to the grove with the Jade Tiger, where they found the pixies, shadow goblins and half-orcs packing up the camp.

“Garbuncle, word of your success had already reached our ears! Even now, my clan makes their way to the Hall. Soon, the Wolfswift name will be sung with honor once more,” said Thoendithas. “Clopgeddin has truly blessed us this day. You have done me and my people a great service, Dragonborn. You have reversed our fortunes, and we shall never forget it. You are a true Hero of the Half-Orcs, and I am proud to name you my clan-brother.”

Spike smiled as Thoendithas went on. “War is upon us, Garbuncle. As the Storm King’s power grows our strength wanes, this you know. Eventually, his forces will outnumber the people of Selena’s Gate. You need more men.”

Spike frowned. “There are none.”

“There are creatures that dwell in the swamp just outside of Plunder Cove,”

“The Yuan-ti!” Spike breathed. “Serpent folk! You would ask me to call upon them?” he asked. “They plot to dominate all other races and make themselves gods. They answer to no one.”

“They will answer to the one who wields this!” Thoendithas produced an object from his cloak. “Take it, and with it, know you have the thanks and reverence of the entire Wolfswift Clan!”

It was a thick yet elegant blade forged of purple steel with an emerald embedded into the hilt of the silver handle.

“That sword’s a Dragonslayer!” Sunset exclaimed.

That was the gnarliest weapon in existence!

“A Dragonborn who can wield the power of this sword can summon to him an army more powerful than any that walks this earth,” Thoendithas said. “Including any and all allies that his party has made along their journeys.”

Spike suddenly took Thoendithas’ hand in both of his great dragon claws, knelt down upon the rough ground of the forest, and bowed humbly over the half-orc chief’s hand.

“You have my eternal gratitude, Thoendithas. Thank you,” Spike said. “We also found Bonm within the Hall. He told us the Drow were looking to collect the Razor of Masculinity.”

“Bonm’s alive!” Thoendithas exclaimed. “Thrice-blessed are we. The Razor, eh? I’d heard something of it from Bonm before, but I didn’t think it linked to our troubles... If you go searching for it, be careful; more dangerous beasts than wolves and yeti lair there.”

“Thanks for the warning,” Applejack said. “Farewell.”

Using his magic, Vrelok cast a spell on Spike, the girls, Sandra the wolf, Elizabeth the chicken, and the Jade Tiger that sent them all back to Selena’s Gate. As they returned to the Singing Siren, they couldn’t help but agree that it had been quite a day. It was sunny, followed by a blizzard, and it ended up sunny again... but they made it back alive!

“Few ever return from the depths of the Halls of the Half-Orcs, and with the Jade Tiger, besides. Well done. Here is your reward,” Alden said as he handed over two million gold; fighting monsters kind of pay.

After they received their reward from Alden, Sunset returned to Horus at the Church of Celeste.

“Welcome back, Sistine. The church received news of Black Ice’s defeat at your hands; you truly stand tall in the eyes of Celeste. Are you prepared to serve her as a knight of the temple?”

“Yes, I am,” she said.

“So be it! Be vigilant. Protect the weak, poor, injured, and young, and do not sacrifice them for others or yourself. Demonstrate excellence and purity of loyalty in your role as guardian and protector,”

“My thanks, Horus. I will bring the glory of Celeste to all the Realms,”

“You have many new abilities at your disposal now, Sistine Sextus; train well. I knew when you were a young girl in training, just as I know now: you will become a hero unlike any other,’”

“Farewell, Horus. May Celeste watch over you,” she said.

Spike and the girls awoke the next morning feeling refreshed after their mission into the Forbidden Mountains. They helped themselves to scrambled eggs, bacon and buttered toast before making their way to the port, where Captain Thrash was waiting for them at his ship.

“Morning,” he greeted them. “Are you ready to part for Plunder Cove? I should warn you, the place is infested with monsters. Swallow you whole. And piranha, too. I knew a fella, tried to swim it last year. They picked him clean in 20 seconds, no, I lie, it was ten. Clean to the bone. And then there’s snakes and other reptiles, serpent folk...”

“Looks like your boat’s the only way,” Spike said. “Did you put the sign at the fork to make sure you got plenty of business?”

“No, I put it there as a warning to strangers. The other way is even more dangerous. None return who go that way,”

“Don’t tell me, let me guess. More monsters,” Discord ventured.

“Worse. Ghouls, fiends, giant eels that suck you down into the mud. Writhing things, wolves the size of horses, and satyrs,”

Spike, Discord, Big Mac, Applejack, Sunset, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Starlight and Twilight all boarded Thrash’s ship.

“And what was your name?” Thrash directed at Fluttershy. “I believe I saw you in the town square the other day.”

“I’m Lady Fauna Silentflyer,” she said.

“Wait, you’re the druid who defeated a Cockatrice using only your little finger,” Thrash replied. “It’ll be great to have someone like you onboard.”

Once the crew weighed anchor and set the sails, Thrash called Spike’s party into his cabin for a private talk.

“Alden has reason to believe that the Dark Web is planning something big,” Thrash shared. “I’m not sure what exactly, but it has to do with the magic items he’s been asking you to retrieve.”

“You’ve run into the Dark Web before?” Sunset asked.

“I’m not positive they were part of the Dark Web, but they definitely did mention the four treasures,” Thrash said. “I’m only hypothesizing, but they might have been members who dropped out of the organization and had gone into hiding. Perhaps they wanted no part of whatever it is that’s coming. If the Dark Web is known for anything, it’s the fact that they don’t want their plans getting out.”

“So these treasures are so bad that they scare even dark wizards?” Discord inquired.

“What do you think they’re gonna try?” Fluttershy asked.

“Let me start over,” Thrash replied. “A few days ago, I was sailing back to Selena’s Gate when I stopped at a pub in Shallowpond that I knew was a gathering spot for local criminals.”

As Thrash was enjoying his drink at the bar, he overheard a group shouting from one of the nearby tables. A humanoid feline was among them.
“Come on, hurry up, bartender!”

“Hey, calm down!”

“And how am I supposed to do that? We finally managed to figure out where the Razor is, but we can’t do anything because of some seal?”

“Keep your voice down,”

“Don’t worry, boys,” the cat-man said. “Let me handle this one.”

“You sure you’re gonna be okay on your own, Capper?”

“You don’t have to worry about me,” he grinned. “Just tell Catrina that I’ll be coming back with the Razor of Masculinity in three days.”

Spike, Discord, Big Mac and the girls stared at Thrash in stunned silence. Capper was one of the well-dressed felines back at Broodmare Manor. He was going after the Razor of Masculinity... and that fact that it had been sealed away meant that it was very powerful magic.

“You sure the guys you saw at the pub are with the Black Network?” Sunset asked Thrash.

“No doubt,” the pirate captain answered. “I can’t believe I was such a fool. How could I have been so careless? I didn’t recognize the names at first, but Capper and Catrina... If I had recognized their names, I could have forced them to reveal their plan to me!”

“So, let me get this straight,” Spike said. “The Dark Web’s planning to do something with these four treasures and we have to stop them because after what you overheard you’re sure it’s going to be something bad.”

“Aye,” Thrash replied. “And I’m not foolish enough to believe that I can take on an entire evil organization all by myself. That’s why I’m offering you my help. Whatever happens, you have my support.”

Suddenly, Trash’s bosun entered the cabin.

“Captain, we’re coming up on Plunder Cove,” he said.

Thrash nodded and Spike and company joined him on deck.

“I will protect your wolf and chicken while you go ashore,” he told Fluttershy. “It’s no place for animals.”

“Thank you,” she said.

Spike and his party entered one of the longboats and Big Mac rowed them the rest of the way to shore. Thick fog hung over the rocky area as Discord led them, wandering through the haze.

“I know we went this way, and-and we crossed--Oh, b-b-but then I--I lost my way over--And if I don’t--But I know that--” he said, looking at the map.

“Do you have any idea where we are?” Spike asked.

“No,” Discord said, almost mournfully. “I don’t know where we are, and where we aren’t. And I haven’t known for hours. I’ve failed us all.”

Spike placed a hand on Discord’s shoulder.

“I believe I have as well,” he said.

“Let’s face it,” Pinkie told them. “Without hope, we don’t have a chance of getting out of here.”

Rainbow Dash and the rest of the girls nodded in agreement. Wearing a sad expression, Spike stepped away from the group and spotted a cave entrance.

“Perhaps we might rest in there until this mist clears,” he suggested.

One by one, they agreed and headed for the cavern.

Deep in the cave, Discord, Big Mac, Applejack, Sunset, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Starlight, and Twilight laid on the ground near the campfire embers. Rarity smiled as she slept against Discord’s side. Twilight slept alone by a rock with her cloak pulled up over her chest, shivering beneath its thin material. Rolling over, she contorted her body to fit under the cloak. Applejack, Sunset, Fluttershy and Pinkie all jolted awake and glared at Starlight, who was snoring and murmuring in her sleep.

“I’ve tried to find you, Mother,” they heard Spike say.

“I know, Spike. I’m sorry. You’d have found her by now if I hadn’t--” Applejack said. “Spike?”

They spotted Spike standing outside the cave, in the dark, bare-chested, all alone, and wide awake, wandering up a nearby ridge, looking at the stars.

“I’ve looked all the places you weren’t. I just can’t find the place you are. I only know that you are where I am not. And where am I? I wish you were here to tell me,” he thought out loud. “Perhaps, if I were to wish very, very hard...”

He stopped at a tree on a ledge, stared up at the hazy sky, and started singing a lullaby he remembered his mother sang to him when she was still alive.

As he sang, he made several movements with his arms and snow flew from his fingertips. The moon came out and Spike spotted a cloud shaped like a woman. He danced with it until it disappeared along with the fog. When Spike stopped singing, he fell asleep against the tree and Applejack, Sunset, Fluttershy and Pinkie coiled around him to share their warmth as he slept. Shivering, they looked up at the night sky and dozed off.

Yawning and stretching, Rainbow Dash walked out of the cave. She hadn’t gone far when she came to a stop. Turning around, she screamed, waking the others. They all drew their weapons and were at her side in an instant. And that’s when they saw what had frightened her: five humanoid creatures with snake-like heads, malisons, emerged from the swamp. The malisons were a hideous blend of human and serpentine (more human, with arms and legs); they formed the middle caste of the yan-ti. They hunted with arrows tipped with their own venom and they used their magical powers of suggestion to force their enemies’ surrender.

And they were led by a creature that could be best described as an abomination. A monstrous serpent with a burly humanoid torso and arms, it and other similar creatures possessed the highest status of yan-ti society, and they most closely resembled the race as the serpent gods intended. This one had blue scales, golden eyes, a hood like a cobra, and a snakelike tail in place of its legs.

“Who dares enter the domain of Teskih?” he hissed.

“One who will have your allegiance,” Spike answered.

“None command me!”

The abomination drew his scimitar and it locked with Spike’s Dragonslayer.

“The Eradicator!” he hissed.

Spike threw Teskih back but both men kept their swords drawn.

“I am Garbuncle, Son of the Serpent. Fight for me, and I will give you and your people a chance to take this world for your own... What say you?”

The snake folk remained silent.

“What say you?!” he demanded.

Teskih lowered his blade. “Why have you come here?”

“We seek the Razor of Masculinity,” Spike stated.

Teskih sheathed his scimitar and slithered away, motioning for Spike and his party to follow him. He led them to a cave that was sealed with a great sheet of ice.

“In there,” Teskih stated.

“Thank you,” Spike told him. “You will be called upon at a later date to help me, and you will answer.”

“Assuming you survive,” the serpent abomination replied.

And he and his five malison soldiers disappeared back into the swamp.

Formed of a series of straightforward tunnels, the ice cave stood between the eleven heroes and the Razor of Masculinity. But Spike didn’t expect the monsters to match the simplicity of the area. They would face several new beasts, the first of which were pesky, freezing-cold winter wolves. They were similar to their normal counterparts, but were tougher, faster, and boasted a frozen breath attack that could leave enemies slowed down and almost helpless against more powerful, dangerous adversaries. Nevertheless, classic wolf-slaying tactics were still effective. They avoided the wolves’ frozen breath and melee attacks by countering with hit-and-run techniques and long-range attacks with bows and spells.

Several corridors branched from the main path and split into eleven different routes, each of which was infested with packs of winter wolves looking for a fight.

“Now which way do we go?” Fluttershy asked.

“I guess we’ll have to split up,” Spike said.

And so they did. They had plenty of time to get used to battling the winter wolves, since this level was basically just one long wolf brawl. There were no keys or switches to worry about; they just had to fight their way to the end. They proceeded cautiously through the icy tunnels, as to not alert other monsters in the vicinity. They never knew when they might turn a corner to find another coming at them. The heroes cleared out all the passages and came together again in a wide rectangular cavern where the eleven paths reconnected. They approached the pool in the center of the cavern and a pair of displacer beasts emerged from the water.

Resembling pumas covered in blue-black fur, the displacer beasts’ otherworldly origins were clear in their six legs and the two barbed tentacles sprouting from their shoulders. Displacer beasts were monstrous predators with the ability to bend light around their bodies, rendering them invisible, and thus making it difficult to determine exactly where they were until they attacked. Adventurers were advised to hold their attacks until a displacer beast was almost upon them, or else they were in danger of striking empty air. Displacer beasts killed not just for food, but also for sport; and they hunted just as well alone as they did in small prides (which demonstrated great skill at setting ambushes). However, their invisibility could be negated by walking in water – doing so, one would be able to spot ripples in the water as the invisible displacer approached. The gang encountered additional displacer beasts in the next tunnel, and they made sure to eliminate all of the displacers before moving on. They didn’t want the monsters nipping at their heels when they met up with their next adversary... a frost giant that barricaded the final chamber of the ice cave.

Frost giants made their homes in frozen, snow-covered lands across the realms and survived by hunting and raiding the surrounding areas for slaves and food. They kind of looked like dwarves... if you can imagine dwarves towering more than twice the height of a human. Frost giants were incredibly strong and quick to use their brute force to solve any problem they came across. Up close, they swung massive axes that did painful amounts of damage. At a distance, they lobbed giant ice boulders that would slow opponents down as well as do a fair amount of harm. Because of the harsh realities of their environment, frost giants were immune to cold attacks; but because of that, fire-based attacks did an additional 50% damage.

Discord fired flaming arrows at the frost giant while the bulk of the party danced around it. It was pretty effective, since the frost giant was pretty slow and relatively easy to attack from behind. Sunset’s fireballs worked wonders, but it was difficult for her to aim while dodging ice boulders. The frost giant brought his axe down upon Spike, but Spike caught the blade between his claws. The blade started to glow red hot and bits of it fell off and into Spike’s open mouth.

“Is he melting the blade... with just his body heat?” Applejack asked.

Spike spat the melted bits of metal back at the frost giant, hitting it in its eyes, blinding it. It took a lot of her magical energy, but Sunset finished the giant off with a lightning bolt, and they entered the final chamber of the ice cave.

Diamonds glittered like stars across the cavern, and the Razor of Masculinity was straight ahead, on a huge altar in the center of the room, but it was protected by a powerful creature: Ciraxis, the white dragon that stirred awake by the signal fire Applejack and Sunset lit on the peak in the Forbidden Mountains.

White dragons were often found in extremely cold environments, making their lairs in icy caverns safe from the rays of the sun. And even though they were the smallest, least intelligent, and most animalistic of dragons, they were fearsome opponents. Not only could they bite and claw for horrendous amounts of damage, but they also had the ability to breathe a cone of frost, freezing their opponents solid and rendering them helpless. Driven by hunger and greed, they lacked the cunning and tactics of other dragons. However, their bestial nature made them the best hunters among all dragonkind, and they had extraordinary memories. They recalled every slight and defeat, and were infamous to conduct malicious vendettas against creatures that had offended them. And Ciraxis had 1,500 Hit Points, an Armor Class of 29, and an immunity to cold.

Ciraxis hovered around his lair as jagged ice shards and boulders fell from the cavern ceiling. When he finally landed, Sunset used her Fire Shield, Fireball and Burning Hands spells on him before she summoned a magic sword out of thin air! After she landed a few hits, she made a few gestures with her hands, and the sword became a spear! A few more hits, and the spear turned into twin swords! The gang had never seen anyone be able to reequip as fast as Sunset could... and she was just getting warmed up! Suddenly, her skirt and breastplate disappeared and were replaced by a midriff-baring suit of armor that further enhanced her abilities. Applejack and Discord hung back and attacked Ciraxis with arrows enchanted with fire while Big Mac used his Bull Rush as a hit-and-run attack. Fortunately, Ciraxis’ ice attacks had no effect on Spike or Sunset, and they cut through him like tissue paper.

“You listen up!” Spike shouted. “I consider every creature my friend! Whether it’s the druids and centaurs of the forests, the dwarves and half-orcs of the mountains, or even those perverted pixies and horny she-elves! They’re all my friends! And that’s why... I’m not leaving without them!!!!”

While Ciraxis was distracted, Lady Applesmith and Captain Wuzz both fired two enchanted arrows simultaneously, and all four pierced the dragon’s wings, pinning it to the wall behind it. Spike ran up the side of the cavern wall, pulled out the Dragonslayer, leapt into the air and cut off Ciraxis’ head.

As soon as Spike grabbed the Razor of Masculinity, he and his team were magically transported back to Selena’s Gate.

“I heard the Plunder Cove affair was bloody,” Alden said. “But no matter; you’ve recovered the Razor of Masculinity just the same. As promised, your reward. Rest now, but meet me back here tomorrow morning. There is still much work to be done.”

As the heroes turned in for the night, Fluttershy couldn’t help but wonder, “I wonder if we’ll ever be put into songs or tales.”

“What?” Spike asked.

“I wonder if children will ever say: ‘Let’s hear about Garbuncle and the Four Treasures.’ And they’ll say, ‘Yes! That’s my favorite!’ ‘Garbuncle was really courageous, wasn’t he, Dad?’ ‘Aye, son, the most famous of Dragonborn, and that’s saying a lot,’”

“You’ve left out one of the main characters: Lady Fauna Silentflyer the Brave. I want to hear more about her,” Spike replied. “Garbuncle wouldn’t have gotten out of the Forbidden Mountains without her.”

“Now, Spike, don’t make fun of me,” Fluttershy said. “I was being serious.”

“So was I, Fluttershy. So was I,”

“‘Lady Fauna Silentflyer the Brave,’” she thought with a smile. “I like the sound of that.”

Meanwhile, across the Realms, Tempest Shadow reported to the Storm King on her agents’ findings.

“The Harpers worked quickly, Your Highness,” she said. “Already they have acquired four suitable Treasure Keys, though the Dark Web still hounds them mercilessly.”

“Ah, everything is falling into place so neatly,” the Storm King smiled. “A little too neatly, perhaps, but I won’t complain further. Tempest.”

“Yes, Your Highness?”

“Inform our allies in the East of our progress, and prepare to activate the Crystal Heart! Soon, the Realms will know a true King!”

Ogres & Oubliettes: Dark Alliance, Act VI

Spike, Discord, Big Mac and the girls were exhausted. Ever since they cleared Level 75, the game was getting more and more dangerous... and they still had 25 levels to go. They couldn’t believe they even got that far. Alden the Centaur was sharpening long, black throwing spears—his weapons of choice—on the whetstone at Cinnamon Buns’ forge when they found him there. He had ditched his black hood and cloak to reveal his chestnut body and long black tail. And his horse half bore a mighty saddle, black and purple and decorated with gold.

“Now, before you understand why I sought these four treasures, you must understand the threat of the Midnight Castle,” he told them.

“The Midnight Castle? The Betrayer’s castle, the one that crumbled when the three heroes destroyed him?” Sunset inquired.

“Correct. The Castle is, in truth, a massive gate: a construct with the ability to move itself anywhere in the Realms with each new moon,” Alden explained. “In addition, Midnight Keystones fashioned in the Castle’s forges may be used to construct smaller ‘midnight portals’--pairs of magical gates which link to one another--outside of the castle... the Betrayer, seeking vengeance, intended to use the portals to move troops into Selena’s Gate. Now, the Black Network intends to use the castle to expand the reach of their Dark Web... With the castle and its portals in their hands, their forces will be able to move anywhere unhindered. This cannot be allowed. It is why we must take the Midnight Castle for ourselves, and either seal it or destroy it.”

“But... wasn’t it already destroyed?” Fluttershy asked.

“The Midnight Castle’s form on the Material Plane--our world--is a sort of illusion. Its true shape spans other realities: the Elemental Planes which make up our world, and the Plane of Darkness,” Alden went on. “The castle can be brought back, but the Harpers--rather than the Dark Web--must hold it. We must travel to each of the elemental planes and reactivate the castle’s Four Foundations. The four treasure keys you recovered can do so. Only then will we be able to enter the Castle’s Core through the Plane of Darkness and claim it for our own. Will you help us? The cause is noble, the rewards staggering, and the tale one of legends...”

“Legends, eh?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Yes, we’ll help!”

“Of course we will,” Fluttershy added.

“My fists are yours,” added Rarity.

“‘Staggering,’ you say?” asked Discord. “Hah! You can count on me, then.”

“You have my swords,” Spike stated.

“And you have my bow,” Applejack joined in.

“And my mandolin!” Pinkie cried.

“Great... sounds impossible,” Twilight said. “We better get to it.”

“It’s now or never,” Starlight agreed.

“Let’s go,” said Sunset.

“Eeyup!” Big Mac shouted.

“Excellent. I knew you would not disappoint me,” Alden smiled. “Now, I have a friend whose magic can transport you to the four Elemental Planes...”

He was soon joined by three new characters. It was the Champions of Yore; the three legendary heroes of Selena’s Gate! They looked almost exactly like their young counterparts, but had lighter color schemes... and big ‘80’s hair.

First, there was Firefly, a blue haired, blue-eyed, half-elf fighter who looked strikingly similar to Rainbow Dash.

“Pink?!” Dash exclaimed, looking Firefly’s clothes.

“Hey! I kicked a dragon in the face decades before you did!” Firefly replied.

The second looked exactly like Applejack, from her blonde hair to her green eyes, and was a human archer. And the third was a female Dragonborn with purple scales, green spines, and she wore long flowing robes.

“Spike... don’t you recognize me?” she asked.

Spike gasped as his eyes widened, and he knew instantly who she was.

“Mom?”

“My baby,” she whispered.

Spike smiled as he tearfully embraced her.

“I thought I’d have a hundred things to say,” he said as he clung to her tightly. “I’ve missed you.”

“You’ve grown so much,” Barbara smiled as she swept Spike’s forehead and stroked his cheek. “You look so handsome. Just like your father.”

Spike clutched her hand in his as he gazed deeply into her eyes.

“Spike, I know you’ve been searching for the Gates. But there’s something you have to understand... The power to control the luck of others through understanding and manipulating the elements forming an environment... It’s a mind control technique. Dealing is more than passing out cards. A true dealer uses their Roll Ruler to control the victories and losses of their players. If you can’t defeat the Storm King, you will be unable to leave this place,” she said. “Show me what you can do.”

“Well, it’s been a while since I’ve squared off against Lady Sextus,” Spike said. He turned to Sunset and added, “I think it’s time for our rematch. Don’t expect me to go easy on you.”

“No way!” Applejack yelled. “You’re really going to go through with that?”

Sunset smiled in reply, “I have the perfect armor for this occasion.”

She started glowing and her armor transformed into a strapless black and red ensemble, bejeweled with eight pearls and the same number of orange jacinth, as well as matching thigh-high boots and gauntlets.

“That’s Superior Blazing Full Platemail,” Discord observed. “Good choice against a Dragonborn.”

“Now Spike’s fire will only be half as effective,” Rarity added.

“Come on, Sunset,” Pinkie said. “At least give him a fighting chance!”

Spike grinned. “Fire resistant armor, huh? That just means I can turn up the heat as high as I want!”

Firefly started collecting bets from the girls.

“Put me down for Sunset in the first round,” Twilight said.

“You’re betting against him?!” Fluttershy exclaimed. “Why are we picking sides? I don’t want either of them to lose!”

“Get into the spirit, Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash replied.

“I’ll hand it to Spike, he’s a tough little dude,” Big Mac said. “I’m sure he’ll end up mopping the floor with her.”

Spike and Sunset saluted each other with their weapons and the fight began. Sunset charged Spike, who sidestepped her first swing with her Flaming Burst Adamantine Morning Star of Purity +4, then Sunset ducked under Spike’s counterattack with his Eradicator/Dragonslayer sword, and Spike blocked a kick from Sunset before breathing fire at her, which missed.

“Come on, you can do better than that,” Barbara said. “Watch how I do it.”

She stepped in and threw a small burst of flame at Sunset.

“It’s just a flare, and even though it’s fire, it can do a lot more than just burn things. You have to learn how to make your fire not burn. You have to learn that if you wish for it, deep down in your heart, the fire will do exactly what you want it to do. Once you master that, then not even wind or water magic can beat you!”

“Enough!” Alden stated. “We’re wasting time.”

“Agreed,” Barbara said. “Spike, Lady Sextus, both Lady Applesmiths, and I will enter the Elemental Plane of Fire. The Fire Foundation should make the surrounding area habitable, but the terrain will be dangerous nonetheless.”

“I’ll take Sir McBiggun and Lady Silentflyer to the Plane of Earth,” Discord/Captain Wuzz said.

“Even with the magic of the Earth Foundation creating oxygen and pockets in the otherwise solid stone and soil, the Elemental Plane of Earth is a dark and dangerous place. Be careful,” Barbara told him.

“I’ll take Dasheyes and Bard Pie to the Plane of Air,” Firefly added.

“There is generally very little solid material in the Elemental Plane of Air, though the Air Foundation’s magic will have drawn some together. Still, a fall will spell certain doom,” Barbara warned them.

“And Starlight, Twilight and I shall take the Plane of Water,” said Rarity.

“The magic of the Water Foundation will somewhat tame the surrounding environment, so you will not drown. My magic will let you breathe like fish for a short time, let you breathe water like oxygen, just long enough for you to find the foundation and activate it,”

“We are prepared,” Spike stated.

“May fortune follow you, friends,” Alden said. “Farewell!”

Using a portal spell, Barbara teleported each group to the elemental planes.

In the Elemental Plane of Water, Catrina was relaying her instructions to another one of the Dark Web’s agents; a short and stout witch with an ugly face.

“I’ll warn you again, Catrina: your men will only die here,” she said. “Nothing can stand between my magic and my foes and live!”

“You’re powerful indeed Hydia, but your arrogance will be your undoing,”

“How dare you! You think to command me, feline?”

“I do, and by your masters’ wishes--do not forget that. The men stay,”

It was hard to get lost in the Plane of Water. All Twilight, Rarity and Starlight had to worry about (besides a few Dark Web soldiers) were the new enemies they found there: water elementals—cresting waves that rolled along the ground. They had a medium-range attack, but it could easily be avoided by keeping distance and using ranged attacks. They were also very slow and incapable of closing the gap as long as the girls kept moving.

The girls eventually found a shallow ice pit... and the level’s boss.

“So! You’ve arrived. Do you know who I am? I am Hydia, Mistress of the Witches! My sorcery has defeated one hundred armies and slain two thousand heroes... and now it will utterly destroy you!”

Rarity thrashed Hydia with her best melee combos, but quickly sprinted away when she saw the witch’s ice strike fall from the sky. Ultimately, it was Twilight who dealt the killing blow. She’d had plenty of opportunities to backstab minor baddies, but this was her first chance to assassinate a boss. She snuck up behind Hydia, slit the witch’s throat, and she bled out. After the fight, Starlight approached the Water Foundation and activated it with the Razor of Masculinity.

Meanwhile, in the Plane of Earth, Catrina’s lizardman assistant was giving similar instructions to one of the heroes’ old foes.

“They are coming, Sylvia,” he told her. “The Harpers have hired them to take the Four Foundations from us.”

“Do not concern yourself with such trivial matters,” she replied. “I will deal with them soon enough.”

“Trivial? Do not underestimate them. It was such thinking that led to your disgrace at your manor,”

“I know my failings well,” she hissed. “Almost as well as yours, Rep. Perhaps we shall speak of failings another time... But now, I must prepare for the arrival of my guests. Soon the world will witness the full glory of my SCIENCE, and those lapdogs of the Harpers will help me.”

“Yes, show us this ‘science’ of yours. Just do not fail the Dark Web again,”

As they were talking, Big Mac smashed a tunnel through the rock (having noticed the off-color shards that shattered from his melee attacks). The tunnel he bore led him, Discord and Fluttershy right to some very nasty earth elementals—hulking creatures with dirt and stone bodies and club-like arms of jagged stone that swung at their sides. The level was infested with them. Fortunately, those goons were too large to fit into the tunnel Big Mac had made, and Discord just shot at them from a safe distance. They were pretty easy to beat even when Big Mac engaged them in melee combat and stayed to their right side (they all seemed to be left-handed)—even though they had an annoying projectile attack and a high-speed roll. Eventually, they reached the Earth Foundation... and Sylvia Broodmare.

“Back for seconds? I can not tell you how pleased I am to see you,” she told them. “I wish to thank you for your help at Broodmare Manor. Surprised? Yes, thanks to your wanton destruction of my creations, I’ve come to realize some grave errors in my thinking: originally, I had thought to create life from death -- true life, not undeath. Taking the best traits from existing creatures and bending them to my will to form a whole new species... But then you arrived and destroyed all that I had made. It was at that point I realized the truth of it all. What good is the creation of life if all it takes is a sharp blade to end it? Death. Destroyer of all. That was the missing element that prevented my experiments from reaching their evolutionary pinnacle. But no more. The solution is at hand... and you shall help me.”

Discord and Big Mac quickly killed all of Sylvia’s Dark Web escorts, then got within melee range and played ring-around-the-rosy until she dropped. But that was just the beginning... Sylvia got back up and contorted into a second form, which was a twisted abomination. The three heroes kept their distance and used projectile attacks to kill her and her swarm of spider babies and ran around in circles to avoid her poison spray attack. After their victory, the Jade Tiger activated the Foundation and the three heroes were summoned back to Selena’s Gate.

At that same moment, Capper was speaking to the Red Death on the Elemental Plane of Fire.

“Are you well, Lord Razer? Or should I call you just Razer, now?”

“What do you want, Capper?”

“I am merely concerned for your well-being. That was quite a ferocious blaze you set at Broodmare Manor, and you look... a little worse for wear,”

“Do not play with me, feline, or I shall nullify our alliance with your death!”

“Then lick your wounds quickly, dragon! The same adventurers who made a fool of you at the Manor are on their way here!”

“Let them come!” Razer replied. “I shall repay them tenfold for the humiliation I have suffered!”

On the other side of the Plane of Fire, Spike stopped when he and his party came across a pool of molten magma.

“Why is it that every video game has lava in it?” he asked.

“Technically, that’s not true,” Sunset replied.

“We can’t touch the lava,” Applejack said. “We fall in, we lose.”

“The game’s getting tougher,” Sunset added.

They were right.

Failure would be devastating; two missteps would kill them.

Unfortunately, both kinds of new enemies in the plane of fire—lava monsters and fire elementals—rushed them immediately upon entering the level. The fire elementals were annoying, but lacked long-range attacks and could easily be dealt with if the heroes ran ahead of them and used projectile attacks. The lava monsters had projectile attacks of their own, however, thus making them the priority target. As with earth elementals, circle-and-strike tactics worked well, and the heroes stayed to the monsters’ right side to avoid their left windmill punches.

Barbara doused the elementals with a water spell, causing them to shrink, hissing and smoking in pain and rage. Then, using the molten ash of the plane, she created half a dozen mentally linked copies of herself and they fought alongside her against the lava monsters.

“What was that?” Spike asked.

“Dust Clone Technique,” Barbara said. “It’s a Duplication spell.”

She demonstrated again and told Spike to give it a try. She told him that he could create as many duplicates as he wanted as long as there was an ample supply of dust in the environment and he stayed focused. It was a very effective spell. And since everything the clones experienced and learned was transferred back to the original when they were dispelled, this greatly reduced training periods of months and years to a matter of days.

“Spike, I know you haven’t visited my gravesite in a while. Why?”

“Laughing, thinking our happiness would never end... I look around and all I see is you, Mom. That’s why I haven’t visited your grave. I was afraid it would hurt too much. I know I should move on with my life, but I can’t stop missing you,” he sighed. “You were everything to me, and now I have nothing except the memories you gave me... I’ll try to do better the next time I visit you.”

Spike took a moment to observe the lava before each jump; there were occasional geysers of flame in place that meant certain death if timing wasn’t perfect. They had to skip across a couple small islands in the river of lava to get to the goal. After that, they made their way through a simple maze of rock walls and over a few easily jumped lava puddles to reach the Fire Foundation. They knew they were close because they killed a squad of Dark Web soldiers.

The most covetous of dragons, red dragons tirelessly sought to increase their treasure hoards. They were exceptionally vain, even for dragons, and their conceit was reflected in their proud bearing and disdain for other creatures. No other dragon came close to the arrogance of the red dragons. They saw themselves as kings and emperors and viewed the rest of dragonkind as inferior.

As an adult red dragon, this was very much embodied by Razer. His swept-back horns and spinal frill defined his silhouette. His beaked snout vented smoke, his scales, which were bright glossy scarlet, were as thick and strong as metal; and his eyes were molten lava orbs.

“Your fortune ends here, adventurers--this time, there shall be no escape from my flames. I will leave nothing of you but ash!” he roared.

“That’s enough out of you!” Barbara shouted. “It’s payback time!”

Spike quickly scanned Razer’s stats: Armor Class 19, Hit Points 256, Strength 27, Dexterity 10, Constitution 25, Intelligence 16, Wisdom 13, and Charisma 21. Actions: Multiattack, Bite, Claw, Wing Attack, Tail Attack, and Fire Breath. This was not going to be an easy fight.

Of all the bosses they had faced up to that point, Razer was by far the hardest. Not only could he breathe fire in wide arcs, but he could also shoot fireballs in a half-dozen directions at once, cast heat-seeking magic missiles, and call flame strikes down from the sky... all at the same time!

Razer flew into a destructive rage and began acting on impulse (as red dragons often did when angered). He was ferocious! The heroes kept their distance and scattered in every direction to dodge his fireballs. Spike and Barbara conjured multiple copies of themselves from the volcanic dust and soil, and they distracted Razer while the real Spike threw ice from his wizard staff and free claw.

“A Dragonborn that uses ice magic?” Razer shouted.

The duplicates came at Razer from all sides, but he dispatched them until only the real Spike/Garbuncle remained and he pierced Razer through the heart with the Dragonslayer. Razer’s body exploded and all that remained of him was his toenails. When the heroes claimed victory, they activated the Foundation and returned to Selena’s Gate.

After leaving Hydia in the Plane of Water, Catrina transported herself to the Plane of Air, where she confronted another one of her pawns.

“I do not like this, Catrina,” he said. “Am I, the great Marcus Doomwing, now reduced to a petty guard?”

“You are not required to like it, Marcus,” Catrina replied. “The Dark Web commanded that you guard the Air Foundation; that should be enough. Or should I inform them you have more important matters to attend to?”

“Damn you! I am well aware of my duty to the Dark Web! Marcus Doomwing shall guard the foundation with his life! Now return to your hole, Catrina. The mere sight of you sickens me,”

“Very well. I shall inform the Black Network of your promise. Should the Air Foundation be captured, your life will be forfeit,”

Pinkie, Rainbow Dash and Firefly found themselves on narrow trail of little rock spheres floating in midair. They kept away from the edges so that they didn’t let the not-so-gentle winds blow them over. Even though they were little more than funneling cyclones of whirling dust and wind, air elementals were just plain jerks. They had only one attack: a boulder toss that did little damage, but it was more than enough to push the heroes off the edge and into the endless oblivion below. The three women did not even attempt to fight them; they just kept moving. The trail eventually became so thin that a single hit from an air elemental was a virtual death sentence. Finally, they reached the island where the Foundation was located. Unfortunately, it was guarded by a gnome mage and his pet Manticore.

“Tremble in fear, adventurers! You now face the all-powerful Marcus Doomwing, Archmagus of the Dark Web! Pray now to whatever deity you worship, because your death is at hand! Attack!”

Rainbow Dash and Firefly killed the Dark Web troops before turning their attention to the mounted Manticore leading the charge. Their primary threat was its spell-casting gnome rider who hurled spells at them as they fought. The women kept an eye on him (and the sky from which the deadly spells fell) and were prepared to dodge. They had plenty of room to maneuver as long as they fought at medium-to-long range. The fight was a little lighter up close. Without much room to move, they needed to be prepared to block when the Manticore reared up to fire a projectile attack of its own. Unluckily for the heroines, after they’d slain his Manticore, Marcus Doomwing cast a spell and vanished like a sniveling coward.

After killing the monster, Dash hopped over to the Foundation and activated it using the Ruby of Femininity, upon which they were automatically teleported back to Cinnamon Buns’ forge. Meanwhile, Catrina confronted Marcus again.

“There must have been fifty, no, a hundred men!” he lied. “I could have easily handled them, but they took me by surprise. Give me two hundred soldiers and I’ll go and take back the Air Foundation, I promise it.”

“Promise? Are you a man of your word, Marcus? Have you ever broken a promise?” Catrina asked.

“The great Marcus Doomwing always keeps his promises! Just give me three hundred soldiers and I promise to take back the Air Foundation without fail,”

“Then let me remind you of your promise to guard the Air Foundation with your life. The Dark Web wishes to collect on that promise now,”

“No! Give me another chance, please! Let me redeem myself!”

“You are past redemption. But rest assured, I will let the world know that Marcus Doomwing was a man of his word,” Catrina said as she extended her claws, drove her hand through Marcus’s chest, and tore out his heart.

The four groups of heroes returned to Cinnamon Buns’ forge in Selena’s Gate after successfully reactivating the Four Foundations.

“Now, we can-” Alden began. “What in the-?!”

Before the Centaur could say anymore, he was interrupted by a pair of humanoid cat creatures with golden fur and their lizard man servant.

“Catrina! I should have known you’d eventually show up, desperate to save your patrons’ plots. I should have killed you back in Dream Valley,” Alden said.

“Not likely,” the cat-woman purred in reply. “I’ll die in my sleep before you put me to the sword.”

Alden picked up two of his throwing spears and was about to hurl them at Catrina when the lizard man stepped between them.

“Peace, peace! Show no weapons. We have no wish to fight you,” he said.

“And who are you?” Spike demanded.

“You may call me Rep,”

“You have obviously gone to some effort to speak with us,” Spike said. “What do you want?”

“I’ve grown tired of your trickery, sell-sword!” Alden shouted at Rep. “Your words always wreaked more harm than any blade.”

“Perhaps that is so, but I speak truly,” Rep replied. “The Dark Web has lost the Midnight Castle... but so have you. The demon satyr, the Storm King, holds the only way into the Castle’s Core. It is he who controls the castle, now that your agents have brought it back.”

“The Storm King?” Alden asked. “He hasn’t stirred for nearly a century! What could he be up to?”

“No one knows, but disaster looms over both our employers and your precious Realms one way or another,” Catrina replied. “We sent for reinforcements, but we’ve lost contact with them... slain by the Storm King’s own soldiers, I think.”

“What do you three know of the Midnight Castle?” Spike inquired.

“The Midnight Castle, whose surface glitters like oil upon the water, it arrived in my homeland, quick, sudden, and stabbed into the heart of the land like a poisoned spear,” Rep said. “Darkness fell then rose, leaving the Castle behind, like a weapon dropped on a field of battle. Not even the moonlight would touch it, for the Castle drank its light. It was a black kiss, a serpent’s bite on the land. All my tribes raised their spears to it, their hissing became low and weak, that of slaves. The Castle devoured the hearts of my people... all except me.”

“How come you didn’t serve the castle?” Fluttershy asked.

“I speak to Catrina - I serve her. The Castle is a thing of humans. It smells of fire and hate. I would never raise my hand to such a thing! Yet it has claimed my people! My people, who need nothing of your cities! Yet the Storm King wants to drive them into human cities to spill human blood! He promises gold, steel, food... but doing this will only kill my people. The dead have no use for such things,”

“Rep - maybe we can help each other,” Spike said. “We need to get inside the Midnight Castle and stop the Storm King. There’s no telling how many innocent people could die if he brings it here!”

“If you will kill him, then Catrina, Capper and I will give you help any way that we can,” Rep promised.

Back in the real world, most of the resort’s guests and over half its staff continued watching Spike and the others on the big screen.

“They did it. They made it to the last few levels!” Midnight Radiance said.

“But these are the toughest of them all,” Micro Chips replied. “It’ll take everything they’ve got just to survive...”

Back in the video game, the group was trying to figure out what to do next.

“So, now what do we do?” Sunset asked.

“You have to find the last treasure and use it to defeat the Storm King,” Capper told them.

“The Staff of Sacanas,” Rep added. “Years ago, an evil wizard crafted a staff infused with magic powerful enough to control the elements of this world. The battle for possession of this forbidden weapon has gone on for centuries... and now, it is in the possession of the Storm King.”

Suddenly, the ground began to shake and parts of Selena’s Gate became engulfed in flame. Then, a great black castle appeared in the center of the city, and sent out a great ring of black lightning.

“What’s happened?” Fluttershy cried.

“It’s the Midnight Castle,” Spike said. “The Storm King... he’s here!”

“What are you going to do?” Barley asked.

“What else? Save Selena’s Gate with our own hands!” Spike answered.

“We will crush the Storm King--and his black castle--in the name of Celeste!” Sunset added.

“Well then, best have a look at what I’ve to offer,” Barley said. “Perhaps there’s something here that you could use in your last battle...”

“The city is under attack and you want to HAGGLE?” Sunset shouted.

“I am a merchant by trade, after all! I’m sure as gold glitters that you’ll succeed, so there’s no sense in giving away my best equipment for nothing! Eh... you will succeed, won’t you?”

The group exchanged nods and stocked up on arrows and extra healing potions. They were going to need them.

“He’s trying to lure us into the heart of the city,” said Sunset.

“You can’t be serious!” Spike exclaimed. “If that’s true, he’ll go after the people--!”

“That’s the whole point of his attack,” Rainbow Dash said. “And while the boss’s minions are killing NPCs, we can attack him... and kill him.”

“They’re not just objects; NPCs are different from rocks and trees!” Spike disagreed.

“You think they’re alive?” Dash replied. “In this game, they are just objects! And unlike us, if they’re killed, they can always respawn.”

“Sorry, but I’m not cool with that plan,” Spike stated.

Before they could argue more, Lady Cashmere burst into the shop.

“Praise Selena, and Celeste, and Clopgeddin, and Faust, and any other god who’d care to take credit! I thought the city was lost, but perhaps... perhaps you can stop it! The Midnight Castle... it suddenly appeared, people began to die... and then rise again! Come, I can lead you to the base of the Castle,” she told them.

She started to head back out the door, but they did not follow.

“Tempest Shadow is in the Castle, guarding the Storm King... you must destroy him... you must save Selena’s Gate!” she exclaimed.

“We need more help,” Spike said. “Our party isn’t big enough!”

Suddenly, he heard something that he hadn’t expected to hear: an orc horn!

Spike ran outside, looked to the wide-open gates of the city, and saw no less than six thousand fairies, pixies, sprites, half-orcs and shadow goblins, all armed with swords and bows, marching in. The Goblin King, Princess Willowstream, and Thoendithas Wolfswift and his entire clan led them.

“An alliance once existed between elves and half-orcs,” Thoendithas said. “Long ago, they freed us from slavery under the lizard folk. We fought, and died, together. We are here to honor that allegiance. We are proud to fight alongside elves once more! Let this be the hour we draw swords together... one last time!!”

Spike and his friends smiled as Princess Willowstream added, “We will follow you anywhere, even to death. You have given us hope. As long as you’re still standing, we have hope!”

Spike stood before the Brotherhood of Noble Monsters and marched up and down their front line.

“Sons and daughters of Selena’s Gate, of the Wolfswift Clan, my brothers and sisters, now is the hour!” he shouted. “Today, we fight for our homes! Together, we fight with honor! Now, we kick some dark alliance tail!”

The army roared as Cinnamon Buns brandished a pair of thick, black leather bullwhips and said, “All right, let’s get moving!”

“This is not your fight,” Spike said to her. “This is between me and the Storm King.”

“He attacked my home. That makes it my fight,” she replied.

Spike didn’t argue with her any more.

“After you,” he said.

The heroes followed Spike, Catrina, Rep, Capper and Lady Cashmere through the dark streets until they finally arrived at the gigantic castle that now stood in the center of the city. They had but one course of action: direct assault! A small army unit had stormed in but they hadn’t returned. They lay dead in the street—they didn’t stand a chance against the Storm King’s army of Minotaurs, large bull-headed, carnivorous, humanoid creatures that lived for the hunt. Their brown fur was stained with the blood of the soldiers they’d just killed and they reeked of death. And they were led by a small, squat creature with gray skin, white hair, pointy claws, and a pig-like nose. Frankly, he looked like an oversized hedgehog. They tore through the main plaza of Selena’s Gate with no regard for the destruction they were causing. People screamed and as they ran away, frightened by the Minotaurs’ savage battle cries.

“Looks like we’ve got ourselves a party here,” Spike smiled. “I’m gonna sweep you aside like a fat ball of dust!”

The hedgehog laughed. “Yeah, right! You and what army, Dragonborn?”

“This army,”

Using his wizard’s staff, Spike opened several portals on the street and several creatures emerged from each, including an army of wizards, sexy witches and warlocks, the Crescent Moon Mercenaries, the druid Swan Song and the animals of the White Tail Woods, the Weretigers of Dragonblast Castle, and the Yuan-ti. They stood with the Brotherhood of Noble Monsters—the Fairies, Sprites, Half-Orcs, and winged Shadow Goblins—Catrina, Capper, Rep, Captain Thrash, and Alden the Centaur, who lowered himself onto his front legs so that Garbuncle could climb onto his back. As much as the hedgehog (who was named Grubber) hated to admit it, that was a pretty good army.

Spike reached into his robe and tossed Big Mac his Grand Vampiric Great Sword, and Big Mac dual-wielded it with his own Jeweled Mithral Great Sword of Defense. With the Dragonslayer Eradicator in his right hand, his Grand Infernal Great Sword in his left hand, and his wizard staff held by his dragon tail, Spike led his army against Grubber and the Minotaurs. Rep transformed into a bull while herds of elephants and rhinos stampeded into the city. As Applejack, Sunset and Fluttershy rode in on one of the elephants, Grubber dove out of the way.

“Charge!” Fluttershy yelled while motioning for attack with her staff.

The Minotaurs met them head-on, butting and goring like battering rams, and the street became a mess of hooves, scales, fur and feathers. The Minotaurs were fairly easy to defeat—not because they were wimpy, but because it was very easy to predict their attacks. They would run straight at their opponents, pause, and then try to pounce on them. Once that attack was seen, a number of counterattack options became apparent. Minotaurs in general were unorganized, had no respect for authority, and were notoriously difficult to control. Plus their armor was weak at the neck and below the arm. And because of that, they were easily overrun by Garbuncle’s allies, who quickly began to take back Selena’s Gate.

“Spike, slow down!” Sunset shouted.

“We can’t slow down! We have to stop the Storm King now!” he replied.

“But at this rate you’re gonna use up all your magic energy before we even reach the Castle!”

“Then I guess I’ll have to rely on hand-to-hand combat,” he said.

“Come and get me, boys!” Cinnamon Buns taunted the monsters.

“Head for the Castle!” Captain Thrash told Spike as he killed two Minotaurs. “We’ll hold them off!”

“Come on!” Spike and Rainbow Dash shouted.

Alden, Spike, Discord, Big Mac, Barbara and the girls tore through the Minotaur lines until they reached the Castle.

“Thank you for everything. We’ll be going on our own from here on,” Spike said to Alden as he slid off the Centaur’s back.

“Good luck, Garbuncle!” Alden replied.

He reared on his hind legs and cantered back into the throng of the battle, leaving Spike and the others behind him.

There were no puzzles to solve or hidden doors in the Midnight Castle: the only trick was surviving. The battles were at their hardest because the enemies were numerous and there was little room to maneuver. Rainbow Dash, Starlight and Sunset thought about avoiding combat by using stealth, but Spike, Discord and Big Mac charged in and battled their way up floor by floor to confront the Storm King at the highest room of the tallest tower (cliché, I know).

Unique beasts—including swarming gargoyles and lumbering brass golems—inhabited the lowest level of the Midnight Castle. Advancing toward the first large room on the first floor triggered the first swarm of gargoyles. They were extremely fast and attacked in large numbers. Discord had the most difficulty with them, as there wasn’t much time to use ranged weapons. Gargoyles were cruel, malevolent, grotesque fiends that enjoyed torturing, killing, and anything else that involved minimal effort but with maximum pain and carnage. Golems were made from humble materials—usually some kind of metal or stone—but they possessed astonishing power and durability. They had no ambitions, needed no sustenance, felt no pain, and knew no remorse. Unstoppable juggernauts, they existed to follow their creator’s orders, and protected or attacked as that creator demanded.

“Spike, there’s too many of them!” Fluttershy said.

“You’ll be safe if you stay behind me,” he told her.

“Okay,” she replied with a nod.

The gargoyles spat fireballs at the group as they proceeded through the chamber and entered a larger room heavily populated with brass golems. The golems were easy to defeat, in spite of their poison breath attacks. They saw another pair of brass golems patrolling the next room. As the group advanced through the winding corridors, they avoided several fireball traps by hugging the walls on either side to safely dodge the fiery projectiles that they launched. They located a doorway on the right side of the next room, battling the remaining beasts along the way. And they encountered three more brass golems in front of the staircase that led to the second floor of the Castle.

They ascended the stairs and the challenges of the Midnight Castle escalated from there. Several Minotaurs and brass golems populated the trap-filled corridors. Attempting to battle all of those monsters at close range proved quite difficult, so the girls tried to lure the Minotaurs away from the first golem. When that didn’t work, they used their area-effect spells and ranged weapons to weaken the monsters before engaging in melee combat. When the dust settled, they took a breather before continuing down the hallway, battling their way past more Minotaurs and brass golems. They continued to move carefully through the narrow hallways of the Castle. Monsters, including another pair of brass golems, hid in small alcoves along the sides of the halls. They stayed close to the walls as they entered the following room, avoiding an arrow trap set up in there. They fought the creatures and continued to the final room where even more Minotaurs and brass golems awaited.

Another horde of gargoyles greeted the heroes in the third level’s first room. Thankfully, explosive barrels scattered throughout the chamber provided some added power against the creatures. When that battle ended, the fourteen heroes split up into two groups of seven and went down separate halls. Either route out of the first room was a good option—gargoyles occupied both tunnels and each route connected to the same chamber. And although it featured a similar layout and appearance, the third floor of the Midnight Castle featured a new adversary—the blue steel golem. The mightiest of golems, those horrible monstrosities possessed sharp, powerful weaponry, which they used for devastating close-combat attacks, so only powerful fighters could venture close to them. The heroes moved through the hallway and battled the gargoyles and another blue steel golem in the adjacent area. After they finished them off, they battled through a room crowded with more gargoyles. They rounded the corner up ahead and proceeded toward a larger room with another steel golem. They headed down the hall until they reached a closed door. They opened it and proceeded into the level’s final area. They defeated the two steel golems and the gargoyles... and ascended the staircase on the far side.

Traps, gargoyles, Minotaurs, steel golems and towering onyx golems populated the arduous path through the fourth level of the Midnight Castle. They battled the huge steel golem and its gargoyle escort before working their way past a fireball trap had been set up at the end of the hall. They dodged around its line of fire and used it against the two mammoth onyx golems that laid in wait in alcoves on the left and right side of the chamber. They crossed the room and engaged another steel golem before moving to the next hallway. A squad of gargoyles protected the door to the next room, but Rainbow Dash made short work of them with an explosive barrel that rested on the right side of the hall.

The journey didn’t get any easier thanks to the aggressive onyx golem and its gargoyle escort in the next room. Big Mac assaulted the golem with a Whirlwind Attack while Sunset went after its gargoyle partners with her Fire Shield and other close-range spells. Eventually, they climbed the staircase leading to the fifth level... and more dreaded onyx golems.

“GET OUT OF MY WAY!!!!” Spike yelled as he decapitated the first one.

“I can do this!” he thought.

One by one, the golems fell before Spike.

“DIE, DAMN YOU!!!!”

Finally, they reached the second to last level of the game, where the Storm King’s second-in-command, Tempest Shadow, a Drow Ranger in black plate armor, was waiting. And she was accompanied by a squad of male dark elves.

“I was almost worried you wouldn’t make it here,” she said. “It would have robbed me the joy of crushing you.”

“I have slain far worse than you!” Spike spat as he stepped forward. “Do your worst!”

“Be careful, Garbuncle!” Fluttershy cried.

“Garbuncle?” one of the dark elves echoed. “Dressed all in green... dual-wielding swords, no shield... Don’t tell me that’s--Holy crap, it is! It’s the Emerald Wizard!” he exclaimed. “Tempest, this is the guy who solos the front lines... He’s the Serpent’s son!”

The squad of dark elves surrounded Spike and hacked away at him until they exhausted themselves. Then Spike started laughing.

“What the Tartarus?!” Tempest shouted. “Why isn’t he dead!?”

“About 400, in around 10 seconds, give or take,” Spike said. “That’s about the total damage the seven of you can inflict upon me. I’m Level 78. I have 14,500 HP, my battle healing skill auto-regenerates 600 points every 10 seconds. I could stand here all day and you’d never beat me.”

“That’s not possible!” Tempest replied.

“Wanna bet?” Spike asked. “If your numbers are high enough they give you a ridiculous advantage, almost to the point of invincibility! That’s what makes MMOs that use a level system so unfair.”

Tempest had underestimated him... and it was going to cost her dearly. Spike drew his Dragonslayer and sliced the dark elves clean in half at their waists.

“Impossible! He was able to defeat them all with one shot! So much power... I didn’t think wizards like that really existed!” she thought.

“Ready to give up?” Spike taunted her. “If not, I’ve got a fireball with your name on it!”

Tempest let out an angry yell and sprang at Spike. At first glance, Tempest seemed incredibly dangerous. Her melee attacks were powerful, she was a good blocker, and she had the ability to heal herself back up to full life at any time! But she had one giant weakness: all of her melee attacks could easily be blocked!

Spike blocked all of her attacks and countered with his fire spells before switching back to his swords. Diving under Spike’s blow with the speed of a striking cobra, Tempest pulled out a black orb. She threw the orb at his friends, who shattered in every direction, and the orb exploded when it made contact with Twilight’s face.

“My eyes!” she cried. “I can’t see... some kind of blinding dust!”

While Spike was distracted, Tempest managed to wrest the Dragonslayer from his grasp, and thrust it into his chest. A shrill cry rang out and Spike felt a pain worse than a hundred thousand poisoned blades as he fell to his knees.

“You monster!!” Fluttershy shouted.

She summoned a swarm of bats and they attacked Tempest. Then Fluttershy ran swiftly at her, clubbed Tempest across the face with her staff, and Tempest fell unconscious against the stone stairs she protected.

Spike’s harem knelt over him as he gasped for air.

“He’s alive!” Fluttershy cried.

“I’m all right,” he assured them.

They stared at him in amazement.

“We thought you were dead,” said Rainbow Dash.

“He should be dead,” Twilight added.

“It’s called the Dragonslayer for a reason,” Sunset added. “It should have skewered you... How-?”

Applejack tore open Spike’s robe and they all saw the wound where Tempest had stabbed him. An inch over and it would have gone through his heart.

Though the pain of the wound was fading, Spike felt himself growing weaker as he got to his feet. His friends stayed close by him as they walked up the final flight of steps to the top of the tower and came face to face with a stout humanoid creature with furry legs, the cloven hooves of a goat instead of feet, hairy white arms, and horns sprouting from its head.

Satyrs indulged in vice and craved the best of everything, and if they couldn’t indulge themselves, they would go to great lengths to sate their desires, and gave no thought to the consequences of their actions. And this one had 1,500 hit points, Armor Class 43, Magic Resistance and Shock Immunity.

“So, you’ve dispatched my minions, escaped my traps, and defeated my second-in-command, but you cannot possibly defeat me!” he said.

“Using women to fight your battles,” Spike said. “You’re a coward!”

“Storm King, your army is scattered and you have nowhere left to run. Surrender,” Sunset commanded.

“‘Surrender?’” the Storm King laughed. “I, who have bested death? I have nothing to fear from you.”

“On behalf of Selena’s Gate, we demand you surrender,” Sunset repeated. “We won’t ask again.”

“I served Selena’s Gate will ALL of my first life, only to be repaid with betrayal. The Dukes cost me victory, the lives of my soldiers... and my reputation. Now, I am but a sentence or two in a sage’s book, a footnote, forever a traitor!” he snarled. “Now you dare to invade my fortress, demand my surrender? No, I shall not bend my knee to you or them, ever. An eternity may die before I would even consider showing them mercy. As I died, they shall die - alone, betrayed, and forever cursed.”

“We are not here to trade words with you, tyrant!” Rarity shouted. “If we cannot sway you from our course, then we will stop you.”

“Then you shall die. I command this Castle. I command all within it. All your small victories, all the damage you caused, can be undone,” he replied. “Know that as long as I stand, the war against Selena’s Gate shall continue, and I shall be victorious. You and your bitches may hold the field, dragon-dog, but the day is mine,” he directed at Garbuncle. “Now... let us end this! On your guard!”

“Enough talk, monster. Your reign of terror ends here,” Spike/Garbuncle replied. “This game is over.”

The Storm King took up the Staff of Sacanas and the battle commenced!

The Storm King had a number of deadly attacks; only Big Mac could hope to defeat him in a melee fight, Rainbow Dash and Starlight had to keep their distance to negate this strength, and Sunset and Twilight used spells. Fluttershy cast a Spiritual Weapon spell—a potent distraction—but it didn’t take long for the Storm King to destroy the floating sword, and Big Mac got several solid strikes at the Storm King’s back while he was focused on it.

Sunset’s Flame Strike spell was not very effective against the villain, but Rainbow Dash had it a bit easier than her, thanks to her Precise Shot, Hail of Bolts, and Poison abilities (especially the latter, which was surprisingly effective against the boss). While the poison slowly sapped his health, she kept him at bay and fired arrows from her crossbow to get in a few more hits. However, her opportunities to land many direct hits were rare. Barbarian Rage was the key for Applejack. It had no drawback, since the Storm King’s attacks were unblockable anyway, and she was able to do enough damage to wipe out any life he tried to steal from her or the others. She circled him counterclockwise, being careful to avoid his sword arm. And Starlight and Twilight backed AJ up with a little magic.

When the Storm King’s health dropped down to half, he unleashed a massive counter spell from the Staff of Sacanas, which knocked all of them to the ground, and he towered over them.

“You peons are a joke!” he shouted. “You’re not even worth my time!”

The Storm King raised the Staff and pointed it at directly Spike, but Tempest Shadow reappeared and stood between them.

“What the--?” Spike began.

“You need my help. I’m the reason he’s almost unbeatable,” she said. “I programmed him that way.”

“You... You’re...” Spike whispered.

Tempest nodded.

“Every character has a secret enemy that they’re vulnerable to!” she said. “The Storm King is a satyr. The satyr’s enemy is the Dragonborn!”

“The Storm King is a Level 80!” Sunset said. “Will Spike’s magic be powerful enough?”

“Maybe with a little help from me,” Barbara told them.

Using her staff, she channeled her magical energy and blasted it at Spike, who absorbed it better than any sponge.

“I’m impressed your body’s still in once piece after that attack,” the Storm King said. “Not too shabby for a wizard so young. I will add your magic to mine, and then destroy you and your meddlesome friends!” he shouted.

He fired a bolt of lightning at Spike, who shook it off like it was nothing.

“Impossible!!” the Storm King gasped. “How are you even standing!?”

“You must be pretty cold walking around with no pants on,” Spike laughed. “Want me to warm you up?”

“Your flames are powerless against me! Fire can NEVER defeat wind!!!”

“Oh yeah? We’ll see about that!!” Spike said as he drew his sword.

“The Dragonslayer!” the Storm King gasped. “It truly does exist!!”

Smoke started coming off Spike’s claws as he lunged at the Storm King, and the angrier he got the more intense his dragon fire became, so much that it was heating the air around him!

“Flames of Emotion!” Sunset cried. “That’s ancient magic! But how...?”

But the Storm King was prepared. He knocked Spike’s swords out of his claws, sending them clattering across the ground. Spike tackled the Storm King after the satyr knocked away all of the Dragonborn’s weapons and they grappled for control of the Staff of Sacanas. Spike delivered a wicked headbutt to the tyrant, wrestled the Staff from the villain’s hands, slashed the satyr’s face with the jeweled end, and finally speared the Staff through the Storm King’s chest. As the Storm King fell to the ground, impaled on the Staff, his voice slowed, deepened, and devolved into a groan.

“And so it has come to pass that I shall die twice... and this second time shall be the last. I... The Castle will not hold. You must leave this place. I ask your forgiveness. I... let anger cloud my vision. I harmed those who had sworn to serve me - in all these things, great harm has been done. Let Selena’s Gate have its peace. I shall not rise again to challenge it - though it will doubtless need others such as you to defend it from others that wish it harm. Now... leave me to die. This Castle shall be my tomb,”

Spike had defeated the Storm King, but the Castle still stood. He looked at a pedestal that stood on the far edge of the tower’s watch, and saw a heart-shaped jewel resting upon it.

“That’s the source of the Castle’s magic,” Tempest said. “Smash it and the Castle will crumble!”

Spike raised the Dragonslayer and brought it down upon the Crystal Heart, shattering it, and Rep, having shapeshifted into a large copper dragon, flew up to the Castle’s watchtower, and transported the heroes safely down to the city below. Chunks of onyx and stone cracked and fell and people darted out of the way of the falling debris. And thus, in a storm of fire and lightning, the Storm King’s fortress was no more. They destroyed the Midnight Castle, freeing the citizens of Selena’s Gate from its curse! A blinding flash of light pierced through the clouds, and with it, a new day dawned on Selena’s Gate. Everyone was still shaken by what had just happened, but they were quickly overjoyed by the heroes’ success.

“The people want to meet their savior!” Barbara told them.

“I owe you my life, Garbuncle... as do all the people of Selena’s Gate,” Lady Cashmere began. “You are truly a hero among heroes...”

“Friends, it is my honor to know you,” Alden added. “You’ve saved my life and a lot more in Selena’s Gate. I raise my drink to you. I’ll bet that damned satyr didn’t even know what hit him.”

“We can’t thank you enough for your help, adventurers,” Valkyrie agreed. “I drink to your health and good fortune.”

“You know, you’re pretty darn strong, handsome,” Princess Willowstream said to Garbuncle. “You’re like the MVP of Dragonborns. Are you their secret weapon or something?”

“Nah, I’m just a humble mercenary passing through,” Spike replied.

“I like the wandering type,” she added. “Have you ever thought about being a merc for the Brotherhood? You get three meals a day plus snacks and a nap.”

“So, Garbuncle, I was thinking, how about I buy you a drink, both as a token of my appreciation and an opportunity for us to get to know each other a little better? My treat,” Marony said.

“Come on, Marony!” Willowstream cried. “That’s not fair! You’re totally seducing him with those things!” She pointed at the half-orc’s impressive breasts.

“I’m seducing him? If you were any closer to him, he’d be wearing you!”

“Would you two chill out?” Applejack interjected. “For your information, he’s my boyfriend!”

“Your boyfriend?” Marony asked. “Them’s fighting words, barbarian!”

Suddenly, the sky in the video game formed a vortex overhead. Somehow, Spike and the gang knew that was their ride home. The characters Spike and his friends had met along the way conveyed that they were going to miss them.

“Thank you all so much,” Princess Willowstream smiled. “May the magic of the fairies be with you!”

“Bravest of heroes, you shall never be forgotten,” the Goblin King promised.

“Come back and see me sometime,” Cinnamon Buns said to Garbuncle.

Spike’s eyes filled with tears as his mother wiped them away.

“I don’t want to go back,” he told her.

“You have to,” she replied.

“Will we be together again?” he asked.

“Sooner than you think,” she said. “Remember, the art of any warrior is not to kill, but to fight against the forces of evil. Good-bye, Spike.”

They held each other one last time as the others waved to their digital allies before they floated up into the sky and vanished.

Back in the Flimflam Brothers’ Resort, the door of Micro Chips’ hyper energy chamber swung open and Spike, Discord, Big Mac, Applejack, Sunset, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Starlight and Twilight staggered out human again. The girls felt as if they’d awoken from a strange dream. They were all unharmed, but groggy nonetheless.

“Okay, human body, hands and feet, full head of hair, both arms and both legs, still alive... still alive...” Spike sighed.

As soon as Spike stepped out of the machine, he was swarmed by Trixie, Moon Dancer, Adagio, Aria, Sonata, Coco, Sassy, Fleur, Vinyl, Zecora, Lyra, Bon Bon, Dear Darling, Fond Feather, Swoon Song, Shimmy Shake, Lighthoof, Aloe, Lotus Blossom, Trapeze Star, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Stellar Flare, Celestia and Chrysalis, who all kissed him repeatedly (the latter left marks all over Spike’s face in blue lipstick).

Discord asked Midnight Radiance how long they had been inside, and they were surprised when he told them that they had been gone only six hours... if that.

“Time flies when you’re playing games,” Spike thought.

“Thank goodness you made it back!” Celestia exclaimed.

“We’re so glad you’re safe!” Stellar added.

“We thought we’d lost you!” Chrysalis cried happily.

“But we still failed,” Spike said. “We didn’t save Micro’s friend.”

“Now, I wouldn’t say that,” a new voice replied.

The crowds looked at the hyper energy chamber and saw a beautiful woman step out of it. She had long magenta hair and mesmerizing blue eyes, and she was wearing a form fitting black T-shirt and even tighter blue jeans.

“Who are you?” Fluttershy asked.

“Formerly Tempest Shadow,” she said. “Now Fizzlepop Berrytwist.”

“Holy reality check!” Pinkie shouted. “That was you? You were the one who was trapped in the game?”

“I was,” she replied. “I zapped myself in via the test run last week. So, you were Garbuncle,” she said at Spike. “You got me out just in time. Any longer and I would have lost myself to the game. I am eternally grateful... though, I don’t suppose I’ll ever be fully able to repay you.”

“You zapped yourself in?” Micro Chips asked. “Why?”

“Out here, I’m just plain Fizzlepop Berrytwist,” she said. “In there, I could fight, use magic, and I actually felt better about myself. I guess I just got tired of living a life that wasn’t awesome.”

“But you were already awesome,” Spike told her. “I mean, you helped create that amazing video game. And as much as I enjoyed being in it, it doesn’t compare to living here, in the real world... with my friends.”

“Words fail me,” Tempest replied.

Suddenly, the television that was hooked up to the hyper energy chamber turned back on and footage of a woman with raven hair, soft lips, and emerald eyes appeared on the screen. She smiled warmly.

“Mom?” Spike asked.

“Hello, Spike. If you’re watching this, then you’ve beaten the game. Congratulations! You’re probably wondering why I appeared as a character in a video game in the first place. Well, I had a hunch you might want to see me again someday... if anything should happen to me, which I’m sure it has... I can’t begin to tell you how sorry I am about how things turned out for you... for us. I wish I could have been a better mother to you... but what’s done is done. I can only hope that you can forgive me. I want you to know that, even though I’m gone, I am very, very proud of you. From now on, for me, I want you to keep helping people. Share your happiness with them. I want you to keep smiling and remember that even if we’re apart... I’ll always be with you. I love you, Spike.”

As it faded to black, Spike saw his reflection in the screen. His mother’s words touched him so deeply that he broke down in tears. Celestia placed a hand gently on his shoulder.

“Are you okay?”

“No, Mom,” he said. “I’m better than okay.”

Spike smiled as he held his hand over his heart before pulling her into a hug.

“It’s almost as if she never left me,” he smiled happily.

“That was her last letter to you,” Tempest said. “Disguised behind a bonus that could only be unlocked by you playing as your character, so no one else could access it. An avatar made up of everything she wanted to say to her beloved son. And when you look back on it, it’s easily her best work ever.”

Spike smiled in agreement.

“Let it be known that in this day, in this place, these men and women formed a covenant!” Discord proclaimed. “This band of gallants shall be forever known as... the Crusaders of the Lost Mark!”

“Wow,” Spike thought, “when he says it like that it’s actually not half bad.”

“Huzzah!” everyone cried.

“So, how do you know so much about Ogres and Oubliettes?” Discord asked Spike. “Come on, no secrets here.”

As the group looked at him, Spike felt like he’d been caught in a bind. He didn’t want to share the truth, but he knew that Applejack was just going to find out the truth sooner or later. So, he decided to come clean.

“All right, I admit it! I’m a hardcore gamer! I have been for years!” he confessed. “It’s not something I’m proud of,” he added shamefully.

The girls’ jaws dropped... as did Discord’s.

“Seriously?” Starlight asked.

“Spike, we’ve always been impressed by your coolness,” Rainbow Dash replied. “But we’re even more impressed now that we know you’re a gamer like us! I didn’t think it was possible, but you just got even sexier to me.”

“Really?” he asked.

“It’s like you said, levels are just numbers,” Sunset told him. “And a person’s strength in a video game world is just an illusion. Sure, it’s cool, but there are more important things than that... like being a good friend. And that’s what we love most about you.”

The girls wrapped around Spike in a big group hug and he closed his eyes as he enjoyed the feeling. It was the most fun he’d had in a very long time.

After their adventure into Micro Chips’ video game, Spike and the group decided to have themselves checked out by the resort’s doctor to make sure that their being in the game didn’t have any unusual, permanent side effects. They were all tested for temperature, reflexes, heart rate and blood pressure, the usual stuff.

Aside from his white blood cell count being abnormally high and the stab wound in his chest (the one that Tempest had given him, which stayed with him after leaving the video game), Spike was the picture of perfect health. His vitals looked great: pulse, 72; blood pressure, 120/80; and even with his heavy drinking his liver was in good shape. Another odd thing about Spike was that no matter how many women he slept with, he remained free of disease. He chucked it up to his good luck, which seemed to transfer from the gambling tables to the bedroom.

The rest of the group checked out as well, except for Twilight. The orb Tempest had thrown at her had damaged her vision—knocking it from a perfect 20/20 to 25/30—so she had no choice but to wear glasses.

The next day, Spike was standing in front of the mirror in his bathroom, examining the gash from the sword when Tempest tried to kill him. It had scabbed over, but instead of being made of the usual dried blood, it looked more like purple scales... like those of a dragon; another souvenir from the video game world. He started admiring his muscles when he realized that he was not alone.

“What in the world?” he asked himself (literally).

He saw three other hims in the mirror, and when he turned around, he knew that his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him. There were three perfect duplicates of him, much like the copies he had learned to make while he was in the video game, in the bathroom with him. Suddenly, Spike heard a knock outside his suite. He told the clones to stay where they were as he threw on his bathrobe. He answered the door to find Sunset Shimmer standing in the hall.

“Spike, we’ve been looking all over for you!” she exclaimed.

“Why?” he asked. “And who’s ‘we’?”

Before Sunset could go on, Applejack joined them with Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie in tow.

“Did you tell him what happened?” AJ asked Sunset.

“Tell me what?” Spike inquired. “What happened?”

“I tore the door to my suite clean off its hinges!” Applejack replied. “I didn’t even pull on the handle that hard. It was like it was light as a feather.”

“And I’ve been hitting the gym more than I usually do,” Rarity added with a nod. “It’s like I have this newfound desire to learn more than just self-defense.”

Spike looked at Fluttershy. “What about you?”

“I was feeding the birds in the aviary, when all of a sudden they started to perch on my arms,” she said. “I could make any sort of movement, and they would not get off! And it wasn’t just the birds; the fish in the lobby aquarium followed me everywhere I moved.”

“I just went for my morning run like I usually do, and the next thing I knew I was out in the middle of the desert,” Rainbow Dash put in.

Spike looked down at Dash’s shirt and noticed her breasts were a bit bigger than he remembered. In fact, all of the girls’ breasts had grown.

“The Ruby of Femininity,” he thought. “Handling it must have increased their busts!”

“Super-strength... martial arts... communication with animals... super speed...” Spike listed them off as he pointed to each girl respectively. “Well, believe it or not, you’re not the only ones with new abilities,” he smiled.

He called out to his bedroom and the three clones smiled and waved as they joined the group.

“The Duplication Spell from the video game,” Sunset breathed. “But... how is that possible?”

Pinkie gasped. “Being inside the game must have given us some of the abilities of our avatars!”

“Well, not all of us have gotten new abilities,” Sunset replied. “Discord hasn’t, neither has Applejack’s brother, Starlight Glimmer, or Twilight.”

The girls couldn’t believe their luck. They didn’t know how this could have happened, and they didn’t care. All they really cared about at that moment was learning how to control their new abilities.

“Oh, I’m definitely gonna have some fun with mine!” Spike thought.

Meanwhile, across the street, in her office high above the city, Impossibly Rich was throwing a fit.

“What do you mean you still can’t find them?” she shouted at Abacus Cinch. “I’m supposed to believe that the last three Gates just vanished into thin air? What is the ICDG doing?!”

“Well, we managed to determine an unidentified girl got them five years ago, and then up and went missing,” Cinch replied.

“Contact headquarters!” Impossibly stated. “Tell them they’re off the project if they don’t find that Gate Holder within a week!”

“Project?” Spoiled Rich asked. “This is the first I’ve heard of it. What is it?”

“This has nothing to do with you!” Impossibly Rich snapped.

Just then, Impossibly Rich’s mole barged in.

“Impossibly Rich, Spike escaped the video game,” she reported, “and freed Fizzlepop Berrytwist.”

That was Impossibly’s latest scheme: she’d ordered her mole to rig the video game so that Spike and his friends would die in it, which would have sabotaged Micro Chips’ chances of winning the big cash prize he would receive if the public liked his game the best. But it still failed.

“What?” Impossibly Rich yelled. “I thought you told me it was foolproof!”

“It was!” the mole replied. “But he’s just too clever!”

“Just like his mother,” Impossibly Rich growled. “I should’ve done away with that boy years ago, myself, when I had the chance!”

Spike's Women

It was 6:00 in the morning when Spike, Applejack, Sunset Shimmer, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Starlight Glimmer sat in the Sweet Snacks Café, and all Spike wanted to do was go back to bed. He was still fatigued by the events of the previous day... and night.

“What’s everyone having for breakfast?” Pinkie Pie asked chipperly, pen and notepad in hand.

“Coffee,” Rarity and Rainbow Dash groaned simultaneously.

“Make it three,” Fluttershy added.

“Four,” Sunset joined in.

“Four coffees,” Applejack told Pinkie. “And two hot chocolates,” she added, smiling at Spike, who smiled back.

This did not go unnoticed by Sunset, who quickly changed her drink order to cocoa, as did all the other girls, and Pinkie skated away.

“What happened to you last night?” Rarity asked Spike.

It had been a Tartarus of a day. It had started out pleasant enough, with him being booked for three dance lessons, the first of which was at 8:00 A.M. They went well, but Spike felt drained from the repetitive movement and constant smiling. He was so burned out that Discord let him off his shift at 1:00. That evening, he just wanted to curl up under his blankets and catch up on some much needed rest. And he was just about to when he heard three solid knocks on his door. Against his better judgment, he got up and answered it. It was Fancy Pants. That’s when Spike remembered he had agreed to be Fancy’s wingman in hunting through the resort’s bars for women. So, instead of staying in he went out.

“Now Spike, we agreed if you were going to join me in the pursuit of female companionship,” Fancy reminded him, “we would do it with a certain amount of decorum--Yowza, that’ll play.”

That’s when Spike saw her sitting at the bar, nursing a gin and tonic. She was impossibly beautiful, with smooth tan skin, trim and fit with curves to die for. Her oval face was a work of art, with exquisitely defined features, its perfection emphasized by shining grayish turquoise hair that was pulled straight back from her temples and forehead, and her eyes gleamed like amaranth. She was deep-bosomed, wearing a red silk dress, the severe lines of which did much to enhance her slim figure. She seemed, at least to Spike, surprisingly frail and vulnerable.

“She’s a dream,” he thought.

She slowly turned toward Spike and her eyes flickered at him. There was a subtle change in the expression on her face, but little else to indicate that she acknowledged his presence. Then she smiled warmly.

“Now, let me handle the introductions,” Fancy said. “I think the approach requires a more elegant and understated--Sweet Celestia, she’s tall as a tree!”

She was indeed tall, as tall as Celestia. And that wasn’t just tall; she was tall like a mountain... with mountains. Imagine a mountain, then two smaller, yet delightful little hills stuck on the front.

“Hopefully, by week’s end, I’ll be scaling those twin peaks,” Spike thought.

“Pardon my friend’s ‘understated elegance’,” he said to her. “I’m Spike.”

“My name is Rain Shine,” she replied. “I’m pleased to meet you.”

Startled by the lady’s beautiful voice, Spike offered if he could buy her another drink. Rain Shine accepted and as soon as her second G&T arrived, she drew herself enticingly close to Spike and they started chatting. Fancy Pants winked at Spike, wished him luck, and left them. Spike ordered himself a Scotch and Rain Shine shared that she was visiting Las Pegasus to check in on her employees—the Kirin men and women she had loaned out to Flim and Flam for the resort’s spa—and to catch up with an old friend from college. Her English, Spike noticed suddenly, was as perfect as the perfect, gleaming smile she flashed at him. His Scotch was rich and smoky and he caught the faint whiff of an indescribably delicate fragrance that drew him almost hypnotically closer to her. She crossed her legs and the slit in her skirt revealed a honey-colored calf and a portion of her thigh. The movement was deliberately provocative. Her full lips parted slightly and Spike saw her tongue resting between the tips of her teeth.

His heart sank when he heard his cell phone vibrate and he saw that he got a text message from Rainbow Dash, reminding him that tonight was the night they were going to meet in Spike’s suite for the maiden voyage of his new state of the art X Station 7 game system.

“Why did I book so many things on the same day?” he thought.

Spike apologized to her as he paid for their drinks and bid her good night.

“I’ll be seeing you again soon, handsome,” Rain Shine said with a smile.

Spike returned to his suite to find Rainbow Dash waiting impatiently for him outside the door. He opened the door for her and she immediately plopped herself on the couch in front of the living room TV.

“I can’t believe you got this,” she told him once she hit the cushions. “I’ve been on the waiting list for months.”

“Yeah, well, I’m connected,” he replied.

“Come on, one of your ex-gal pals got hired on as security for the expo, you’re not exactly mobbed up,” said Dash.

Spike shot her a nasty look and took her game controller from her.

“No, no, no! Sorry! Sorry! You’re mobbed up! You’re mobbed up!” she apologized. “So, what are you up for? We’ve got Grand Theft Carriage, Just Prance, and Call of Booty.”

“How about this?” he asked.

“Hot Shots Golf 2?” she asked. “Yeah, super. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be a retired 70-year-old fart living in south Flankida. Come on! Put in a game where you can blow stuff up and/or drive your car into hookers!”

“Okay, but then ‘Golf,’”

They were soon joined by Applejack, Sunset, Fluttershy, and a pair of M.I.L.F.s Spike had met at the video game convention named Cream Heart and Milky Way. AJ’s, Sunset’s, and Fluttershy’s smiles might as well have been kisses caressing his cheeks when Spike held the controllers out to them.

“Why don’t we make a bet?” he asked them.

“What’d ya have in mind, Sugah?” Applejack asked.

“How about I fuck you all while you play a team match?”

Before Spike could even finish telling them his idea, the six women were already stripping off their clothes.

“All right, but we’re going to wear headsets while we’re doing it,” Sunset said as she pulled down her panties. “I don’t think you can handle it, so I wanna up the stakes: if you cum first, you’re our sex slave for the night, but if we cum...”

“You’re my sex slaves!” Spike stated without a second of hesitation.

“Deal!” the six women said.

Cream Heart had just finished logging them in—into a game lobby that she was one of the creators of, which consisted of exclusively all female gamers—and setting up their party when Spike used his new ability to magically gather the dust in the room and formed five copies of himself.

“Time to press some buttons,” Fluttershy smiled.

The women switched their headsets on and Cream Heart purred into her microphone, “Hurry, baby, put it in before the match starts.”

Female voices mumbled through the ear pieces.

“Is someone about to start having sex?”

“She sounds hot, are you hot?”

All six Spikes grinned as they slid their cocks into each woman’s moist slit.

“Oh, Faust,” Cream Heart moaned breathy into her mic.

“She’s about to get boned,” “This is really gonna distract me,” the other players said.

The match began and the Spikes started to thrust into their women; slowly at first, then they picked up the pace with the first two kills. Sunset took a moment to adjust after killing an opposing team member.

“Shit, that feels so good baby,” she breathed.

Sunset headshot a guy, mainly due to him standing still, as Spike #2 slammed her pussy, his balls slapping against her swollen clit.

“This is awesome,” Rainbow Dash groaned into her mic as Spike #4 played with her tits. “You whores should try it.”

“Now for the kill!” he thought.

He twisted Dash’s nipples and she moaned, “You cheating... asshole... holy shit! Fuck!” she screamed in a moment of ecstasy.

“You’re losing,” he rubbed it in as he continued bottoming out inside her.

“Wait, we have a guy in this lobby?!”

“Yep!” Cream Heart shouted into her headset. “And he’s got a big dick!!”

The women slammed down on their respective Spikes faster and faster as they (the Spikes) fondled the ladies’ breasts and pinched their nipples and clits, all while the women were popping off headshots and screaming into their mics as the other players cheered them on.

“Fuck the Tartarus out of her, dude!”

“Give it to her, hard!”

“This is the best game ever!”

“I guess this is the closest you losers are ever going to get to real sex!” Fluttershy shouted as she kept bouncing up and down on her Spike (#3), barely able to hold her controller. “Oh, sorry...”

Applejack glanced at her Spike over her shoulder, hunger in her eyes, and she roughly pulled his head to hers and stuck her tongue down his throat.

“If you’re gonna play dirty, ya better fuck me good!” she said.

“Oh, Spike, your giant joystick feels so good inside me!” Cream Heart moaned. “Ahhh! Yes, yes! Shoot your load into my soaking wet hole!”

He was definitely pushing all the “right buttons.”

“Oh, yes! Keep sucking on my tits, Spike; and I’ll keep riding your cock until my pussy is filled with your cum!” Milky Way added.

“Wait, Spike!?”

“Aunt Luna, is that you?!” he cried.

Spike #5, the one who was doing Cream Heart, was so startled from hearing Celestia’s sister’s voice that his cock slipped out of Cream Heart’s vagina and up into her anus.

“I see you... mmm... found the secret entrance,” she said. “Mmm... Mmm! Mmm, fuck yes! Oh, yes, yes, YES!! Fuck me deeper, harder! Keep smashing my butthole with your cock! And keep rotating my control sticks with those fingers!” She was talking about his hands on her breasts. “Ah! Fuck! Oh, Spike! I’m... I’m gonna... I’m cumming!”

The women screamed together in one collective climax and Spike’s clones dissipated back into dust. By the time he was done, Cream Heart’s tongue was hanging out of her mouth as his head came to rest on Milky Way’s breasts.

“That was... amazing!” Sunset moaned.

“Achievement unlocked,” Spike thought.

“Do you gals always game like that?” he asked them.

“No... Sometimes I’m naked... close to 90% of the time... or in something silky and naughty...” Cream Heart replied.

“I want a rematch!” Rainbow Dash demanded between gasps. “That nipple tweak wasn’t fair!”

“Hey, all’s fair in love and war,” Spike replied.

“And this is definitely war now,” Sunset countered as she pounced on him.

Ever since his experience with the ghosts in Suite 2339, Spike had been awfully depressed. But after being inside Micro Chips’ video game—and his late night session with six women—he had cheered up quite a bit. He sipped his cocoa, cocking an eyebrow over the rim of his cup. Then he nudged Applejack and pointed to a woman coming into the Café.

It was Twilight.

She looked terrible with her new big, thick, black-framed glasses. Spike and Applejack saw her personal deck of cards tucked into her vest pocket. That was not unusual. What was unusual was that they also spied a card counting book tucked into her vest as well.

Spike sighed. “Well, as much as I would like to stay and have breakfast with you gals, there are a couple of young ladies who need me to help them brush up on their clog dancing.”

He paid for all of their meals and as he passed Twilight on his way out, he didn’t give her as much as a sideways glance.

“Girls!” she cried.

“Don’t shout, darling,” Rarity whispered.

“Guess what I just bought,” Twilight said.

“Something overpriced that you don’t need?” Rainbow Dash retorted.

“Two tickets to Mareoon 5! The question, though, is which of you to give the other one to?”

The girls all groaned in reply.

“Come on! Let’s go out, get a little crazy!” Twilight said.

“No,” they said one after another.

“Why not?” Twilight asked.

“It’s loud,” Rarity answered.

“It’s crowded,” Fluttershy added.

“And when you get there, it’s Mareoon 5,” Applejack grumbled.

“Plus a single beer’s no less than ten bucks,” Dash went on. “So there’s another hundred down the drain... just for me.”

Sunset also declined Twilight’s offer.

“Fine, I’ll have a much better time with Starlight,” Twilight said. “What do you say? Come on, it’ll be fun!”

“No!” Starlight stated. “No, Twilight, it won’t be fun! This stopped being fun when you started ramming it down our throats!”

“Well, excuse me for showing you lame losers a good time!” Twilight huffed. “Find another friend who cares, because this one’s done caring!!”

And she stormed off.

“I don’t need them!” she scoffed. “I can have fun all by myself!”

As soon as Twilight was gone, the six women all shared a smile.

“Good!” Rarity exclaimed. “She bought it!”

Spike was making his way through another tall, dark Scotch, wondering why he hadn’t seen Celestia since the video game convention, when Fancy Pants found him sitting at the bar in the Midnight Lounge later that day.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Drake,” Fancy greeted him. “Who might be up for a wee bit of mischief?”

“Discord?” Spike answered.

“No! Us! So, what say, Spike? An evening out? Capers and jests? And I assure you wherever the night takes us shall forever remain entre nous,”

Spike remained quiet, not because he was tired, but because he was too lost in his thoughts to make conversation. Graduating college and trying to find time to spend with Celestia had brought back many memories from when he was a boy.

Ever since he had turned thirteen, Spike had been attracted to his adoptive mother. This attraction began to take form that summer when they went to the beach. And every year that went by, Spike looked at Celestia as a beautiful woman first and as his adoptive mother second. He’d had plenty of girlfriends, but none of them really seemed to be “the one.”

“Tell me something, Spike. What do you need this job for?” Fancy inquired.

Spike consulted his drink for a moment, and then raised his handsome eyes to meet Fancy Pants’.

“I mean, I think I understand why: you like what you’re doing and you’ve made a name for yourself in your profession,” Fancy went on.

“Sure. Spike Drake, the guy that can play through a whole shift without making the customers scream any louder than normal. Great name I’ve got,”

“And you’re modest about it all!” Fancy Pants said, slapping Spike on the shoulder. “I know how highly regarded you are. For all my efforts, getting out of bed in the morning, staying fairly sober, dealing with all sorts of people, mostly unpleasant, I am regarded by a handful of people whose opinions I don’t value. I couldn’t kick the habit of being rich. I’ve always lived like a millionaire and I couldn’t learn to live any other way.”

If there was one thing Spike didn’t like, it was somebody slapping him on the back and howling in his ear about what a great man he was. But Spike kept his composure; Fancy Pants meant only good fellowship and he was a good friend.

“But you...” Fancy went on. “You remind me of my boy, Nolan.”

“You have a son? How old is he?”

“Oh, he’s grown up,” Fancy Pants answered. “But back to my original question. Even if you hadn’t been a successful male model and spokesman who’s good at gambling, or absurdly skilled in any of the other talents I know you possess, if you ever wanted money, all you would have to do is yell for Mother.”

Spike smiled at the other man and sipped.

“You don’t know her like I do,” Spike replied.

Fancy Pants shook his head.

“No, but I know she’s very beautiful, kind, caring, loving, and generous,”

“Every single one of those to a fault, especially when it comes to me. Every time the other boys at school would talk about how big her breasts were, I would shut them up by saying, ‘they have to be to hold her big heart.’ She adopted me when she was twenty; I was four going on five. I just turned twenty-three, so that makes her...”

“Forty-two or forty-three?” Fancy sputtered into his Scotch. “Why, she doesn’t look a day over twenty-nine!”

“Yeah, well, the yoga she does thrice a week keeps things ‘where one wants them’,” Spike replied. “She loves me so much you’d think I was triplets. She wouldn’t let me out of her sight. Everything was done for me. After college, I tried to break away, but I always kept coming back. I really do love her.”

Spike jiggled the ice in his glass and looked down at the amber remains of his drink. He took another deep swallow and thought about Celestia again; how she took care of him herself and didn’t hand him off to some nanny or governess. They weren’t related by blood and that was a good thing, Spike always thought. Celestia and Barbara were roommates in college. In fact, Celestia was the one who first introduced Barbara to Spike’s father. If it hadn’t been for Celestia, Spike wouldn’t even exist.

Spike sighed when he thought about how much he and Celestia had in common. Like him, she spoke fluent Jockeypanese, she liked cheese and pepperoni, and she played piano and didn’t need to rehearse. She was independent, alert, aware, and there wasn’t a single thing she couldn’t do. She had several PhDs, she read almost every night, and she had an IQ of 192. She had won (among other things) a scholarship to Pranceton, Woman of the Year, a Nobel Prize, and volunteered her time at the Canterlot Zoo! She didn’t smoke, nor did she laugh at dirty jokes, and her shoes always matched with her purse. Whatever street she walked down, everybody turned around to get a second look. Even when all the parents came for visitation day, Celestia was the youngest, and prettiest, mom on the whole campus.

Then Spike remembered one time, after he’d turned 18, a simple embrace led to a little playful wrestling, which led to him kissing Celestia on the cheek... then on the lips. He thought of her soft, creamy, naked flesh during all the nights on their vacation. He thought about her pale magenta eyes, of her hair tumbling about the fragile structure of her face, of the evocative swell of her breasts, the shade of her nipples, and the curves of her body.

Truth be told, he would spend his last coin on her. She was the most important person in his life... and she always would be.

“I think she loves you more than just as a son,” Fancy Pants said.

“You’re serious?” Spike asked.

“Of course, I’m serious,” Fancy replied. “I mean, you’re both adults, you love her, she loves you, and you’re not related by blood, so what’s wrong with a little hey-hey?”

“Nothing, nothing at all,” Spike said. “I’d never knock it as long as there was a little love involved.”

“Are you saying that there isn’t?” Fancy inquired.

“On my part, not much,” Spike said honestly. “I love her but I can’t help but wonder what my mother would think, my birthmother. What would she say?”

“Well, I’m sure she, and your father, would want you to be happy,”

“Could I?” Spike asked. “Could I really love Celestia like that? Could I really love my mother’s best friend who raised me like I was her own?”

“Even if your luck ran out, I believe you could,” Fancy said sincerely.

“Okay, let’s say you’re right. Let’s say you’re absolutely right,” Spike hypothesized. “Then that means that I can’t change myself any more than you can change yourself. And any man who says he can is a liar.”

“Spike, most people don’t expect their significant others to be perfect just because they fell in love with them,” Fancy said. “But I don’t think it would hurt for you to give Celestia the same chance at happiness that she gave you.”

Fancy Pants got up, paid for his Scotch, and Spike’s, and left him with a lot to think about.

Later that night, Applejack, Sunset, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Rarity followed Stellar Flare through the double doors of her penthouse. She had planned a night of luxury with some friends and she thought that her daughter and her friends would like to join them, to which the girls quickly agreed. The only reason Starlight didn’t join them was because she was working the evening shift.

“Wow!” Sunset breathed. “I forgot how amazing this place is.”

Pinkie Pie, Trixie, Moon Dancer, Coco, Sassy, Fleur, Adagio, Aria, Sonata and Tempest were already there. Fleur and Coco were sitting on one of the sofas, wearing sheer lingerie and mud masks. Fleur’s white negligee was so short it barely covered her heart-shaped derrière. Coco’s baby blue nightie was a little more modest and went down to just past her rear. Trixie was on the sofa closest to the stereo. She was wearing only a T-shirt and a pair of panties, so her legs were clearly visible; and she held a firm grip on its remote control as she vigorously shuffled through the playlist. Moon Dancer sat on the carpet in front of her, dressed in a pair of short shorts and a T-shirt that was stretched to the point of bursting, and it was obvious she wasn’t wearing a bra. Sassy was reclining on the other sofa, wearing a pair of pajama bottoms and a little crop top that ended just below her breasts. And Pinkie, decked out in pretty pink lingerie, was pouring drinks for Tempest and the Dazzlings.

“So, what do you want to do first?” Stellar Flare asked the girls. “Anyone want highlights, or how about a makeup sesh? Oh, it’s been so long since I’ve had a sleepover!”

“Anyone up for a little Rock ‘N’ Roll?” asked Rainbow Dash.

Stellar Flare got her gaming system ready to play while the girls assumed their roles: Dash on lead guitar, Applejack on bass, Rarity on keytar, Pinkie on drums, and Sunset on vocals. Then Stellar picked up a second guitar. Their hair shook as they sang and danced while matching the notes on the TV screen to the song’s beat. Pinkie shouted, “Drum solo!” before Stellar exclaimed, “Big finish!”

After a few songs, Stellar asked, “Who’s in the mood for room service?”

“Whoo!” they all cried.

“Party on!” Pinkie declared.

Sunset had just tracked down the room service menu when the double doors that separated the bedroom from the living room swung open. It was Celestia, Chrysalis and Rain Shine. Each woman was dressed in a diaphanous gown that clearly delineated every full, sensual curve of her body. Moving regally into the room, they made themselves comfortable.

“You have chicken fingers?” Rain Shine asked as she read the menu. “I would like to try some of these.”

And she did, as well as popcorn, pizza, licorice, chocolate, and ice cream, among many other things.

“These energy drinks pack a punch!” Pinkie exclaimed.

Steaming baths and a hot meal topped off with two glasses of wine each put everyone in better moods. Later, Rarity emerged from the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her body and drying her hair with a second towel.

“A forty minute shower and the water is still hot,” she sighed. “I think I may finally be clean.”

Sunset had changed into red silk pajamas and somehow managed to talk Applejack into letting her brush her hair after she and several of the girls painted their toenails. Sunset had chosen “Pretty in Pink” while Sonata chose “Safari Yellow” and they wished that it was Spike blowing on their toes until the polish dried. No one was surprised that Fluttershy decided to braid her hair, but they were shocked that she did her nails. They were even more shocked that she chose black polish... and gray eye shadow... and purple lipstick.

“You think I need more makeup?” she asked them. “Or... that I look weird. Is that it?”

Rarity shook her head. “No! It’s just so unlike you.”

“You throw a great slumber party, Mrs. Flare,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Well, I couldn’t have done it without Pinkie Pie,” she admitted.

“Hey, what are friends for?” Pinkie smiled in reply.

“This is nice, isn’t it?” Chrysalis asked as she sipped another glass of wine. “The nineteen of us, having a quiet night in with drinks, trashy magazines, cookie dough, Twister...”

“You know, Applejack, you really should wear your hair loose more often,” Sunset said as she brushed her friend’s long blonde locks.

“Like I need more length,” Applejack replied.

“No, look,” Sunset said.

She stopped brushing AJ’s hair, put the brush on the nightstand by the bed, picked up a hand mirror, and held it out in front of Applejack. She was right. Her hair seemed to grow more beautiful, more opulent with each long, flowing stroke.

“It really brings out your smile,” said Sunset.

“I guess I just have a lot more to smile about these days,” AJ answered. “And it’s all thanks to Spike.”

The mention of Spike’s name caused every woman to let out a sigh. Each lowered their eyes and bit into their lower lips, hoping they were his favorite. Stellar Flare smiled and leaned in close to her daughter and her friends, namely Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fleur, Moon Dancer and Trixie.

“So, what’s Spike like in the sack?” she asked them. “Is he shy and gentle or is he rough like an animal?”

They all looked at her, almost stunned.

“I could understand this kind of behavior from an oversexed adolescent,” Rarity said, “but you’re...”

“An older woman?” Stellar asked. “Middle-aged? All the more reason to grab some youth. There was a time in my life when men would invent little tricks and schemes to get my attention. Well, now I’m the one who schemes a little to get theirs. That’s not too unfair, is it? But don’t be too concerned. Someday even that won’t work. But don’t judge me until the bloom is off your rose, honey.”

Rain Shine gazed over at Celestia, and noticed the dismal look on her friend’s face.

“Tell me what torments you, and perhaps you will be freed from it,” Rain Shine said.

Celestia was silent, lost in thought. She knew that Spike was interested in the fairer sex (so much, in fact, that he was practically obsessed with beautiful women) because all through his teenage years, he spied on her constantly. She tried to never let on that she knew, but she would catch him checking her out when she was decently clothed, in some state of undress, or in the shower. Although, unlike most mothers, who would grow angry and take steps to stop it cold, Celestia was pleased by the growing attention... and did nothing to prevent or end it. By the time Spike was eighteen, Celestia grew more aroused.

As she lay in bed the previous night, she thought about her adoptive son, as she had every night since he had turned eighteen. She ran her fingers over the side of the bed that lay empty, and she was swept with a shivering anguish. She dreamt of him, of his emerald eyes. She wanted him beside her, touching her. Celestia wondered bleakly if he would ever come to her with husky laughter on his lips and the bright fire of passion in his emerald eyes. That was the one thing he kept from everyone. That was what he held away, like some sacred prize.

“I’m such a bad mother. Having these thoughts about Spike... they’re just wrong,” she thought. “I’m in love with my best friend’s son. And that’s something I can’t tell anyone about. Ever! I have to bury these feelings deep in my heart. Maybe then, someday, I can forget.”

She was temporarily broken from her thoughts when the women’s conversation somehow shifted to Spike’s mother, Barbara. Celestia knew how much Spike loved his mother and how much he missed her. Barbara meant so much to him and then she was taken from him. And even after all these years, he was still in pain. They just wanted him to be happy, because if he wasn’t happy they weren’t happy.

“Spike dreams of his mother because she made him happy,” Celestia said. “But she’s not here to make him happy.”

“But he has all of us to do that,” Pinkie replied. “We can make him happy.”

“Oh, yes, you can make him somewhat happy by making him laugh or doing nice things for him, but that’s not enough because he’s at an age where he wants someone extra special,” Celestia explained. “A woman who not only makes him feel better, but one that he can honor, cherish, and protect for the rest of his life.”

“You mean... a wife?” Rarity asked.

“I know the very woman,” Fluttershy said. “She’ll do everything for Spike that Celestia says. So, I am willing to offer myself to him.”

“What?” Moon Dancer asked. “I was thinking the same thing!”

“So was I!” Coco added.

“I was too!” Applejack said.

“Me too,” Dash joined in.

“I’m the only one who can make Spike truly happy!” Trixie shouted.

“None of you can make him smile the way I can!” Pinkie argued. “So I should be the one proposing!”

“Quiet, quiet, now, we have quite a problem here, don’t we?” Rain Shine asked. “So, let’s try to find a solution. It seems we all intend to offer ourselves to Spike, which, of course, will never do because it’s too confusing. Well, I think I can solve that problem: I think that we should invite him up here and the one of us he likes the most gets to pop the question.”

“I second that!” Fluttershy exclaimed.

“I third it!” Moon Dancer added.

“I fourth it!” said Applejack.

“I’ll agree to it because I’ll win this contest!” Rainbow Dash shouted.

The rest of the women, even Celestia, agreed.

“Then it’s settled,” Chrysalis said. “Let’s do it!”

Later, Spike rode the elevator up to Stellar Flare’s suite, thinking about Celestia and what he planned to say when he got there. It was the best invitation he had received in a long time, but he was in a bind. He had wanted Celestia but the fact that she was his adoptive mother kept him from being with her. He didn’t want her to be just another notch in his belt, another woman to be “loved” for a night or a week or a month, swept up by the infamous Drake charm and into a vortex that spun off all scruples or principles or thoughts of tomorrow. But she, Applejack, Sunset, Fluttershy, Trixie, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Moon Dancer, even Rain Shine and Chrysalis, he believed that they all deserved better than him.

It had been hard enough trying to convince himself that he only wanted to talk with Celestia, to try to make her see that she was killing him by avoiding him the past few days. Oh, his motives had been noble enough when he exited the elevator, but as he walked down the hall to Stellar’s penthouse, he found himself thinking about Celestia even more. She was not mean, she was bighearted, trusting, friendly to everyone—what better qualities, or rarer ones, could be found in a woman these days?

Spike knocked on the door to Stellar Flare’s suite and it swung inward. He stood in the doorway, astonished.

“I see you got my invitation,” Stellar said.

There she was, with Applejack, Sunset, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Trixie, Moon Dancer, Coco, Sassy, Fleur, Adagio, Aria, Sonata, Tempest, Chrysalis, Rain Shine and Celestia. Their eyes were all warm, playful—and just a bit challenging.

“Perfect, they’re all here,” he thought.

“Well, are you just going to stand there and gape like a school boy?” Stellar asked. “Or are you going to come in?”

He entered the suite, closed the door behind himself, and walked through to the bedroom, gazing upon them. Most of the women were seated upon the bed, their legs curled beneath them. The light played all over them, enhancing the curves that teased him beneath the evocative gowns. It made their hair gleam, and their skin seemed to gleam too.

“They’ve all been telling me how great you are,” Rain Shine said.

“Oh, have they, now?” Spike replied.

They saw the sweat breaking out on his forehead. It was difficult for him to stand in a room with a plethora of half-dressed women as well-endowed as these and insist that he wasn’t the right guy for them.

Rain Shine’s face brightened into a brilliant smile.

“You’re nice,” she went on. “No, you’re wonderful.”

“No, I’m not nice,” he told them. “And I’m not the man for any of you. You deserve the steady, sincere type. Me, I’m wrong, a no-good guy. Ask anybody. I used to cheat at cards before my luck came in so strong the percentages let me play honest. I never make promises I can’t keep. I drink too much, I stay up too late, and I don’t close the cover of the match folder before I strike a light. I couldn’t be true to the finest woman who ever lived.”

“Hog wash!” Applejack exclaimed. “We all love you, Spike. You learn fast, you’re honest, you don’t go out of your way to make trouble, and the kids love ya like mad when you’re teaching them how to dance.”

“And we’ve all seen the way you look at us,” Chrysalis added, a coy smile on her lips. “I don’t think I’ve ever laid out to get a tan for a week straight without you checking me out at least once.”

Spike tried to argue with them, but he was at a loss for words when the women slowly started taking off their clothes. First their tops, then their bottoms, followed by any and all bras, and finally their panties.

He stared at them as they stood before him, graceful and feminine.

It was a literal Las Pegasus buffet of beauties.

As soon as Celestia stripped down to just her panties, the motherly part of her wanted to say, “Close your eyes. You shouldn’t have to see me like this. Don’t look at me, please.” But she said nothing, nor did she try to conceal her great, round, high-riding breasts; and across her milk-white shoulders and past her breasts, flowing over and around them like silk, spilled her gleaming tresses.

“Take yours off,” she said.

“What?” he asked.

“You don’t have to be shy around us,” Stellar added. “Take them off.”

Spike gulped.

His heart was pounding as he began to unbutton his vest. After that came his shirt. They heard his vest clunk heavily to the floor beside the bed. Then he dropped his pants and his shorts together. In seconds, he stood entirely naked.

He was flung onto the bed, and Fluttershy was quickly atop him. The sheets were crisp, clean and warm. Spike was startled by Fluttershy’s touch when she picked up his large hand and smoothed her small fingers over it. The room fell silent as Fluttershy studied Spike’s hands very carefully.

“These hands, so rough and worn in the service of others... and yet, they’re beautiful. They hold great strength, yet touch with such tenderness,” she said.

Spike was trembling as he looked up at her.

“I used to think that dying was better than surviving day after day, living with guilt...” he said. “But then, when I almost froze to death, you saved my life. I realized that, even in that video game, our lives were real and still had meaning. Thank you for helping me to see that.”

His tone was earnest and his voice was soft, and it was a calming salve against the fears that had lived with Fluttershy so long.

“Spike...” she whispered.

He made love to her first, with great tenderness, then a searing and shattering passion, and she was cast into a realm of ecstasy that paled to the other times she had given herself to him. One by one, he had his way with them: everything from giving and getting oral sex from Fleur, Sassy, Tempest and the Dazzlings, to sixty-nineing Moon Dancer, with her sucking him off on top while he licked her from below. Her crotch was already soaked when he started sucking.

“Your tongue... It feels so good...” she moaned. “More, more...”

When he had finished with Moon Dancer, she was entirely sated and spent, and thoroughly dazed. He groaned again and again. There was nowhere upon him that the women’s lips did not brush his flesh. His teeth nipped against Applejack’s buttocks and his tongue ran hot and wild over her spine while she indulged herself, teasing the fine muscles of his chest, his tightly muscled rear, and bathed his shoulders with her kisses. Rarity went after Applejack. Pins loosened from her indigo hair and fell to the floor as she met his eyes. The soft tendrils curled over her bare shoulders, the full, soft, white mounds of her breasts rising with each breath she took, her eyes liquid blue pools shining like diamonds. He had never seen her more desirable. Longing seared through him and he shuddered from the stark heat of it.

“Spike, I am very sorry I only went out with you to make myself feel better,” she said. “I shouldn’t have lied to you.”

“You don’t need to apologize,” he said. “You’re not the first woman to hurt me like that.”

Rarity felt awful, but she knew how to make it up to him.

“It would be an honor to give my virginity to a gentleman like you,” she told him, her voice caught in her throat.

Spike smiled as he kneaded her soft marshmallow ass. Even her breasts felt like marshmallows as he played with her nipples. She was half-sobbing when he rose above her at last, and she screamed with incredible pleasure when he plunged deep, burying himself within her. She screamed again when it was over, the sensation was so strong. Embarrassed, she buried herself against the slick dampness of his chest and tried not to think of all the things she had done. When she found her strength again, Rarity helped guide Spike into Coco. He took it slowly with her at first, but she quickly demanded more. After satisfying her, Sunset and her mother crawled over to him.

“Stellar...” he began.

“Mine will feel much better than Sunset’s. I promise,” she said.

Both women pinched their own nipples as Stellar sucked his cock and Sunset licked his balls. They both knew how to use their tongues very well.

“How is it?” Stellar asked.

“Are we going to make you cum soon?” asked Sunset.

“Oh, yeah, it feels so good I think I just might,” he answered.

Stellar mock-pouted, and then smiled.

“Well, that’s not fair,” she said as she started giving him a boob job. “We want to feel good too, you know.”

“Come on, Mom!” Sunset whined.

“Oh, stop it,” Stellar replied. “You’re such a brat! Just have him play with your boobs. I’m going to have fun with his dick for a while.”

Spike could tell from the moment he met her that Stellar Flare was going through her sexual mid-life crisis; she came onto him hot and heavy. Now, after a minute of foreplay with her boobs, she wanted him to take her for a ride.

“Wow. I’m impressed you haven’t cum yet,” she said. “I’ll tease you with my pussy next.”

Sunset shoved Stellar aside.

“Move!” she exclaimed. “His dick belongs to me, Mom!”

And she started riding him like a pony.

“You feel sooo good inside me!” she sighed. “Harder! Pound me harder!”

“You think I’m going to sit here and watch you try to humiliate me by fucking him like an amateur?” Stellar asked. “That’s not how you get someone off! I’ll show you how to do that!”

And she positioned herself over Spike’s mouth.

“Ooooh, yes!” she moaned. “Right there! Stick your tongue in more!”

“Mom, does it feel good?” Sunset asked.

“Yes, Spike really knows how to use his tongue,” Stellar answered.

Sunset pinched her mother’s nipples, forcing her let out a scream. After ten minutes, they switched positions so that Stellar was on her back while Spike pounded away at her. Stellar looked over at her daughter and saw Sunset playing with herself while she watched them.

“Mom. Can... I... sit on your face?” Sunset asked timidly.

“Come here,” Stellar said.

Sunset nodded as she sat over her mother’s mouth.

“Mom, does my pussy taste good to you?”

“So good!” Stellar replied.

“I can’t anymore! Momma, I’m gonna cum!”

“I’m going to cum, too!”

The two women flushed as they came together and collapsed on the bed.

“Did he make you cum, Momma?” Sunset asked Stellar.

“I did. Spike was so good. He felt amazing,” she said. “You know, you have a really sexy moan.”

“You too, Mom,”

And they shared a kiss.

Spike gazed over at Celestia and saw that she had been doing her best to restrain herself. He strode toward her and she lifted her arms out to him.

Celestia seemed to radiate sunlight. Spike leaned back to take her all in. It took him a while. He had never seen Celestia look at him as she did then. Staring up at her son through eyelids half-closed, her lips parted, and cheeks flushed with embarrassment and shame.

“Mother--” he began.

“No! Don’t call me ‘Mother’,” she said as she guided his hands to her breasts. “Call me ‘Celestia’.”

Those huge, massive, watermelon-sized, impudent, H-cup breasts were driving him wild; they were way more than a handful each.

“An indescribable amount of volume and softness,” he thought. “There is no match!”

He thought she was going to reach out and pull him onto those lovely erect nipples. But she didn’t. Spike held himself in check, aware by now of a distressing urgency building within him. His desire was uncontrollable.

Now, more than ever, Spike lusted for Celestia’s body. He wanted to touch and feel and caress and embrace her. He wanted to be deep inside her, but even as lust consumed him he took a tender care with her, greater than any he had exercised before. He moved closer and felt the length of his body against hers. She was incredibly warm, the entire length of her. Then he paused, his heart slamming against his chest, for he knew that if they went any further, they wouldn’t be mother and son anymore.

“Celestia, I want you more than I have wanted any woman in my entire life,” he said. “But I don’t want to do this... if this is not what you want.”

Celestia smiled as she brought her hands up to Spike’s face and cradled his cheeks. They felt so soft on his skin. He could see the beginnings of tears forming in her eyes.

“Spike, you don’t have to suffer because of me. When I look at you, I can’t believe that I have raised someone so wonderful. You’ve grown into a kind, handsome young man and if I were any prouder of you, my heart would burst,”

She leaned up and to Spike’s (and everyone’s) surprise, gently pressed her lips to his. Her whole body flamed when she broke the long, intimate kiss.

Silent tears streamed down her cheeks.

“I’ve wanted this, wanted you, for so long... You’re so much like your parents... I kept my distance, I’ve been avoiding you because... because I was afraid... afraid of falling in love with my best friend’s son,” she confessed.

Her eyes were full of love as she spoke.

“This is exactly what I want,” she said. “So please, I want you to make love to me. I want you to pound my soaking wet pussy to your heart’s content. Can you do that... please?”

Spike swallowed and then nodded. It was strange for Celestia to speak of herself this way, but Spike was feeling very turned on by it. They both wanted to express their absolute love for each other and this was the ultimate means. She was no longer his adoptive mother and he was no longer her adopted son, and the fact that she was forty-something and he was twenty-three made no difference at all. They were both beautiful people who would gladly give themselves to each other and wanted nothing more than to satisfy one another and be together.

He began to stroke her body, and she had never known such care from his hands, such tenderness. He touched her so lightly that she arched, aching to feel more of his palm against her breast. He breathed and nibbled at her earlobes, and his tongue drew a fiery trail down her throat, over her collarbone, and into the deep valley between her breasts. And again she writhed and arched to meet him when his mouth fell over her nipples and sucked upon them slowly. His hands wandered and roamed and found the moist center of her, and she cried out as she spread her legs, welcoming him.

He started slowly, gently, as he threaded his fingers through her hair and she curled hers into his. He tilted her face to his and her knees began to tremble and her breath came in ragged pants. Spike kissed her hungrily, pulling himself even closer to her. Her breasts pressed hard against his chest and he could feel them heaving as her breath came faster.

Breaking the kiss, she reached her hand down and began caressing him, gently at first, then more vigorously, raising him to rigidity—pulsing, throbbing, and ready to drive. Her fingers traveled up his back, then across his neck to his shoulders and down his chest. She kissed his shoulder; then he felt the heat of her tongue licking it.

“Now it’s my turn,” she said.

She rolled over so that she was on top, and sunk deliciously onto him with a wondrous ease that left him breathless, and he heard her pleased gasp as she straightened up and began to straddle him, her head thrown back, her marvelously firm, upthrust breasts bouncing up and down as she rode him.

Spike tightened his buttocks as he found himself driving up to meet her, thrust for thrust, as she ground her pubic bone against his. She was crying out softly with each movement. He got a firm grip on each of her buttocks and started pulling her down upon him, helping her on each downstroke. Her groans told him that this was precisely what she wanted as her tempo increased and Spike found himself stretching tightly into her, rising violently now to meet her every thrust.

It felt so good he never wanted it to end.

“I let you drink my milk, and my Champagne,” she said, “now I want you to fill me with your cream.”

It was so surreal. Spike was balls deep in Celestia and she was smiling like a school girl. He opened his mouth to speak, but she closed it with a kiss. It was a deep, searing and tender kiss. Her tongue delved into his mouth again and again. It filled him insinuatively, and then withdrew, and each time his lips parted more in anticipation to meet her tongue with his own.

Spike cast his head back and let out a roar of pleasure and triumph that could have shattered the whole building. He had never known passion so fulfilling. They melded together, one body, one flesh, each aware only of the other, each seeking only to please the other. The flashpoint came for them both, exploding in overwhelming ecstasy. They spiraled upward, each thrust taking them higher and higher until their glory burst upon them.

Celestia’s heart’s desire had come true. Spike did want her. There was no doubt in her mind that Spike loved her. She lay quietly in his arms, her head on his chest, savoring the feelings that filled her. It had been more than she’d ever dreamed. It had been perfect! She sighed and nestled against him contentedly. She wanted to stay in his arms forever. She didn’t care about anything but being with him and pleasing him. She loved him. He meant the world to her. They both finally had what they had wanted, what they had longed for.

“Thank you for being patient, Chrissy,” Spike said. “Now... have you made up your mind? Do you want the ‘deluxe package’? Just like the one I gave Celestia? Or do you want... the full treatment?”

Chrysalis had been watching his naked back and tightly muscled buttocks as he made love to Celestia. She wanted the same passionate, frenzied response that he had drawn from Celestia. She wanted her lips parted and damp, and slightly swollen by his kiss, her eyes open and heavy-lidded with desire.

“You... make it sound like an easy decision, Spike,” Chrysalis replied. “I mean... th-the way you had Celestia cu-cumming over and over... and over... I’d love the ‘deluxe package’! But... I... I am an in-inexperienced l-lover.”

“Really, even after Thorax, Pharynx, and all those other kids you’ve had?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Well, Spike is l-like... it’s like if one encountered a-a mythical creature... like a dragon... a-a rare experience! N-no way any female could turn down such a thing! Sooo... f--f-full treatment?”

“Gooood choice, Chrissy,” Spike replied. “Good choice!”

Her long legs were incredibly smooth and soft as he ran his hands along them. He had barely started probing her and she was already beginning to whine.

“Nggh... Now! I’m ready now, Spike! Plunge it in!!!”

“Patience, Chrissy,” he told her. “For the ‘full treatment’, we build your climax slowly. Trust me... it’ll be worth it.”

“B-But your cock looks so--- nfh! C--Craaap...”

“You need your stress point massages even more than I do,” he said as he began to rub her down.

“What erotic nonsense!”

“There! Feel that knot?”

“Th-That’s good...”

“Feel that tension slip away? With you completely relaxed from head to toe, there’ll be no stopping the sparks once they start flying! And that’s when I’ll really give it to you!”

“Enough, Spike,” she moaned as he pinched her own nipples. “I’m ready... f-for your cock... now.”

“The way you’re squirming, I thought you were enjoying this,”

“I never denied that... However! Your cock being so close to my lips... i-it pleases but also... frustrates! My pussy... twitches... I’m leaking... at least stuff your cock down my throat,” she said. “I demand that you attend to me now!”

“You want it the way I did Celestia?” he asked, twirling her nipples between his fingertips. “Slow and deep?”

“Y-Yes!”

“Then hard and playful?”

“Yes!!”

“Then merciless through every last orgasm?”

“YES!!!”

“No,” he said. “You’re getting double that... and more! IF you behave.”

Chrysalis whined even more. “Spike, I-I am at my limit! If you were to plunge it in... right now... I would cum all over your cock!”

“Good,” he said. “But let’s do better than that.”

Spike spread her thighs wide and every little touch, caress and stroke was intensified. Then he kissed her cooch.

“This isn’t easy for me, either,” he shared, “with you all frustrated and eager... and soaked. I’m sooo tempted to plunge it in. So warm and inviting...”

She quivered when he pulled away.

“It’s going to feel soooooo good when I finally sink it in! I promise!”

“I’m ready now! I’m ready to get my anal cherry popped! I want you to fuck all of my holes!”

“Very well,” Spike said. “Now, turn face down, ass up.”

Chrysalis rolled over and spread herself wide open.

“Like this?” she asked.

“Yes... just like that... gorgeous,”

“You know, Spike, I’m beginning to forget why I am so willing to submit to you,” Chrysalis said as her lashes fell over her eyes. “Why don’t you come over here and remind m--EEK?!”

Her lashes flew open and she rocked forward, causing her triple-F-cup breasts to do wonderful things.

“Well? Did I jog your memory?”

“YES!! Take me, you wild man!”

“Ohhh... Oh, yes! Look. See how easy you came?” he asked her. Her pussy was overflowing. “All this from just the first few strokes!” he said. “That’s what foreplay does to you.”

“S-Spike... d-don’t stop! I want you deep inside me! Fuck me! OHHh!”

“That’s it, don’t resist!”

Spike grabbed Chrysalis’s hair and pulled hard, yanking her head back.

“You like that, you little slut?” he asked. “You like my big cock ramming into you?!”

“Yes! I’m a pervert! I’m a dirty, filthy whore!” Her words came in a fierce hiss of fury. “Punish me! Punish me!!”

Spike became even more aroused by her confession.

“When I’m done with you, you won’t be able to sit right for a week!” he shouted as he slapped Chrysalis’s ass.

She let out another loud moan as he inserted a finger into her anus.

“Since you’ve given one route such a thorough workout, I want you to give the other route the same courtesy!” she said. “Mmfpgh! Attack my ass! Fuck me like I’m your bitch!” she wailed. “I’m not just some Las Pegasus whore! I’m YOUR whore!”

Chrysalis’s vulgarity shocked Spike, but he mercilessly pounded away at her, and she was screaming, begging and pleading.

“Harder, faster, deeper... Ung! Oooh! More! Yes! More!! Oooh, Spike! OOOH!! I can’t take it! I can’t take it anymore! I’m gonna... I’m gonna... gonna... gonna... AAAHH!”

Spike finally released, filling Chrysalis to the brim, and the overflow tricked down from her anus and into her totally drenched pussy.

“Mmmmmnh... Oooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhh yesssssss...” she drug out.

But Spike was far from done. Finally, it was Ran Shine’s turn. Her amaranth eyes glowed softly, the command in them was impossible to deny.

She wrapped her arms around him, drawing him gently to her. She lowered her face to his and she kissed him, her lips opening over his with a fierce directness that aroused him again almost instantly. The kiss was full and warm. There was a delicacy, and yet a passionate intensity to it—beautifully controlled and modulated; her tongue probed deeply. For a second, as she pulled gently back, her teeth tugged gently on his lower lip. Then she rested her cheek against the hair on his chest. She seemed to take an impish delight in moving her cheek back and forth over it. She could do that all night.

As she began to ride him, he was caught up in the eager lust of this elegant creature. Then Celestia and Chrysalis joined her! Chrysalis squatted over Spike’s mouth while Celestia positioned herself between Chrysalis and Rain Shine.

“It’s like I’m fucking three giant latex pillows!” Spike thought happily.

When they were done, the women panted with looks of joy on their faces.

“That was f-fantastic...” Rain Shine slurred.

Spike struggled to sit up, but couldn’t find the strength. He turned his head up to look at Celestia like he had as a boy, and gave her a smile.

“Tell me the story,” he said.

“What?” she asked tiredly.

“The story, about Mom and Dad,”

Celestia smiled back.

“Once upon a time, a brave knight married a beautiful princess who wanted a son...” she began. “Well, on fifth day of a golden summer, the knight and his bride were strolling through the woods when they came across a small purple egg. And out of the egg hatched the handsomest little prince they had ever seen. They raised him as their son, and for years they were happy. Unfortunately, the noble knight and his beautiful bride passed away, leaving their little prince in the care of the mighty Dragon Lord. Until one day, when another princess...”

“Who was just as beautiful as the prince’s mother,” Spike said.

Celestia blushed. “... paid a visit to the Dragon Lord. This princess also wanted a child, but sadly, she couldn’t have any children of her own. The Dragon Lord took pity on the young princess and gave the prince to her,” she went on.

“And the princess and the little prince were happy,”

“So the princess took you home with her and every night at bedtime, she would tuck you in and say: ‘Who’s the luckiest, kindest, handsomest prince?’ And you would say...”

“‘I am,’”

“And she would ask, ‘How did you ever get so lucky and handsome?’ And you’d say...”

“‘I was born that way,’”

“Then she would ask, ‘How did you ever get to be so kind?’ And you would say...”

“‘I had a good teacher,’”

Celestia blushed even harder. “And she would say, ‘Tell me your name, little prince.’ And you would say...”

“‘Prince August Comte Louis Francis Maurice Frederick Beauregard Drake. But you can call me Spike,’”

“And she would say, ‘Can I call you Spikey-Wikey?’ And you would say...”

“‘No, just Spike,” he stated. “Unless we’re dating, then you may call me Spikey-Wikey.’”

“And we would laugh and laugh and laugh. And I would tickle you...” Celestia tickled Spike until he giggled. “... and you would laugh too. And you would fall asleep with a great big smile on your face... and an even bigger smile in your heart.”

“I love that story,” Spike said as he closed his eyes.

Celestia kissed Spike on the lips. “Good night my handsome prince,” she said as she stroked his hair and kissed him again on the forehead. “Sweet dreams.”

Her arms wrapped tightly around Spike. Her chin rested on his forehead, and she stroked his hair. The rest of the women smiled with tears in their eyes as they all curled around Spike while Celestia sang him a lullaby.

As sleep overtook them, Spike thought that no matter what happened, he would always belong in this very special woman’s arms... and in her heart... and she would never let him go.

Spike awoke the next morning to find himself back in his own bed, in his own suite. He swore that he had fallen asleep in Stellar Flare’s bed, in her suite, where he had been the heart and soul of probably the greatest one-man-nineteen-women orgy in the history of orgies.

“The girls must have brought me back here,” he thought.

His suspicions were confirmed when he saw all nineteen of the women he had pleasured the night before, all curled up in his bed... including Celestia.

Dear Celestia, so soft, so warm, so molten when the early morning Sun leaked through the drawn blinds to paint streaks across the bed, across her tumultuous body. So dear that even now he could not think of her without feeling the aching need for her.

Spike smiled as he carefully got up and walked into the bathroom.

He took a quick shower, so as not to wake them, and brushed his teeth. He was admiring himself in the mirror, his chiseled torso on full display, still dripping wet from the shower, a towel hanging around his waist, the lights reflecting off his gorgeous skin, when the door suddenly opened and Starlight Glimmer strode in...

As Starlight stepped back, her cheeks burning, she made the mistake of looking down. Another wave of horror and odd fascination washed over her as she realized Spike wasn’t wearing pants.

“Oh, my Faust, sorry!” she exclaimed. “I’m sorry! I’m really sorry!”

“Starlight, what are you doing here?” Spike asked.

Starlight couldn’t help but wonder the same question.

“What am I doing here?” she asked.

“Turn away!” she yelled at herself in thought.

She fought the temptation to peek, but she couldn’t help but look at Spike again, her eyes glued on the stunning body a mere yard away.

“Damn,” Spike thought. “I’m standing here in a towel and watching a poor girl flush with embarrassment.”

That’s when he realized that the towel was no longer around his waist, but at his feet. And he didn’t care.

He didn’t care that he was naked and without a towel -- in any case, he made no attempt to cover himself up. He just stood there clothed in nothing but a confident smile, making no move to hide his body.

Starlight gulped and tried not to stare at him, especially his crotch, but her eyes still strayed to his cock.

“Faust, he’s so big!” she thought.

She finally pulled the door shut... only to find the other 19 women staring at her (or rather, they’d been staring at the same thing she had been).

Spike reemerged from the bathroom and he and his women dressed in his shirts – the ones that the Shadowbolt Five had turned pink during the prank war – and started parodying the iconic dance scene from Risky Business, complete with most of the girls on guitars, Pinkie on drums, and Spike mouthing the words to Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock and Roll!” into his hairbrush.

Spike slid in first, followed close behind by Applejack and Sunset Shimmer, then by Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, who were followed by Rainbow Dash and Rarity, and they were followed by Trixie, Starlight, Moon Dancer and Coco, then by Celestia and Chrysalis, Rain Shine and Stellar Flare, and finally Fleur, Sassy, Tempest and the Dazzlings.

Later at afternoon, Spike met up with Fancy Pants in the Midnight Lounge.

“Good morning,” he said happily. “What a beautiful day!”

“So, I take it you had a nice evening,” Fancy assumed.

“What you’re looking at is a man who managed to pick up not one, not two, or three, or four, or even five honeys last night!” Spike told them. “Nineteen.”

Fancy sputtered into his drink.

“Nineteen? The man’s got a harem!”

“I assume that included Miss Soleil?” he chuckled heartily.

“You were right, Fancy. There is literally no one like her! I think she may be the one. She’s smart, she’s kind, she’s funny... be-a-u-tiful!”

Speaking of Celestia, she entered the Lounge shortly after and pulled Spike aside, to a secluded booth in the back. She looked worried. Neither had expected as much happiness and joy as they had since they came back to Las Pegasus. Spike could tell that she was thinking about his parents. That this woman, his mother’s best friend, who took him in after his own mother died, fed him the milk of her breasts, took care of him, and raised him, could be who he was meant for.

She deserved to be happy!

“Don’t tell me you have regrets about last night,” he began.

“No, Spike, it’s not that, I just keep wondering where I went wrong,”

“Mom--Celestia,” Spike quickly corrected himself, “you didn’t do anything wrong. I’ll admit I was a little bothered because you’re the one who adopted me, but you have given me more happiness than I could ever repay. You were so sweet and kind and patient with me, and every time you would tell me the story about Mom and Dad, it helped me more than you could ever know. If it weren’t for you, I don’t know what would have happened to me... And I love you even more because of it.”

“And I love you,” she replied. “But I’ve been thinking about our relationship and how everything has changed. I feel guilty... and I feel selfish. I’ve never been with anyone, even since before your mother and father died. And when that happened it was like a part of my heart went with them. Then you... Even though you were so young, you seemed to have a maturity about you. I knew you were going to grow up to be a fine young man, just like your dad. In fact, as I watched you grow you started to look like him more and more each year. By the time I shook your hand and gave you your diploma, I swore I was looking at him instead of you. I used to look at you and compare you to the pictures of him, Barbara and me when we were in college. You look so much like him... I loved your father and that’s--I think that’s why I fell in love with you. But I knew he and Barb were soul mates, they were meant to be together.”

Celestia started to cry.

“I feel so ashamed of myself,” she went on. “What was I thinking?”

“You love me, and I love you,” Spike said. “If you deny your feelings for me, then yes, you are being selfish. But if you accept those feelings, and mine, I really don’t see a problem. You do love me, don’t you?”

“Of course I do,”

“And I love you. And it doesn’t bother me anymore that you raised me,” he said. “Did you mean what you said last night, about calling you by your name and not ‘Mother’?” he asked.

“I don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea... at least in public,”

“Then how should I treat you?”

“How about you treat me as your girlfriend,”

He hesitated only a moment. “Okay.”

And that settled it. She was no longer his mother, but his M.I.L.F. girlfriend.

“How the Tartarus did that happen?” he thought.

As they left the Lounge, they both felt much better... until they crossed paths with Twilight and she started to tease him.

“Aren’t you a little old to be holding hands with your mommy?” she asked.

Spike gazed at her, trying to keep the love and admiration from ruining her attempt at displeasure, and failing.

“Shut up!” he snapped. “Is it so bad that she and I have become...”

“Closer,” he and Celestia said together.

They smiled as they brushed each other’s cheeks with their lips. Then they walked to the door to see Rain Shine off.

“Thank you for a wonderful night, Spike,” Rain Shine told him.

As her limo drove away, Spike couldn’t help but sigh.

“I’ve fallen for that big, beautiful woman... But you’re still my favorite,” he said softly, sincerely.

And he kissed Celestia’s cheek again.

Later that night, back in his suite, Spike confronted his harem.

“This kind of relationship dynamic is one I have to navigate clearly and fairly,” he told them.

“What are you saying?” Sunset asked.

“I’m saying that for an arrangement like this to work, I have to divide my affections evenly among you so nobody feels neglected or left out... even if I can create as many clones of myself as I want,” he explained. “Which means, sometimes one of you is going me to herself, other times others will. Does that sound fair to everyone?”

“O-Oh yes, of course!” Fluttershy agreed.

“That also means that you will all have to share me,” he added. “Am I understood?”

All nineteen women nodded in agreement.

“Good,” he stated.

And then they were at it again. As he made love to them, his affections made them more eager. The more worked up they got, the more ambitious they became. Eventually he was working them into a frenzy!

“Really, Spike?” Dash asked. “How can you have any fluid left in you?”

By nightfall, Spike walked to the bar in his suite and poured himself a drink. He reached for the bottle of Scotch, emptied six ounces into a glass and swallowed it in three gulps.

After six rounds with Celestia, so closely timed they could have been called one long round with brief intermissions, he needed it. Not for reasons of alcoholic libido or stamina; Spike Drake never needed artificial means of summoning either.

Spike felt his beloved’s arms wrap around him again and he smiled.

“So, what do you say -- what happened in Las Pegasus stays in Las Pegasus?” Celestia asked.

“Deal,” Spike said. “Wait. You mean everything everything?”

“We’ll see,” she smiled sweetly.

They returned to his bedroom and he lay down beside her. His arms did not come around her until she nudged her buttocks against him and sighed softly. Then he held her, warm and secure against him, his hips to her derrière, his hand resting upon and below her breast, and for that she was glad.

Author's Note

Next time: Spike’s odds are stacked against him when he faces off against Filthy Rich in the Las Pegasus Poker Tournament... but Diamond Tiara becomes the key to the final outcome of the game.

The Game Is Poker

Celestia was the happiest she had ever been in her life. In the night, she felt a great comfort when Spike’s arms came around her. And in the morning she was awakened by the soft pressure of his hands caressing her breasts. Then she gasped, startled with pleasure as they moved over her buttocks. She had been barely awake, and it all had the magical quality of a dream, yet he was real, very real, and the sensation that erupted over her was the same. After she and Spike crossed that line, they continued to see each other in private. But what they didn’t realize was that there were eyes that saw through their deception. And those eyes belonged to Twilight Sparkle.

“What’s going on?” she asked Celestia one morning.

“What do you mean ‘what’s going on?’” Celestia replied.

“Is there... something going on between you and Spike?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I mean like a physical relationship,”

“Twilight, Spike and I are mother and son!” Celestia shouted.

“You two are related, but not by blood,” Twilight said. “Does that change the way you look at each other? This all stinks of something indecent.”

“How dare you!” Celestia yelled. “If you don’t take that back, I’ll never forgive you!”

“I’m sorry,” Twilight replied. “I guess I was mistaken.”

Celestia told Spike about the altercation later that morning.

“You didn’t tell her?” she asked him.

“Of course I didn’t! Why would I?”

“Damn you, Twilight!” he cursed in thought.

“What are we going to do if anyone else finds out?” Celestia asked.

“You don’t have to do anything,” Spike assured her, “because none of the other girls are going to share what happened.”

“How can you be so sure of that?”

Spike couldn’t answer. But he knew how distraught Celestia was, and he confronted Twilight about it.

“Because you said those horrible things to her, my mother’s been really upset!” he told her.

“You two look and act like a couple regardless of whatever you both say!”

“She and I are mother and son! What the Tartarus is wrong with you?”

“You’re a pair of horny, non-blood related adults!”

“That’s enough!”

“And there’s really nothing going on between the two of you?”

“For the last time, no!” he yelled.

Later that afternoon, the Flimflam Brothers’ staff furiously busied themselves with preparing the casino—especially the High Rollers’ Lounge—for the high-stakes Las Pegasus Poker Tournament that would take place later that night: ten players, ten billion dollar buy-in, five billion re-buy, winner takes all, potentially $150 billion.

Spike returned to his suite, which showed no signs of trespass; threw off his clothes, took a long hot bath followed by an ice-cold shower, and lay down on his bed. There he rested for an hour, composing his thoughts before he met up with Rarity and Chrysalis. An hour to examine the details of his plans for the game, and for after, in all the various circumstances of victory or defeat. He was determined to be completely relaxed for a gambling session that would last most of the night. He ordered a massage from Aloe and Lotus Blossom for three o’clock. After finishing his room service lunch, he stood on his balcony gazing out over the desert until there was a knock at his door and the two masseuses presented themselves. Silently they got to work on Spike from his feet to his neck, melting the tensions in his body and calming his nerves, and when they had gone Spike fell into a dreamless sleep. At 8:40 P.M., he rose and returned to the balcony.

As he stood there on that hot summer night, Spike remembered that he had always been a gambler. He loved the dry riffle of the cards and the constant drama of the quiet figures around the green tables. He liked the solid, studied comfort of the well-padded armchairs, the glass of Champagne or whisky at the elbow, the unhurried attention of good servants. He was amused by the impartiality of the Roulette ball and of the playing cards – and their eternal bias. He liked being an actor and a spectator and from his chair to take part in other’s dramas and decisions, until it came to his own turn to say that vital “yes” or “no”, generally on a fifty-fifty chance.

Above all, he liked it that everything was one’s own fault. There was only oneself to praise or blame. Luck was a servant and not a master. Luck had to be accepted with a shrug or taken advantage of. But it had to be understood and recognized for what it was and not confused with a faulty appreciation of the odds, because at gambling, the deadliest sin was to make a bad play for bad luck. And luck, in all its moods, had to be loved and not feared. Spike saw luck as a woman to be softly wooed or brutally ravaged, never pandered to or pursued.

And Poker was little more than a con game: one player holding a strong hand and trying to pull other players into the pot. Since smart players should pull out from a pot if they knew their opponent was strong, and a player holding an unbeatable hand had to look like they weren’t. A player who was bluffing tried to scare everyone out of the pot via lying. A player with a strong hand could try to look like they were pulling a con (bluffing) while really hoping that the other players called their bluff. If that player knew of tells, they could purposefully try to act like a player with “normal” tells to look like they were bluffing. It worked best against the half-smart. Really good players would have it figured out, and poker players knew that pretending to bluff another smart player was a waste of time.

In the end, Poker was no different than any other gambling game. The odds against the dealer and the players were more or less even. Only a run against either could be decisive and either break the bank or break the players.

“It’s not about luck, it’s a matter of probability and odds,” Spike thought. “You never really play your hand. You play the person sitting across from you.”

And Spike had become very good at reading people.

He knew from a trip downtown the other day that Filthy Rich had withdrawn at least twenty-five billion dollars from all the banks in the city for the Poker Tournament that night. Now, it was expected that Las Pegasus would see its highest gambling that summer.

With the help of palpable publicity, a considerable number of the biggest operators in and outside of Equestria had been encouraged to book at Flimflam Resort that summer and it seemed guaranteed that it would regain some of its renown. It was then that Filthy Rich would endeavor to make a profit of fifty billion dollars on a working capital of twenty-five billion. The risks were obvious and the possible loss to the Rich Family was high, but there was still a chance of success. Therefore, the girls recommended to Flim and Flam that the finest gambler on their payroll should be given the necessary funds to out-gamble Filthy.

Spike was going to attack Filthy Rich’s bank whenever he got the chance until either he busted Rich’s bank or Rich busted him. It would take some time, but in the end one of them was going to break the other, irrespective of the other players at the table, although they could make them richer or poorer along the way. But as Rarity and Chrysalis stood in his living room that night, they couldn’t help but wonder what Spike hoped to gain from all this.

“Spike, why would you do something like this?” Rarity asked.

“This is the most surefire way for me to get closer to Impossibly Rich,” he said. “If she is that well-connected, she knows who I am and where my money’s coming from, which means she’s decided to let Filthy play me anyway. So she’s either desperate or she’s overly confident, but either way, that tells me something about her. And all she gets in return is a name she already has.”

He motioned for Chrysalis to follow him into his bedroom, and he presented her with a little ensemble.

“Something you expect me to wear?” she asked.

“I need you to look fabulous. So that when you walk up behind me and kiss me on the neck, the players across from me will be thinking about your breasts and not their cards. Do you think you can do that for me?”

“I’ll do my best,” she replied.

As Spike opened his closet to choose his suit for the evening, he noticed one in particular, grabbed it, and showed it to Rarity.

“I already have a dinner jacket,” he said to her.

“There are dinner jackets and there are dinner jackets,” she replied. “This is the latter. And I, we, need you looking like a man who belongs at that table.”

“It’s tailored,” he stated.

“I sized you up the moment we met,” Rarity said. “The same way I made that tuxedo you wore in your game against Chrissy.”

Spike was amazed how Rarity had managed to accurately guess his sizes... and the vest was brand new. He would be decently attired for the remainder of the night. After Rarity and Chrysalis left, he pulled on a fresh pair of black socks, and after that a white T-shirt, thoroughly cleaned and pressed and fitting as slick and close as a second skin. Then he shrugged into a new, heavy, white silk evening shirt. As he tied his bow tie, he paused for a moment to examine his reflection in the mirror. His emerald-green eyes looked back with a hint of inquiry and the short lock of green hair which would never stay in place slowly subsided to form a thick comma above his right eyebrow. He pulled on his slacks, then he examined his derringer, carefully inspecting the tiny loop soldered to its butt and loaded it carefully. Clipping the silver watch chain to the butt of the gun, he placed the watch and derringer on the bedspread, pulled on his freshly polished black leather shoes, and stood up. His vest and tuxedo jacket were next, and into the left and right pockets of the vest went the watch and the derringer respectively, the bright silver chain gleaming as it draped between the pockets. Another moment and he was ready, a clean white linen handkerchief tucked into the breast pocket of his tuxedo jacket. Then he divided his money into equal pockets, putting half the sum into his right-hand coat pocket and the other half into the left.

He looked carefully around the room to see if anything had been forgotten and slipped his jacket over his vest. He felt cool and comfortable. He verified in the mirror that there was absolutely no sign of the gun inside his vest, gave a final nod, and walked out of the door and locked it.

Spike was glad to be on his own again, able to clear his mind of everything but the task at hand, as he walked through the lobby on his way to the casino, passing a pair of reporters in front of a camera crew.

“Hello, everyone, I’m Nosey News,”

“And I’m Inky Quill. We’re coming to you live from the Flimflam Brothers’ Resort, bringing you full coverage of the Las Pegasus High-Stakes Poker Tournament. It’s a winner-take-all game with potentially 150 billion dollars on the line tonight. In a few moments, we’ll meet the players,”

Spike was almost across the lobby when Flim and Flam stopped him on their way to their office, their eyes going cold at the sight of him.

“I doubt we need to tell you this,” Flim began, “but you can’t lose this one.”

“Our Resort’s future depends on you,” Flam added. “You have to win, no matter what happens!”

“I know,” Spike replied.

“One more thing,” Flam said.

“They’re all rooting for you,” said Flim.

Spike strolled slowly across the casino, between the thronged tables until he came to the top of the steps where the High Rollers’ Lounge—and the High Stakes Poker Tournament table—waited behind the doors.

He entered the Lounge and glanced around the room at the people he would be playing against: card sharks, thugs, royalty, and... a child? He knew all of them by sight... and most of them by name.

The first was Tirek Lord, a 45-year-old, 6’ 8”, well-dressed, muscle-bound former inmate of Tartarus Prison; apparently suffering from amnesia and paralysis of vocal chords. His muteness had succumbed to therapy, but he continued to claim almost total loss of memory except for his associations with three of the other players: Grogar, Cozy Glow and Sombra. He wore a black suit and his sunburned skin was so red that he looked the way a lobster does after it’s cooked.

Grogar was a distinguished but weak-looking man who looked like he hadn’t had a good laugh in a long time. He was tall, with a thin, bony frame and his lightweight blue suit hung loosely from his shoulders. His movements and speech were slow, but one had the feeling that there was plenty of speed and strength in him that he would be a tough and cruel fighter. As he sat hunched over the table, he seemed to have some of the quality of a mountain goat or a big horned sheep.

Sombra King was a well-known, wealthy tyrant of about 35, with crystal interests in the Frozen North. He was also well-dressed, in a dark, double-breasted, sharkskin gray suit. His green eyes had a feline slant which was increased by the sharpness of his chin and cheek-bones, a sea of oily-black hair, and his wry smile. He would play coldly and well and would be a stayer.

Then there was Cozy Glow, a scarlet-eyed, curly-haired girl who grew up into a life of ease. Her parents were dead and she was wealthy; so wealthy she could have anything she wanted. She was a chess prodigy, Spike guessed from the red rook that was tattooed on the back of her left hand. Despite being only 21 (and looking just barely legal), she had a business-like look about her, and was talking rather cheerfully to Tirek as if they were very good friends. Spike also guessed that she would probably play foolishly and be amongst the early casualties. She might even throw a tantrum and make a scene.

There was Haakim, the handsome and regal delegate from Saddle Arabia whose wealth he shared with his beautiful wife Amira. Spike already knew that they were courageous gamblers; even the Kirin people were inclined to lose heart if the going was bad. But Haakim and Amira would probably stay late in the game and stand some heavy losses if they were gradual.

Filthy Rich, who had his family’s fortune behind him; Wind Rider, a grey-haired, dishonorably discharged former Wonderbolt whose glory days were long behind him; and finally Chestnut Magnifico, the famous movie actress with alimony from three ex-husbands to burn. With her sanguine temperament she would play gaily, with panache, and might run into a vein of luck.

Spike had just finished his sketchy summing-up of the players when Discord stepped up to the table to lay down the rules of the game.

“Welcome, ladies and gentlemen,” he began. “As you know, the game is no-limit hold ‘em poker: five communal cards, two in the hole. You have each deposited $10 billion buy-in. A further buy-in of $5 billion can be made by electronic transfer. The money will remain is escrow until the end, and the entire sum will be wired to any bank account in the world you nominate. The last man, or woman, standing wins.”

He stepped down, allowing Rainbow Dash to step up, but not before offering her a bucket.

“Something tells me you might need this,” he whispered to her.

With a roll of the eyes, Dash, dressed in a black vest and pants, took the bucket, and placed it under the table by her chair.

“I will be your dealer,” she said to the players, “as a personal request from the owners themselves. Please be seated.”

Each chair was numbered from the right of the dealer. They began to take their seats, each with a brief nod to the players on their right and left. Sombra took out his wide gunmetal cigarette case and his black lighter and placed them on the green baize at his right elbow. Pinkie Pie wiped a thick glass ashtray with a cloth and put it beside him.

Impossibly Rich sat at the far edge of the Lounge, close to the bar, with her daughter-in-law, Spoiled Rich, and Flim and Flam’s secretary, Moon Dancer.

“Where are Flim and Flam?” she asked.

“I’m afraid they both have weak stomachs,” Moon Dancer answered. “They send their regrets.”

“Weak stomachs?” Spoiled Rich echoed. “That’s it?”

“You’re more than welcome to come with me and see for yourself if you don’t believe,” Moon Dancer replied.

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Spoiled Rich snapped. “How disgusting!”

Discord hung off to the side, close behind Rainbow Dash and mumbled, “Let the game begin.”

The table filled up and Rainbow Dash cut the thick slab of cards. She spread them face down, then stirred and mixed them slowly in a croupiers’ shuffle, the one most effective and least susceptible to cheating. Then she fitted the deck with one swift exact motion into the shoe. She gave it a short, deliberate slap to settle the cards. Then she started slipping cards to the players.

Spike was very unhappy that Cozy Glow was sitting right of him, but he was glad that Dash was to his left.

“High card for dealer position,” she said. “Wind Rider, Haakim is the small blind, five thousand dollars, and Mr. Grogar, the big blind, ten thousand dollars.”

And with that, the long game was launched... as was a sequence of gestures and the reiteration of subdued litany that would continue until the end came and the players dispersed.

“Four players,” Rainbow Dash said as she showed the first three communal cards: a Five, an Eight and a Nine, all Hearts.

Grogar and Tirek both checked, Filthy Rich bet fifty thousand dollars, and Spike called his bet. Grogar and Tirek both folded and Dash showed the fourth communal card: the Nine of Clubs. Then Filthy Rich bet $100,000.

That’s when Spike heard Chrysalis come up behind him. She entered so that everyone could clearly see her. Her dress was of black velvet, simple and yet with a touch of splendor that only half a dozen women in the world could achieve; lasciviously tight across her hips, and her cerulean hair rested low on the nape of her neck, framing her face along the beautiful line of her jaw. She carried a black purse; there was a thin necklace of diamonds at her throat and a topaz clip in the low vee which exposed the jutting swell of her breasts. Her skin was lightly suntanned and bore no trace of make-up except very black lipstick, and her movements were precise with no trace of self-consciousness.

She looked superb and Spike’s heart lifted.

“Good luck, my love,” she whispered.

She kissed his neck before leaving to join Soarin, Zephyr Breeze, Sunburst, Feather Bangs, Fancy Pants, Thorax, Pharynx, Celestia, Stellar Flare, Fleur, Zecora, Tempest Shadow and the rest of Spike’s harem, and Spike watched the heads of the other players turn to look at her in her wake.

Spike called and Rainbow Dash showed the fifth communal card: the Two of Hearts. Filthy Rich bet $200,000 and Spike called again.

“Mr. Rich, you have been called,” Dash said, “showdown, please.”

Filthy Rich showed a pair of twos, Spades and Clubs.

“Full house to Mr. Rich, deuces full of nines,” Rainbow Dash said as she spaded the thick chips over the table to him after Spike folded and asked Discord to send Soarin over.

“Mix one ounce of Alize Red Passion with half an ounce of Strawberry Liquer, another half ounce of Chambord, fill with half Red Bull, half Pink Lemonade, and then garnish it with a red Twizzler,” Spike told him.

“Yes, sir,” Soarin said.

A curious flicker passed over Grogar’s face.

“You know, I’ll have one of those,” he said.

Tirek added, “So will I.”

“Certainly,” Soarin replied with a nod.

“Hey, friend, bring me one as well,” Sombra said. “But make mine with black licorice.”

“That’s it?” Cozy Glow asked. “Anyone want to play Poker now?”

“What, are you in a hurry to lose?” Sombra replied as Spike excused himself and walked over to the bar.

“Well done,” he whispered to Chrysalis when he got there. “It was worth it to discover Rich’s tell.”

“What?” she asked.

“That ear wiggle he has to hide when he bluffs,” Spike said.

“He got the best hand,” she replied.

“Which he got on the last card,” Spike told her. “The odds against him were 23-to-1, and he’d know that. When he did his first raise he had nothing. Winning was blind luck.”

Soarin finished mixing Spike’s drink and placed it on the bar. Spike reached for it and took a long sip.

“Wow! That’s actually not half bad,” he said to Soarin.

Spike returned to the table and the game continued.

“Maybe he can actually pull this off,” Tempest whispered.

The scent of smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at one o’clock in the morning. Then the soul-erosion produced by high gambling – a compost of greed and fear and nervous tension – becomes unbearable and the senses awake and revolt from it.

Spike Drake suddenly knew that he was tired.

The other players sensed the tension between him and Filthy Rich and there was silence as Rainbow Dash fingered Rich’s cards out of the shoe before she slipped Spike’s two cards across to him with the tips of her fingers. Dash was showing the Queen of Spades, Four of Spades, Seven of Clubs, Eight of Clubs, and the Nine of Diamonds when Spike shoveled a pile of chips into the center of the table without counting them. The gesture conveyed that he didn’t expect to lose and that this was only a token display from the deep funds at his disposal. Spike, his eyes still on Filthy Rich’s, reached his right hand out a few inches, glanced down very swiftly, and as he looked up again impassively at Rich, he disdainful tossed the cards face upwards on the table: the Queen of Diamonds and the Queen of Clubs—Three of a Kind.

There was a little gasp of envy from the rest of the table and the players exchanged rueful glances at their failure to accept Spike’s two million dollar bet. With a hint of a shrug, Filthy Rich slowly faced his own two cards and flicked them away with his fingernail. They were the Queen of Hearts and the Ace of Diamonds—just enough for a Pair. Spike slipped his winnings into his pile with the rest of his chips. His face showed no trace of emotion, but he was pleased with his success and the outcome of the silent clash of wills across the table.

Amira turned to Spike with a smile.

“I shouldn’t have let it go to you,” she said.

“It’s only the beginning,” he replied. “You may be right the next time.”

Haakim leant forward from the other side of his wife. “If one could be right every hand, none of us would be here,” he said philosophically.

Sombra opened his case and took out a cigarette. He snapped open the tiny jaws of his lighter and lit the cigarette before putting the lighter back on the table. He took a deep lungful of smoke and expelled it between his teeth with a faint hiss. Grogar played like an automaton, never speaking. Outside the pool of silence around the table, there was the constant hum of the spectators and their occasional gasps of excitement.

After playing for four over hours, the players took a one hour break.

It was ten minutes after three A.M. when the whole pattern of play suddenly altered. Your luck can defeat the first few tests, but then one comes along that spells disaster. Spike had no idea what Filthy Rich had left; he guessed no more than twenty billion. In fact, Filthy had been losing heavily all that night. At the moment, he had little more than ten billion left. Spike, on the other hand, by three o’clock in the morning, had won over half a billion, putting his game resources over twenty-five billion five hundred million. He was cautiously pleased.

Wind Rider was having a bad time. He had lost over four million on his first two hands. He’d passed the third game, as did Cozy Glow and Chestnut Magnifico. Haakim and Amira looked at each other and Spike’s mouth felt dry as he locked eyes with Filthy Rich again. And again he gave only a cursory look at his two cards. Sombra bet three hundred million, and Spike and Filthy Rich both called. Rainbow Dash’s hand showed two Kings (Diamonds and Spades), two Jacks (Hearts and Diamonds), and the Ace of Clubs.

Sombra checked and Spike bet five hundred million.

“It’s up to you, Mr. Rich,” Dash said.

Filthy Rich raised the pot with one billion.

“Seems someone knows something I don’t,” Sombra thought as he folded.

“It’s up to you,” Dash told Spike.

Spike re-raised with two billion, and then Filthy Rich went all in with $14.5 billion. Spike would have to go all in to call Filthy Rich’s bluff—assuming Rich was bluffing. The odds were on Spike’s side.

He called and showed his cards: the King and Ace of Hearts.

“Full house, Kings and Aces,” Dash said.

Filthy Rich faced his own two cards. He had the other two Jacks (Clubs and Spades). The High Rollers’ Lounge went absolutely silent.

“Four Jacks, Mr. Rich wins,” Dash said.

Filthy Rich smiled.

Spike looked into the eyes of light azure. They held an ironical question.

“I’m disappointed, Spike,” they said. “Is that the best you can do?”

Suddenly, Spike felt the sweat on his palms. Like snow in sunshine his capital had melted. He had lost. He was beaten.

“Seriously?” Chrysalis asked. “How could Spike have lost?”

“It’s because of Rich’s Roll Ruler,” Feather Bangs explained. “He’s using it to control the game.”

“I see victory is all but guaranteed,” Impossibly Rich murmured to herself. “How deliciously brutal... When my son wins, all those Gates will be mine.”

Spike sat silent, frozen with defeat. He looked around the room and up at the spectators. Many were looking at him, waiting to see what he would do next.

“What now?” he thought.

Spike rose and vanished, back to his suite and bed, avoiding the commiserating gazes of Celestia and everyone else, not wishing to look at any of them. Fluttershy was the only one who went after him.

“Is he all right?” Celestia asked her when she returned.

“He’s resting,” Fluttershy said. “He looked tired.”

“He must be,” Discord replied. “The intense psychological stress of constant gambling can shave years off your lifespan. I know. I’ve seen it happen.”

They knew how selfless Spike was. He put himself second for the happiness of those around him. Even though he was suffering, he didn’t want to make them worry. He would keep on fighting without a single complaint if it meant keeping his friends safe... or to protect Flim and Flam’s resort... until the very end.

Spike lay on his bed in his new dinner jacket and for a moment there was the impulse to put his head down in his pillows and bawl like a damn kid. He was tired. He’d taken on too much, even for Spike Drake, and here it was a few hours away from the big deal, the one that was going to fix everything or break him, one or the other, and the son of the slut he hated had fouled it all up.

Spike raised his head and sneered at himself.

“So curl up and cry,” he thought.

The tears flowed from the corners of his eyes, down his cheeks, making them glisten. He went to the dresser, pulled open a drawer, and hauled out an unopened bottle of Scotch. Only drunks drank straight shots, alone, just for the bang the liquor gave them, but he had to have something now. His nerves, the nerves he used to believe were something only good girls could have, were jumping and yelling. They had been itchy ever since he had gotten out of the casino. A good shot of Scotch would quiet them down. It wasn’t often a man could legitimately take a straight slug of liquor, all by himself, but this was the one time.

He put down the bottle and braced himself against the dresser, his hands splayed, pressing hard against the surface. He looked at his traitorous fingers as they quivered in spite of all the pressure he exerted trying to keep them still. Then he raised his head and looked at himself in the mirror.

There he was, the great Spike Drake. Not a hair out of place, teeth white and even, and all the rest of him was right, nothing cheap, the way he’d dreamed of having it when he was a kid, all those years ago.

And now here he was, shaking like a kid in front of the principal.

“Get a hold of yourself,” he told his reflection. “This is for you, Drake, nobody else.”

He raised his hands from the dresser top and smiled at his reflection when he saw they were steady again. Slowly, he picked up the bottle of Scotch and returned it to the drawer he had wrenched it from: other guys might need liquor to carry them but not Spike Drake.

He straightened his black bowtie and bent his head to smooth his hair. His wrist watch showed him it was almost four A.M. Plenty of time. He could take off his jacket and lie down for a while if he wanted to, or call room service and get them to send up a sandwich.

Suddenly, there was a knock at his door and Spike tensed, then relaxed. It was probably just one of the girls, coming to check on him.

He crossed to the door, pulled it open and stood there and looked at...

“Diamond Tiara?”

She wore a pale magenta dress, her little shoes had rounded toes, not the stylish spikes that everybody else in Las Pegasus had on that night, and her hands trembled slightly as she clutched her purse to her.

He reached around her to close the door.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“You’re not buying back in?” she replied.

“No,” he said simply.

Diamond Tiara moved closer to Spike.

“Listen, the others are bleeding chips,” she said. “They’re not going to last much longer against my Father. But you--you have him right where you want him, you have a chance. I’ll stake you. I will give you the money you need to keep going, at zero interest.”

“Why? What would you gain from that?”

“You helped me see the light when I lost to you,” she told him as she reached into her purse and took out a squat envelope as thick as a book. “There’s twenty billion in chips inside. I know it’s not much, but I could never give you enough to repay you in the way that you repaid me. Twenty billion is nothing to me. Please take it.”

Spike’s heart thumped as he looked long and hard at the young woman in front of him. There was steel in her eyes now, and beneath her youthful appearance, Spike glimpsed a strength and power that wasn’t there before. He took the heavy envelope and slit it open with his thumbnail. Unbelieving and yet knowing it was true, he saw the chips. Diamond Tiara wrapped her arms around Spike and pulled him close. That’s when Spike understood: no longer wanting to be under her mother and grandmother’s control, she was willing to bankroll him $20 billion... even after he went all-in and lost on the previous hand.

“I can’t believe you’d be so kind,” he said. “Even after that, you still have faith to gamble on me.”

“I’ve come to understand you, Spike,” Diamond Tiara told him before she left. “I see why they, the girls, even Indigo Zap, believe in you the way that they do. They believe that this will not break you.”

Spike slipped the chips into his pockets, along with a few chips from his own stash, and his four Gate Cards, and returned to the casino. This was a reprieve, but only a reprieve. There could be no more miracles. This time he had to win – if Filthy Rich had not already made his profit – if he was going to go on!

Rainbow Dash had just completed her task of making a pile of the giant stake in the middle of the table when Spike returned. One by one, Haakim, Amira, Chestnut Magnifico, Wind Rider, Sombra and Cozy Glow had all lost or folded until it was just Spike, Grogar, Tirek and Filthy Rich.

It was five o’clock in the morning when Discord said, “Gentlemen, with this chip exchange, we enter the final phase of the game, which means no more buy-ins. The big blind is now one billion dollars.”

Spike’s cards were waiting for him in the shoe. They must not fail him. His only hope would be to stomp on Filthy Rich now. Not to just bet the last of his money, but to go the whole hog and wager his Gate cards. That would really jolt Filthy. Spike felt his heart lift again at the prospect of what was to come.

“Four players,” Dash said as Spike’s two cards slithered toward him across the green sea.

Like an octopus under a rock, Filthy Rich watched him from the other side of the table. Spike fanned the two cards under the curtain of his hand. Now he was really faced with the moment of truth.

Rainbow Dash showed the Ace of Hearts, the Eight of Spades, the Six of Spades, the Four of Spades, and the Ace of Spades.

“All in,” Grogar said. “Six billion.”

Tirek also went all in, with his last five billion; and Filthy Rich raised the bet with twelve billion. Then Spike went all in with forty billion, five hundred million... and his four Gates: the Three, the Four, the Seven, and the Jack.

There was an excited buzz around the table. The word ran through the entire casino. People crowded in and a silence built itself up around the four players.

Spike looked across at Filthy Rich. His eyes glittered back at Spike. His mouth was open and he was breathing hard. He called—with his own two Gates: the King and Queen—and the four men showed their hands.

Grogar had the King and Queen of Spades.

“Flush, Ace, king, queen,” Dash said.

Tirek grinned as he showed the Eight of Clubs and the Eight of Hearts.

“Full house, eights full of aces,” said Dash.

Spike was being backed into a corner. If he lost this, it would be all over.

Filthy Rich showed the Ace of Clubs and the Six of Hearts.

“A higher full house,” Dash said. “Aces full of sixes.”

Spike looked and saw his entire harem sitting with Diamond Tiara. Diamond Tiara grinned slightly, half of the women, including Chrysalis, looked faintly worried; while the other half, with Celestia, smiled encouragingly at him; and Spike smiled back at them.

Finally, he showed the Five of Spades and the Seven of Spades.

Everyone gasped, Rainbow Dash puked into the bucket Discord had given her at the start of the game, and Spike felt a moment of triumph at the next thing he saw: fear in Filthy Rich’s face.

“No way,” Stellar Flare breathed.

“Impossible!” Spoiled Rich added.

“A straight flush,” Rainbow Dash smiled after wiping her mouth with Spike’s handkerchief. “Four to the eight—the high hand. Mister Drake wins.”

Spike collected his winnings—in all it was easily over seventy billion dollars—and tipped Rainbow Dash a million.

“Thank you very much,” she said.

“No, thank you,” he replied.

“You had me sweating bullets, but I knew you’d come through in the end!” Discord grinned.

“He did it!” Chrysalis cried.

“Booyah!” Soarin, Sunburst, Thorax, Pharynx, Fancy Pants, Zephyr Breeze and Feather Bangs all shouted.

“How could that happen?” Impossibly Rich asked. “How can this be?”

“I don’t get it,” Tempest said. “Why go for something so risky?”

“Don’t know,” Spike replied. “I guess I just had a feeling.”

Not a single hand in that pot played incorrectly. A flush won four-way almost half the time; a full house won even more. They all played the odds correctly. What’s more, Spike knew he had the highest possible hand even if Filthy Rich had a bullet to fire with four of a kind, his straight beat that. Spike had won before the last communal card was put down.

“Then you mean the reason I lost was because I just ran out of luck?” Filthy Rich asked.

“That’s right,” Spike confirmed. “There’s nothing wrong with that. The absurdity of being helpless to do anything of your own will, that it means nothing—that, right there, is the very essence of gambling.”

Filthy watched his Gates go into the serried billions in the shadow of Spike’s arm, then he stood up slowly and without a word he brushed past the players to the break in the rail. The spectators opened a way for him, looking at him rather fearfully, as if he carried the smell of death on him. Then he, his daughter Diamond Tiara, his wife Spoiled Rich, and his mother Impossibly Rich all vanished from Spike’s sight.

Spike stood up as Grogar and Tirek vacated their seats, gave him short nods of respect, and Spike exchanged some pleasant words with Haakim and Amira, who congratulated him warmly on his victory, before ducking under the rail to where his harem was waiting for him.

He looked at Celestia and asked her quietly, “Shall we have a glass of Champagne before we go to bed?”

“I’d love to,” Celestia replied as she took his arm. “I’ll tidy up while you put your winnings away.”

They strolled through the casino and the lobby, thankful that both the walk and short elevator ride were uneventful. After the crowded arena of the High Rollers’ Lounge and the nervous strain of almost seven hours’ play, Spike was glad to be alone for a moment and be welcomed by the friendliness of his suite. After emptying his pockets of several billion dollars in chips, he went into the bathroom and splashed cold water over his face before gargling with a little cinnamon mouthwash.

The Champagne was the last thing on Spike’s mind when he saw his harem lying naked in his bed, looking back at him with hunger. He saw the fire and desire in their eyes as he took Celestia in his arms and bent her long body back under his. They all wanted his hot and handsome body. Five minutes later, they were together and he made love to each and every one of them under the moonlight.

Perks & Invitations

Spike sat in the Café one day, talking with Soarin and Zephyr Breeze. He had been telling them how he had awoken that morning from the best sex dream he’d ever had up to that point. Now he was cheerfully showing them some of the new scars given to him by his harem. First, he tugged his collar down to show them the front side of his left shoulder. It was crusted with a little dried blood.

“Last night in bed, Fluttershy bit me,” he told them.

Then he turned around and pulled up his shirt to show them a bruise on his lower back.

“From the gearshift knob of the Mustang, courtesy of Rainbow Dash,”

Finally, he removed his shirt to reveal a series of scratches all across the backs of both shoulders.

“Who--?” Soarin began.

“Guess,” Spike told them.

“Chrysalis!” Zephyr answered.

“Good, but no,” he replied.

“Stellar Flare?” Soarin ventured.

“Try again,”

“Don’t tell me it was--” Zephyr began.

“It was Tempest,” Spike smiled.

The guys couldn’t help but congratulate Spike on his many conquests as he put his shirt back on and Sugar Belle appeared with his meal: steak and fries, with thick slabs of bread and two streaming cups of hot chocolate. She placed the food on the table in front of him, and as Spike smelled the hot, buttered bread and the cocoa, his stomach growled in appreciation.

After that, he spent most of the afternoon in his suite... playing Strip Poker with Applejack, Sunset, Fluttershy, Pinkie and Rainbow Dash. Each woman came wearing no more than five articles of clothing (jewelry and accessories didn’t count), and Spike laid down the rules. In a typical game of Poker, each player was given five cards, face down, and would try to make the best five-card hand. After each switch, each of them would have the opportunity to call, raise or fold. After the first round of calls, raises, and folds were done, all cards would be revealed, and the best five card hand at the end of the round won. But in this case, the winner got to choose what article of clothing the loser(s) had to take off. And when someone ran out of clothes, they were out of the game and had to retire to the Jacuzzi in the master bathroom.

They all thought for a moment and said, “Deal!”

Well, all of them except Rainbow Dash.

“Spike, I am not playing Strip Poker with you!” she shouted.

“Why not,” he asked with a sinister grin on his face, “afraid you’ll lose?”

“No!” she lied.

Fluttershy wasn’t much of a card player, so she was taken a little aback when Spike flipped the cards out of the pack and did a bridge shuffle. Cards had never been something she was very good at, but she knew how much he loved it.

“Remember, always look confident,” Sunset told her. “Act like it means nothing, even if it means everything.”

Fluttershy nodded.

“All right,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “If Fluttershy’s in, then I’m in!”

“You sure you don’t want to hand over your clothes now?” Spike asked. “That way we don’t have to go through the formality of actually playing?”

“No, we’ll see who has the last garment at the end,” Fluttershy replied.

Spike dealt the cards and the girls all wiggled in discomfort as he did. Dash tried to keep a straight face; she already had a full house! Applejack had nothing, so she folded immediately. Sunset had a pair of aces, but she folded as well. And Pinkie had a pair of twos, but folded soon after Sunset did.

Fluttershy looked at her hand and desperately tried to hide a gasp. Spike and Dash put down their cards simultaneously; they both had a full house, but his was higher than hers. Fluttershy put her cards down and Spike’s eyes went wide for two seconds—she had a royal flush! Needless to say, he was shocked.

“Not bad... for a beginner,” he said.

Fluttershy gave him a smug smile and said, “Okay, take off your shirt.”

“Damn!” Applejack thought. “Why’d she have to go for the shirt?”

“Take it off,” Fluttershy stared at him, her cyan eyes looking into his warm emerald ones.

Without a word, Spike slowly started lifting his shirt above his head. He pulled it off, revealing a second, tighter shirt underneath. It may have been an undershirt, but it showed off his body perfectly, and the girls felt a quivering in their stomachs.

“My turn to deal,” said Sunset. “Cut,” she told Pinkie.

Pinkie cut the deck, folded immediately, and AJ and Sunset folded along with her and Fluttershy after trading in their cards. Rainbow Dash looked down at her hand, nervously biting on her bottom lip.

“Why did I agree to this?” she thought.

“Well?” Spike asked.

Dash looked up from her cards to meet Spike’s expectant gaze. His cards were spread out for her to see, an arrogant smirk playing on his face. He had the Jack of Spades, the Seven of Clubs, the King of Diamonds, the King of Hearts, and the King of Spades—Three of a Kind.

“Show me what ya got,” he told her.

Dash let out a sigh of defeat as she put her own cards down: the Two of Hearts, the Five of Spades, the Five of Diamonds, the Seven of Spades, and the Seven of Hearts—Two Pair.

“You win,” she said.

Spike’s smirk broke into a grin. “Take off your pants.”

“What are you, nuts?!” she shouted. “Fine,” she sighed again.

She stood up and began unbuttoning her pants.

“Why did I decide to wear my black lace combo?” she thought as she pushed her pants down her legs, revealing her panties.

Spike let out a wolf whistle when her pants dropped to her ankles.

“Nice legs,” he said.

“Shut up!” she snapped as she kicked her pants aside.

“It was a compliment,” he chuckled.

“Perv,” she scowled as she sat back down.

Her pants were gone, and round three began. Applejack dealt the cards this time and she and Pinkie folded while Sunset, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy stayed in. Dash shot Spike a dirty look, which only made his smile bigger.

“Pull yourself together!” she thought to herself. “You can’t lose this one! If you do, the shirt has to come off, and I’ll be damned if I let him leer at my boobs!”
Sunset revealed her hand first: a pair of Sevens with a King High. Fluttershy followed and turned over a Two Pair, Fours and Tens. Dash had a Full House. She hoped it was good enough to at least beat Spike. Spike snickered as he put down his cards: an Ace and Two Pair; Threes and Fours. As soon as Dash saw them, she couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

“Ha! I win!” she shouted, pumping her fists into the air, thankful that she wouldn’t have to show them her goods. However, she paused in her small victory dance as her attention was drawn to Spike, who was sitting across from her.

He removed his undershirt and Dash’s mouth dropped open and she flushed. She felt like she was on fire seeing Spike shirtless. She couldn’t say anything.

“Like what you see?” he asked her.

Dash snapped out of her daze and glared.

“And what’s that?” he asked.

“What’s what?” she snapped.

“There, on the corner of your mouth! Is that... drool?”

Dash quickly wiped her hand over her mouth, only to find nothing there. Spike burst out laughing.

“Not funny!” she shouted.

“Admit it! We all saw how you looked at him when he was taking his shirt off,” Pinkie told her. “It’s my deal.”

The game was starting to get serious. Fluttershy quickly peeked at her cards; she had Four Kings, so she wasn’t worried.

“Remember, always look confident,” Sunset had told her before the game started. “Act like it means nothing, even if it means everything.”

Dash flipped her cards over, revealing Three Queens—Three of a Kind.

It was good, but not good enough. Sunset flipped her cards, revealing two Jacks and two Tens.

“Two Pair,” she stated.

Spike shook his head as he revealed his hand.

“Four aces,” he said simply.

The girls’ jaws dropped.

“So, what’ll it be?” he thought out loud as his gaze shifted down to Dash’s pelvis before moving back up to look her in the eye. “The shirt... or maybe something else?”

Dash frowned.

“Take off your shirt,” he said finally.

Dash hesitated. Her hands shook as she slowly took it off. Spike was slightly surprised when he caught sight of her bra. He was even more surprised with what filled them. It was hard to make out with the loose T-shirts she usually wore (when she wasn’t in uniform). There it was: a black lace bra on full display for them all to see. The smirk on Spike’s face grew as he dealt for round five. It was becoming a real game of cat and mouse between him and Dash.

Spike revealed a two pair of Kings and Tens. Fluttershy had a straight flush in diamonds; three to the seven.

“What should I take off?” Spike asked her, still smirking.

“Your pants,” Fluttershy stated.

Everyone was surprised to hear her say it, but she didn’t care.

“Demanding, aren’t we?” Spike’s smile broadened.

“Off with the pants,” she repeated.

He stood up and dropped them, making sure they all got a good look before he sat back down, and the women felt a certain wetness between their legs. Seeing Spike in nothing but his boxers... They all looked away, hoping that their hormones would calm down. But they couldn’t get the image out of their heads.

“Do you want to continue?” he asked them impishly.

“Of course,” Sunset said, trying to maintain her composure.

Fluttershy dealt for round six and once again, AJ was the first to fold, followed by Pinkie. Dash had a two pair of fives and Queens. Sunset looked down at her cards and tried to hide her smile. She had the Ten of Diamonds, Three of Clubs, Three of Diamonds, Three of Hearts, and Three of Spades—Four of a Kind. She couldn’t believe her luck. She returned her gaze to Spike.

“Ready?” she asked him.

Spike nodded and the both of them put down their cards.

He had a straight flush! And he told her to take her top off, which concealed a lacy red bra underneath. Applejack dealt for round seven, and she, Dash, Sunset and Pinkie all folded.

“Alright, let’s see ‘em,” Spike said to Fluttershy.

She showed him a pair of Jacks. He had four of a kind: twos. After losing, Fluttershy reached behind herself, lifting the back of her shirt and Spike watched in confusion as she fiddled with whatever she was doing behind her back.

“If you’re taking off your shirt, you’re not doing it right,” he said.

“Who said anything about my shirt?” she replied.

She took her left hand and reached up through her right sleeve, grabbed the strap of her bra, and pulled her arm through. Then she did the same with her other arm. After a couple more seconds, Fluttershy pulled her bra out from underneath her shirt, a smirk on her face, holding it out in front of her before tossing it aside.

Immediately, Spike thought back to the scene from Flashprance where Jennifer Bales took off her bra in a similar fashion. His eyes followed the bra before turning back to Fluttershy with a large grin.

“You clever little tease!”

Rainbow Dash felt her throat suddenly clench up. She didn’t have anything else to take off except the big stuff this time. She was only left in her bra and panties, and she knew that if she lost this round, something was going to be exposed. She looked to Spike with a pleading face, but he just gave her a large, lustful smirk in return. How lucky was he to still have on his boxers? Of course, given what they had seen over the past several weeks, nobody could call it anything but luck.

“Your turn to deal,” Spike said to her.

Dash let out a shaky breath, trying to grasp the deck in her hands. She tried to keep her eyes from prying back to Spike’s every five seconds, instead trying to focus on shuffling the cards and concentrating on her own fingers. That’s when it really hit her! Spike had only one article of clothing on: his boxers!

The thought almost made her drop the deck.

“If I win this, Spike’s gonna have to take off his underwear!” she thought. “No, he wouldn’t... Ohhh, yes he would! That’s the whole point of the game!”

She dealt each of them a hand and round eight begin. Applejack stayed in with a pair of Jacks while Sunset folded. Dash had a pair of tens, as did Pinkie, and Fluttershy had a pair of Kings, but she folded.

Spike showed two Queens.

“Looks like you owe me your bra,” he said to Dash.

Her bra unclamped in the front. She quickly undid it and threw it aside.

Almost none of them had a good hand the next round.

“I’m out,” Applejack said as she put her cards down.

“Me too,” Pinkie pouted.

“Ditto,” Dash added.

“S-same,” Fluttershy stuttered.

“I’m in,” Sunset announced.

She laid down her cards: three Queens and two Fives, a full house. Spike shook his head as he laid his cards across from hers: four of a kind. Sunset’s jaw dropped. She couldn’t believe it.

“I’ll be taking that skirt,” he said wryly.

Sunset sighed. She stood up, facing him in a businesslike manner, and removed her skirt, revealing her red lace thong. She handed him her skirt and sat back down, making no effort to make herself decent. At the next hand, Applejack lost. She quickly pulled off her shirt and sat down, only to lose again. She tugged at her belt, loosening it, pulled her denim skirt down and let it hit the floor. Even though Spike was only one hand away from defeat, he was determined to win.

He dealt again, and won with four Jacks against Fluttershy’s pair, which cost her skirt. Next round, Sunset had a full house: three fives and a pair of twos, AJ had a full house as well, but with three Kings and two sevens; Pinkie showed two nines and three fours, another full house; and Spike showed four aces and a five.

Applejack would be lying if she said that Spike didn’t have a poker face. She wondered how he had gotten so good at it. She also wondered how far she was going to let this go. Her whole body let out a sigh of relief as she won the next hand. Pinkie took off her top and sat back down, looking comfortable, as Spike tried hard to not stare. They all kept expelling cards and grabbing more to the point that the deck had to be collected again. As they continued, Spike started staring at Pinkie. He could see the small indents of her nipples through her bra as she bent over to exchange a card. They showed each other their cards.

She lost.

Pinkie sighed, taking off her skirt very quickly and crossing her legs so Spike couldn’t see her filly pink panties, much to his disappointment. Fluttershy had nothing—the Nine of Hearts, the Jack of Clubs, the Two of Spades, the Seven of Diamonds, and the Four of Clubs—and lost her shirt to Spike’s Ace High: the Three of Clubs, the Jack of Hearts, and the Ace, Six and Queen of Spades.

The next round, AJ folded on a pair of Sevens (Hearts and Diamonds); Spike got three Queens (Hearts, Spades, and Clubs), and exchanged all but one card. The rest of the girls, minus Pinkie, folded.

“All right,” Spike told her. “Show your hand.”

Pinkie let her cards fall one by one: the Nine of Hearts, the Nine of Spades, the Nine of Clubs, and the Nine and the Queen of Diamonds.

“Four of a kind,” she commented.

She felt good. Spike shook his head almost solemnly as he laid his cards down: the King, Queen, Jack, Ten, and the Ace of Hearts. A royal flush!

Before Pinkie removed her bra, Spike paused for a moment to take in the vision of his female playmates, all wearing only their lingerie.

“A delightful vision indeed!” he thought.

“Can we just finish this game now?” Dash asked impatiently.

“Why, you in a hurry to join them?” Spike quipped.

The girls were starting to get nervous, wondering which of them would be the first to end up completely nude, especially after Spike started to memorize the cards as he dealt them.

“You’ve got nothing, you have two pair, and I have a 17.4 percent chance of making a straight,” he told Applejack and Sunset.

And he did: his Straight—Three of Diamonds, Four of Clubs, Five of Hearts, Six of Hearts, and the Seven of Spades—beat Sunset’s Two Pair—Five of Hearts, Ten of Hearts, Ten of Spades, King of Spades and the King of Diamonds—causing her to forfeit her bra. Eventually every woman in the room was down to just her panties.

It was anyone’s game now.

“I’m in,” Spike stated.

“Dashie, are you in or out?” Pinkie asked.

“I hate this game!” Rainbow shouted, slapping her cards down. “I’m sorry,” she apologized after she’d folded, “but I just can’t lose anymore.”

“I’m out,” said Sunset.

“Me, too,” Fluttershy added.

“Out,” AJ joined them.

“I’m in,” Pinkie said, showing her hand. “Two pair: Kings and Eights.”

Spike had Four Sixes, and Pinkie took off her panties. The next hand, Sunset showed a Two, a Seven, an Eight, a Jack and a Queen, all Hearts—a Flush, which lost to his Four Aces. And after that, his Flush—Five of Spades, Nine of Spades, Ten of Spades, King of Spades, and the Ace of Spades—beat Rainbow Dash’s Three of a Kind—Six of Clubs, Eight of Spades, Eight of Hearts, Eight of Diamonds, and the Queen of Clubs.

One by one, Dash, Sunset and Applejack locked their fingers around their panties and slowly worked them down their legs. Trembling slightly, they all let out little gasps as they exposed themselves to Spike.

It was just him and Fluttershy.

“Last round,” she said after she dealt. “Whoever wins this is the winner. Five-card draw, Jacks or better, nothing wild.”

The five other girls watched as the two players exchanged cards once more.

“Full house,” Fluttershy said. “Well, show us your cards!” she snapped.

Spike shook his head one more time as he spread his cards in front of him: King, Queen, Jack, Ten, and Ace of Hearts.

“Royal. Flush,” he said.

And just like that, it was over. The girls had all lost, and even though Spike had repeatedly cheated—but only after losing almost all of his clothes—they got him back in the Jacuzzi after.

Spike, dressed in his best tuxedo, walked across the lobby with Applejack, Sunset, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Apple Bloom Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Bot. The rest of the day passed without any major events, much to Spike’s amazement. In fact (aside from the Strip Poker match), it was as close to unremarkable as it could get... until that night when he strolled through the casino.

“Now, where can I do the most damage?” he asked himself in thought. “Poker? More Blackjack?”

Out of all the dealers that were working the floor that night, one stood out the most: Midnight Radiance.

“Point’s ten! A hard ten! Ten’s the number!” he shouted. “Twelve! Craps! A loser! Eight’s the point!”

“Craps it is,” Spike thought.

“If anyone needs me, I’ll be rolling the dice,” he told the girls.

Applejack, in the strapless green gown, pearl necklace and matching earrings she’d worn for the dance contest; and Sunset, in a scarlet and gold ensemble, joined him. And Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Sweetie Bot and Scootaloo followed.

Craps, a game in which players made wagers on the outcome of the roll, or a series of rolls, on a pair of dice. It was relatively simple if one betted with sequential consistency. The combinations totaling 7 or 11 on the dice had considerable value when achieved on the first attempt. With eight variations possible to create those totals, the likelihood of those totals occurring was not significant. It was all a question of probabilities.

The feeling of unimaginable amounts of money moving around with a single shake of a hand... if you tasted it once, you could quickly become addicted.

“Nine. Mark nine,” Midnight Radiance said.

Even though the odds were against the players, Midnight Radiance enjoyed the social aspects of the game, the stimulation of the crowd. Craps was a sort of symbol of his team’s aura. They didn’t mind sacrificing a little profit if it made the customers happy. Silver Waves and Bushel, the first two guests Spike had met the day he checked in, were at the table. Silver Waves was wearing the same beautiful red dress she had on that day, but Bushel was dressed impressively in a vested suit of sparkling white linen, his white-crowned Stetson hat, and his boots were highly polished cordovan leather.

Midnight Radiance passed the dice on to Bushel, who held them in his hand and offered them to a woman from Chicoltgo. She shook her head. Bushel shrugged, and then blew on them himself before he cast them.

“Craps, boxcars, a loser,” Midnight Radiance said. He passed the dice on to Silver Waves. “Coming out, coming out. Next shooter’s a lady. Ladies are lucky, ‘cause they’re ladies.”

“Mommy wants a seven!” Silver Waves cried. “Let’s go, seven!”

“Seven! A winner!” Midnight Radiance said.

“Good roll!” Bushel boomed, a pleased smile creasing his handsome face. “This table’s hot!”

“Place your bets,” Midnight Radiance told them. “Lucky roller coming out. Place your bets.”

Silver Waves threw the dice and got two ones.

“Snake Eyes,” Midnight Radiance said. “Loser, the lucky lady craps out... new roller coming out!”

“Your turn, Slick,” Applejack told Spike.

“Get in on this,” Bushel said. “Maybe this turkey will bring us some luck,” he whispered to Silver Waves.

“May I have five hundred thousand dollars in chips?” Spike asked. “No! Make it an even million, a large Dr. Pepper, and some boneless honey barbecue wings... Is there a problem?”

Midnight Radiance turned his head to the pit boss and said, “Gentleman wants a million dollar credit with a fifty thousand dollar limit.”

The pit boss looked up and stepped next to Midnight Radiance.

It was Sassy Saddles.

As she approached the table, Spike looked over at a group of six men and four women standing directly opposite of him at the other end of the table. He recognized them from his modeling days. While Spike was the spokesman for Dragon Spice body wash, they were the spokesmen (and women) for Buckweiser and the Cloudsdale Brewery. They were the L’Oranges, a branch of the Orange Family, Applejack’s cousins, from Manehattan. Their names were King, Queen, Duke, Lady, General, Major, and Sergeant; and their bodyguards were Belladonna, Mandarin, and Narinja. They were all dark haired, tan and built like Clydesdale horses. All but Narinja; she looked almost exactly like Applejack, except her eyes were brown and her raven hair fell free around her shoulders.

Kingsley “King” L’Orange was the obvious head of the group, Queen, aka “Queenie”, was his wife; Duke was King’s younger brother, he was married to Lady, who was Queen’s younger sister, and General, Major and Sergeant were all brothers. Belladonna, Mandarin and Narinja were brother and sisters, but they weren’t related to King and his clan (at least not closely).

“Why do they do this every time we get a hot table?” King L’Orange asked his cohorts. “Why do they do that? Hey, let the man roll the dice!” he told Sassy.

“Mister Drake’s credit is good,” Sassy said to Midnight Radiance. “Give him the chips. Good luck to you, Mister Drake.”

She winked at Spike as she walked away.

“Thank you,” he replied. “I’ll have two stacks now.”

Midnight Radiance gave Spike the million dollars in chips but he only put down five thousand dollars.

“Kid looks like a shooter,” King L’Orange said. “I’m going for it. I’m going for this. Go for this. Go for this,” he told his wife and friends.

“I’m ready,” Queen said.

Spike held the dice to Sunset and she blew on them.

“Come on!” the L’Oranges chanted. “Come on!”

Spike rolled two threes.

“Six,” Midnight Radiance said. “Six is your number.”

“Tartarus, my grandma could make a six!” Bushel said to Spike. “Come on, roll ‘em!”

“I thought only seven and eleven had value,” Sunset said.

“Actually, six is a valid point,” Spike explained. “My goal, now, is to roll a duplicate six before rolling seven.”

“But the probability of making a six is no greater than that of hitting a seven,” Sunset replied.

“There is a certain degree of random fortune involved,” Spike told her. “Why do you think they call it gambling?”

Spike rolled again, and the dice landed on a four and a three.

“Seven,” Midnight Radiance said. “Seven away. Next shooter.”

“Give him another chance,” Bushel said. “I’ve got a feeling about you,” he told Spike.

Up in the Eye in the Sky Room, Lucky Clover dialed the Brothers’ office.

“Flim speaking,” one of them answered.

“I think we have a problem,” he told them. “Turn on camera number two, Craps table number nine.”

The Brothers did and live footage of Spike shooting the dice appeared on the main monitor.

“What do we do?” Lucky Clover asked.

“Let him play,” Flam said. “Let him win some money and have some fun.”

“Yes, sirs,” Lucky Clover replied.

“And don’t bother us with this again,” Flim added.

“These cubes are unevenly balanced,” Spike said as he picked them up.

He gave them to Sweetie Bot and she held them in her hand. He was right.

“Can you repair them?” he asked her.

“I believe so,” Sweetie Bot said.

She squeezed them in her hand, hard enough that she rebalanced them, and gave them back to Spike.

With an arm angle of 260 degrees, a speed of 11.5 meters a second, a finger torque of 0.7 pounds per square inch, and a careful analysis of the odds, Spike was ready to try again.

He looked at Applejack and said, “Baby needs a new pair of shoes. And I’m not just saying that. I really need a new pair of shoes.”

Applejack and Sunset both blew on the dice and Spike threw them without even looking.

“Seven, eleven, now!” Sergeant L’Orange exclaimed as the dice rolled.

“Eleven! A winner,” Midnight Radiance said.

“Eleven!” Bushel exclaimed. “That a boy! Do that a few more times and we’re all gonna get rich!”

“Way to go, kid!” King L’Orange added.

“You want to press it?” Midnight Radiance asked Spike.

“Yeah, press it,” Spike replied.

“I want to press this up,” King L’Orange said. “Press it. Give him the dice,” he told Midnight Radiance. “He can do it again. Come on. Let’s go, come on, baby! Come on!”

The L’Oranges smiled across the table, and there was something pointed in the way they tried to duplicate Spike’s movements, placing their modest plaques exactly opposite of Spike’s larger ones.

Spike’s game quickly became the center of interest at the table. He could feel the crowd gathering behind him, and hear them whispering to one another “Who is this guy? Do you see how much he’s betting?” as he rolled again and got another seven.

“Seven, dice!” Sergeant L’Orange cried.

“Seven, winner,” Midnight Radiance said.

“Fantastic!” King L’Orange shouted. “This kid’s great!”

“I’ll take the full odds on the seven, two hundred on the hard way, the limit on all the numbers, and 250 on the eleven,” Spike told Midnight Radiance. “Thank you very much.”

“You’ve played this game before,” Silver Waves said.

“Just once,” Spike confessed.

“Come on, kid! Let’s go! Let’s do this!” King L’Orange said.

“Come on! Seven!” Queenie and Sarge exclaimed.

“Seven again! Seven again!” King L’Orange shouted. “I can’t believe it!”

“And another one!” Bushel added. “Keep going, Spike, we got ‘em hot now, let’s go, let’s go! Double ‘em up, here we go. Keep rolling.”

“Seven, a winner!” Midnight Radiance exclaimed.

“Oh, Spike, you’re incredible!” Dear Darling, Swoon Song, and Fond Feather swooned. “And handsome!”

“Hey, which one of you ladies put your hand on my butt?” Spike asked. “Do it again! And rub your tits on my back! All right, this seven I’m about to roll is for the eighteen years my mother Barbara has been gone. That’s why I’m not going to crap out! This one’s for you, Mama!”

Over the next hour, Spike led the L’Oranges in an impressive slaughter; against odds of 247,000 to one, he rolled 17 straight winners, smiling smugly as he rolled seven after seven after seven, earning applause from the crowd.

“I’m coming out,” he told them. “Ready?”

Spike blew on the dice, then he held them out to Silver Waves, and she blew on them too. He held the dice out to Sunset and Applejack and they blew on them together, and then he threw the cubes.

“Whoo! Big seven! Look at that!” Bushel shouted.

“Do it again!” King L’Orange told Spike. “Do it again!”

“Isn’t that enough?” Sweetie Bot asked.

“Are you kidding?” Spike replied. “To stop now would be like trying to stop a freight train! I will bet it all!”

“And I’m betting against you!”

Everyone turned to see who had spoken.

It was Twilight. And she was dressed to kill in a purple satin dress and heels.

“Are you nuts?” Silver Waves asked.

“That is not a prudent choice,” Sweetie Bot added.

“Eighteen passes!” Twilight exclaimed. “He’s been manipulating the dice!”

Midnight Radiance looked over at Sassy Saddles, who smiled and nodded. Midnight Radiance then nodded at Spike.

“Roll ‘em,” Bushel told Spike.

Spike kissed the dice, then he held them out to Silver Waves and she kissed them. He held them out to Sunset and Applejack, and they kissed the dice together. Then Spike threw the dice without looking... and rolled a six and a one.

“Seven! Lucky seven!” Midnight Radiance proclaimed. “A winner!”

“See?” Twilight told them. “I told you! He knew he was going to roll that seven! And he just let me go down the tubes.”

“We tried to caution you,” Sweetie Bot answered.

Twilight started to tear up. “What was it?” she asked. “Was it personal?”

“Beat it, bitch!” Narinja exclaimed. “The man’s got magic hands!”

“He has the touch,” Discord confirmed.

“What did I tell you?” Silver Waves asked. “Magic!”

“It’s not magic,” Duke L’Orange said. “It’s skill.”

“A little something for you,” Spike told Haakim and Amira, “a little something for every single cocktail waitress and Bunny Girl, and run this outside and give it to the parking attendants,” he told Scootaloo.

“You’re very kind,” Discord told Spike. “Almost as kind as Fluttershy.”

“Here you go, Silver Waves,” Spike said as he gave her a smile, “a little something for you, too.”

“Thank you,” she said gratefully.

Spike’s high gambling had already made him a favorite among the guests and any companion of his shared in the glory.

“When the train comes in, everybody rides!” he declared. “I wish to cash in,” he told Midnight Radiance. “Thank you for such a sterling service.”

Spike stepped back from the table, glancing at his watch, before coloring up his chips. That’s when the L’Orange Clan approached him.

“Kid, you made me a lot of money tonight. That was a great roll. Kingsley L’Orange of the Fillydelphia L’Oranges,” he introduced himself. “Call me ‘King’.”

“The name’s Drake. Spike Drake,”

“Well, Spike Drake, you like getting massaged?” King L’Orange asked.

“By who?”

“By who? By me! Meet us in the spa at 10:00 tomorrow morning. Applejack, this guy is with us. You take care of him,” King L’Orange said. “If there is anything, anything you need, don’t hesitate to call me,” he told Spike.

“Thank you,”

Spike felt like his head was spinning as he stepped away from the Craps table. That game had gone better than he had imagined. The L’Oranges had invited him to join them at the spa the next day, and nobody even gave Twilight a second look. She vanished into the crowd while Applejack and Sunset escorted Spike to the cashiers’ cages.

“That was an impressive game, Spike,” said Sunset.

He followed her to the cashier, stepped up to the window, and pushed the boxes of chips through. Normally, high rollers did not cash their own chips. Someone from the casino staff took care of it, trading markers for chips or vice versa. But this was his money.

The cashier, a woman with her sleeves rolled up, looked at all the chips, and then smiled at Spike.

“This might take a few minutes, Mister Drake,” she told him. “Would you kindly step to the side so I can service other customers while the boys in back cash you in?”

Spike nodded before he let the next person step up to the window.

“You handle those cubes like you handle my apples,” Applejack whispered. “So, what do you say, your room or mine?”

By the time the boys in the cashier cages had finished, Spike’s pockets were bulging with cash and he almost lost track of his winnings.

“Okay... Twenty, forty, sixty, eighty, ninety-five, six, seven, and fifty-five cents,” the cashier counted.

“That is a total of eight trillion, forty-two billion, one hundred million, twenty-three thousand, two hundred ninety-seven dollars and fifty-five cents,” Spike calculated.

Of course, he kept that information to himself.

As they rode upward, Spike glanced at the fishbowl camera in the corner of the elevator’s ceiling. Even with Applejack right there in the elevator with him, he knew that they were watching him. Sweat beaded across his brow and neck.

Applejack saw him sweating and placed a reassuring hand on his back.

“If I scared you with that talk about the Eye in the Sky room the day you checked in, I’m sorry,” she said soothingly. “You have nothing to worry about.”

They returned to his suite and Applejack ducked into the bathroom. She stood in the doorway, gazing across to Spike on the bed. She was naked except for a tight black silk brassière and matching panties. Her right arm was against the doorframe while her left hand rested firmly on her hip. Her soft, golden hair fell heavily to just above her rear, with her eyes wide and seductive upon him.

“Ya feelin’ lucky tonight, Sugah?” she asked in a low voice.

Spike felt the familiar throb below his belt.

“Oh, yeah,” he replied huskily.

She sauntered over and crawled on top of him, her legs parted. Pretty soon they were tangled together on the bed, his left hand curled around her, cupping her breast, and his right brushing against the silk and lace trim of her panties. She let that one stay for several minutes, then sat up, and slipped a hand up his thigh. When she reached the crotch of his slacks, she gently tugged on the zipper.

She ran her fingers through his hair, trying hard to not mess it up. Then very, very slowly, she lowered herself over him. She sat upon his loins, and her hair trailed over her chest as she pressed her lips against his, over and over.

“Take me, you barbarian!” she cried.

Desire burst upon Spike in a flood and she fell hard and swift, sweeping herself beneath him.

“Wow, AJ! You wanna go again?!” he asked. “Not that I don’t wanna... but don’t you gals get sore if you do it too much?”

“Aw, you’re so sweet,” she said. “Sometimes we do, but are far from close to ‘too much’!” She rolled over. “Now, why don’t you hop onboard this train and give my caboose its share of ‘too much’?”

Spike attacked her from behind, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her back to him. He brushed his engorged cock along the base of her spine, then along curve of her ass, before finally pushing himself up her tailpipe. She reached up and wrapped her arms around his head while he fondled her, nuzzling and kissing her neck, massaging her breasts; all while she shoved her ass down to the base of his cock.

As soon as Spike rolled onto his back, Applejack laid upon his chest, her legs entwined with his, her hand on his thigh. He looked down at her and smiled. As AJ looked up at him, she knew this was the end of it. The end of when she had been a homely little girl with braids, her freckles and her childish voice and walk and everything else about her all gone, she had dreamed of being loved by a prince. He wouldn’t be a sissy prince like the one of those fairy tales, but a Clark Stable kind of prince who would be harshly gentle and say nice things, like she was the prettiest girl in the world. Well, she had found her prince and he had let her love him... and she had let him love her. Her fears had receded, and to her amazement she quickly closed her eyes and quickly drifted into a sound and dreamless sleep.

Author's Note

P.S.: Midnight Radiance is the OC of Midnight Radiance/sixpathspony.

High Roller

Twilight fell asleep listening to the TV in her room, trying to learn a new way to beat Spike and recoup her losses to him.

“Forget slots, forget poker, forget craps, and forget blackjack. If you want to really make money in a casino, walk up to a baccarat table and say, ‘I want to play baccarat.’”

“Bet with the bank. Bet with the player. Nine is a natural,” she mumbled in her sleep. “Bet with the bank. Bet with the player. Nine is a natural. Bet with the bank... Bet with the player... Nine is a natural... bet with the bank, bet with the player, nine is a natural... bet with the bank, eight is a winner... Hard six coming out... Hit me!”

As she slept, playing cards spun through her dreams. She was back at her Blackjack table and Spike was seated across from her. He had slid into the table cocky and opened up with a million dollar bet.

She dealt him two cards and he said, “Hit me.”

She dealt him a third card.

“Hit me. Hit me. Hit me. Hit me. Hit me, hit me, hit me, hit me, hit me, hit me, hit me, hit me, hit me, hit me, hit me, hit me, hit me, hit me! Okay, I’m fine!”

Twilight cackled and showed her cards: two Queens.

“Twenty! Top that!”

Spike smiled as laid all of his cards (face down) in front of him. He fanned them out and turned them over with one swift wave of his hand.

“Twenty-one,” he stated.

All Aces!

“Well... ain’t that a kick in the head,” Discord said, and he started singing Dean Maretin’s song.

The cards kept getting hotter, and Spike worked his way into a groove, moving higher and higher. After nineteen rounds, Spike moved up to four hands of ten million dollars each— he got the King of Diamonds, the Four of Diamonds, the Two of Hearts and the Five of Clubs (21); the Jack and the Ace of Clubs (21), the Ten of Clubs with the Ace of Spades (21), and finally the Queen of Hearts with the Ace of Diamonds (21)—until he finally played all eight betting circles at once, taking full advantage of Twilight. He burnt through the sea of low cards—hitting over and over again through an ugly run until the count started to turn—and then the shoe burst with color: kings, queens, jacks, and aces, springing out with each flick of Twilight’s wrist.

It was beautiful!

On the last round (#36), Spike hit the limit with each of his eight hands, putting two billion in orange chips in each betting circle. He drew seven twenties and an eighteen against Twilight’s seven. She flipped her hole card, revealing a ten—and Spike won all eight of his hands! She started to pay him off, and then saw that her rack was empty. She didn’t have enough to cover Spike’s win!

“Enjoy it while it lasts,” she told him bitterly.

“The very words I live by,” he replied.

After that, he played the Roulette wheel.

“Play them all, that way you can’t lose!” Twilight told him.

“Whatever you say, Doll,” he said as he put money down on all the numbers.

“He fell for it,” she thought. “Now it’s my move.”

They both knew that each turn of the wheel, each fall of the ball into a numbered slot, had absolutely no connection with its predecessor. They knew that the game began afresh each time the croupier picked up the ivory ball with his right hand, gave one of the four spokes of the wheel a controlled twist clockwise with the same hand, and with a third motion, also with the right hand, flicked the ball around the outer rim of the wheel counter-clockwise, against the spin.

Twilight spun the wheel and dropped the Roulette ball into the cone, only for it to bounce back out and into her mouth. She clawed at her throat before performing the Heimlich maneuver on herself, practically punching her own gut, and she spat the ball at a marble statue of a naked woman holding a bunch of grapes in one hand. The Roulette ball hit the statue in its knee with so much force that the leg broke and the statue fell forward, onto the Roulette table. The bundle of grapes it was holding fell and broke apart into individual pieces, and one went into each pocket of the wheel.

“Winner! All numbers!” Midnight Radiance shouted.

Spike leaned back, kicked his feet up onto the wheel—right on the Roulette wheel—and waited for Twilight to pay him off.

To Twilight, Spike was the most arrogant prick in the world. And not only that, he was invincible, physically incapable of losing. She had to resort to cash after hitting a big losing streak.

Finally, Spike approached the baccarat table and Midnight Radiance took up his position as croupier with Sassy Saddles as his banker. Generally, a baccarat table was divided into two tableaux. The banker played two games, one against each of the tableaux to the left and right of him. In the game, the banker would be able to win by playing off one tableau against the other and by first-class accountancy. It was unusual because the odds in favor of the banker weren’t so good, even though he had control of the size of the stakes.

The banker stood in the middle with a croupier to rake in the cards and call the amount of each bank and a chef de partie to generally umpire the game. In front of him, there was a shoe containing six packs of cards, well shuffled. And there was absolutely no chance of tampering with the shoe. Then the banker announced an opening bank of five hundred thousand dollars.

The player next to the banker could accept the bet and push his money out on to the table, or pass it, if it was too much for him or he didn’t want to take it. The second player had the right to take it, and if they refused, then number three and so one around the table. And if none of the players took it, the bet was offered to the table as a whole and everyone chipped in, sometimes including the spectators around the table, until the five hundred thousand was made up.

The player(s) got two cards, and the banker got two cards, and unless anyone won outright, either or both could get one more card. If the banker dealt a player two cards and they added up to eight or nine, then that was considered a “natural” and the player could turn them up and win, unless the banker had an equal or a better natural. If the player didn’t have a natural, they could stand on a six or a seven, ask for a card or not, on a five, and ask for a card if the count was less than five. Five was the turning point of the game. According to the odds, the chances of bettering or worsening your hand if you held a five were exactly even.

The object of baccarat is to hold two or three cards that when added together total nine points, or as close to nine as possible. Court cards and tens counted as nothing; aces one each; and any other card at its face value. It was only the last figure of the count that signified. For example, nine plus seven equaled six – not sixteen. In short, the winner was the one whose count was closest to nine, and draws were played over again.

“Bet, sir?” Sassy asked Spike.

For Spike, half a million was a small bet, which he immediately met.

The cards were shuffled by Midnight Radiance, cut by one of the other players, and put into the shoe in full view of the table. It would be useful, but almost impossible, to mark all the cards.

Twilight showed the Jack of Spades and the Five of Diamonds. Then Midnight Radiance showed the Six of Clubs. Twilight shook her head.

“Madame stands with five,” he said.

“You should quit while you’re still ahead,” Spike advised as he sipped a glass of Champagne.

“That’s one thing I’ve never learned,” Twilight replied.

“It’s too bad,” he said. “We share the same passions. Carte.”

Midnight Radiance slipped Spike’s cards delicately across the table to him. With his right hand, Spike picked up his two cards and turned them face up with a faint snap. They were a four and a five, an undefeatable natural nine.

He had won.

“Nine,” Midnight Radiance said unemotionally. “Madame loses.”

“Damn it!” Twilight cursed in thought. “Why are the odds so tilted in his favor? If I’m not on one Tartarus of an unlucky streak, the only answer is he’s cheating! I don’t know how, but he is!”

She looked hard at Spike and asked, “What can I do with five dollars?”

“Gee, I don’t know,” he replied. “Buy a bullet and rent a gun?”

Spike kicked back against the table as Sassy gave him a cigar and lit it for him. Suddenly, Fluttershy materialized right in front of Spike, completely naked. She pulled off his shoes and a pair of rabbit’s feet popped out of them instead of human feet. Then Photo Finish appeared camera in hand.

“Pull out his cock!” she commanded.

Fluttershy did as she was told and reached for Spike’s pants. She undid them and slipped her hand inside. She wrapped her fingers around his shaft and stroked him until he was good and hard.

“Ride it,” said Photo Finish.

Fluttershy climbed atop Spike as she guided him, teasing the tip at first, and then slammed her hips down so he was all the way inside her. Photo Finish continued snapping pictures as Twilight watched Spike and Fluttershy, unable to look away. She continued to watch as Fluttershy’s skin slowly started turning pale gold. Then her ears suddenly popped up and fur began growing all over them. Twilight screamed as Fluttershy’s arms and legs started to grow fur, too. Her feet were also changing. She could see fur growing all over Fluttershy’s body. Her once smooth legs were now coated with it. Soon her face began to grow fur, as her nose shrank and contorted into a round pink shape. Twilight watched in terror as Fluttershy’s eyebrows disappeared into the fur that was growing on her face. Finally, a big, round, white powder-puff tail popped out just above Fluttershy’s rear end, causing her to moan as the newly formed limb burst free. She looked at her now furry body; she had turned into a fully developed bunny! Not a real bunny; she kept a few of her human features, shape and size, even expanding a few certain areas. Her breasts were, indeed, larger, not just because they were coated with fur, but also because they had swelled up a few cup sizes.

Then she and Spike started going at it like rabbits... which they were. Well, at least Fluttershy was. Suddenly, the rest of Spike’s harem, all now transformed into anthropomorphic furry girls, appeared. Applejack, Adagio, Aria and Sonata were she-wolves, Fleur, Sunset, Tempest and Stellar Flare were red, white and silver foxes (vixens, technically); Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Moon Dancer, Sassy, and Coco were all cats; and Pinkie and Trixie were bunnies like Fluttershy.

“Master, we have a present for you,” they all said.

Spike stopped humping Fluttershy long enough to stand up and see what they had brought him. It was Chrysalis. Only she was an anthropomorphic dog. She was completely naked except for a silver dog collar around her neck—with the word “BITCH” engraved into it—and it was on a chain instead of a leash.

“Sit, Chrissy,” Spike commanded.

Chrysalis immediately squatted down and started panting like a dog.

“Good bitch,” Spike said as he stroked her under her chin. “Now, roll over.”

She rolled on the floor all around him.

“Good,” He reached into his tuxedo jacket, pulled out a doggie treat (which he just happened to have on him), tossed it to her, and she caught it in her open mouth. “Now show me your ass and shake it.”

Chrysalis turned away from him and started shaking her booty, complete with booty clapping.

“Play dead,”

She clutched her hands to her breasts. “Is this the end of Queen Chrysalis?”

“Now speak!”

She stood up, pulled a purple wig out of hammerspace (from behind her back), put it on... and did a perfect impression of Twilight.

“My fellow Equestrians, I am not a crook!”

Spike gave her one more doggie treat.

“Good. Now bark like the little bitch you are!” he ordered.

“Rrrr-ruff! Ruff!”

“Louder!”

“Ruffruff! Ruh-uhn-uff!”

“Louder, bitch!”

“GRR-UFF!! AH! RUFF-AHH-RUFF-F-RUH-HAH-AHH-AHH-FUH-FUCK!!”

“YES!! Now, show me what a real bitch in heat acts like!!”

Spike forced Chrysalis to turn around, holding her arms behind her back, dragged his throbbing cock achingly slow across her tight, little twat...

“Ahhh... Ooohh... S-Spikeee...”

... and then slammed it right into her ass!

“Ahhh! AhHH!! Yuh-You fucking b-bastard! UHNNN!!’”

“What did you call me?” Spike growled. “Who’s in charge here? WHO!?!”

“You are, Master!” Chrysalis whined. “I’m sorry I-!”

“Say you’re my bitch! SAY IT OR I’LL USE MY TEETH!!”

“I’M YOUR B-BIT-CH! F-FUCK-FUCK-FUCK-FUUUUUUUUCK!!!!”

Spike assaulted her from behind until he’d had his fun, then Celestia—who was a white anthro mare—pushed him back into his chair and started riding him.

“Stop!” Twilight shouted. “Please, stop! Get away from him! Spike, why are you doing this? Please stop!”

“Stop screaming, Twilight,” Discord commanded. “You’re upsetting the other customers.”

“Don’t touch me!” she yelled.

Twilight was already scared of what was happening around her... then she became mortified at what, or rather who, she saw next. It was her, and yet, at the same time, it wasn’t. It was someone who looked like her, but she was dressed in the dark blue corset teddy, cat ears and long tail that she had worn when she helped cater the A. K. Yearling alumni event. Spike’s harem forced her onto her back on the floor. Then they all started laughing at her and calling her “Mittens.”

“Meow... Meow. I’m a loser cat with a gambling addiction,” she mewed. “I lost to Spike Drake, the King of Las Pegasus, and now I’m over 300 billion dollars in the hole. How do you think I should get it back, huh? I think I should gamble more and I want to. Would anyone like to be my patron? Pwetty pwease...?”

Suddenly, Fluttershy kicked Mittens in the face.

“I’m the only one who’s allowed to be that cute here!” she shouted.

That’s when Pinkie stepped forward. She had a dark, creepy look on her face, like something out of a slasher movie. She started stroking Mittens’ hair.

“It’s so beautiful,” she said. “And so silky smooth, just like a doll’s hair. How long have you been growing it out, since elementary school?”

Pinkie grabbed Mittens by her hair and forced her to her feet. She just stood there and took their abuse while Twilight continued to watch, frozen in place, unable to do anything to stop them.

“No! Stop it!” she screamed.

Then they all pulled out pairs of scissors and started cutting Mittens’ hair. It started out as a little trim... then Pinkie pulled out an electric razor.

Twilight closed her eyes to shut out the horrific images, and when she opened them again, she was suddenly home, back in Canterlot.

“Why did you miss on purpose?” said a voice.

She turned and saw someone standing with her in her parents’ living room.

It was her brother, Shining Armor.

“Why did you do it, Twilight?” he asked again. “When you let your opponent win, that isn’t kindness. It’s completely selfish! Do you think you are better than everyone?” He scoffed. “You’re not cut out for it, Twilight! You only bring despair to those around you... even us.”

Suddenly, Spike appeared alongside Shining.

“I don’t want anything to do with you!” he said, his eyes full of tears. “With you around, I can never find happiness!”

Finally, Celestia, completely human again, was with them.

“It’s your fault, Twilight,” she went on. “You make everyone unhappy! That’s why everyone you love turns their backs on you and eventually leaves you all alone!”

They all turned and started walking away, leaving Twilight in darkness.

“Wait! Don’t leave me!” she cried.

She ran after them, and when she touched Shining Armor’s shoulder, he turned to look at her. But his eyes were gone. All that was left were two dark red sockets. Then he opened his mouth and a tide of blood red ladybugs poured from it and attacked her.

Twilight screamed as she closed her eyes again, and she was back in the Flimflam Brothers’ casino. The lights within the building turned bloody as Twilight ran away from Spike, out of the resort, and into the busy street. She almost got hit by a semi-truck and several cars honked their horns as they zoomed by her. Suddenly, the ground shook beneath her feet as the roof of Flimflam Resort was blown off the place... and a colossal purple dragon with green spikes and large, leathery, bat-like wings protruding from its back loomed up towards the sky like a king cobra rearing its head, preparing to strike. Twilight saw the malice in its eyes and ran as fast as she could.

She didn’t care about rattlesnakes or the other predators of the desert; she ran through them. She heard the dragon’s wings thrashing behind her. She ran until she fell to her knees, stuck to a giant cheese quesadilla, like a fly on flypaper, at the base of Hoofer Dam. She looked up the whole 727 feet to the top, and the dam began to break. The dam gave way and the water bore down on her, but before the water hit her, the ground beneath her suddenly broke open and she plummeted into a fiery lake of lava.

Twilight woke up half out of bed, panting, the covers pulled loose and wound around her neck in a noose, clawing at her mouth and her hair. It took several seconds for her to calm down and realize that it had only been a bad dream. She lay back down; convinced there would be no more sleep for her that night. Yet she dozed off again.

She didn’t even feel the blast of a terrific explosion, very near (a few blocks away), that rocked the resort hard enough that bottles slowly toppled off the shelves behind the bar in the casino.

Spike awoke to the smell of bacon. He got out of bed, still naked, and followed the aroma to the kitchenette. Applejack, in the white tuxedo shirt Spike had worn at the Craps tables the night before, and nothing else, was standing with her back to him, flipping the bacon and scrambling eggs. The radio was playing smooth jazz. Her long blonde hair fell freely down her back, reaching her ass. He came up behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist, just below her breasts, and nuzzled her neck.

“Well, good mornin’, Sugah,” Applejack smiled. “Whoa!”

Spike picked her up, swung her around twice, and kissed her heartily on the mouth. He looked deeply in her eyes and playfully brushed his nose against hers. After they enjoyed breakfast together, they joined Sunset and Zephyr Breeze for their afternoon of relaxation with the L’Oranges. When they got to the spa, five Kirin women—Fern Flare, Spring Glow, Winter Flame, Sparkling Brook and Maple Brown—and three men—Forest Fall, Autumn Afternoon and Pumpkin Smoke—were on duty.

“Two gentlemen’s respites, my good woman,” Spike said to Fern Flare. “And please, no other attendants besides Aloe and Lotus Blossom,” he added. “I want women who don’t respect boundaries.”

Fern Flare nodded as Spike and his friends wrapped themselves in white towels and assumed positions on the massage tables, and Spike’s stress and tension melted away as Aloe and Lotus Blossom slowly rubbed his back.

“Drake, how you enjoying that massage?” King L’Orange asked.

“I’m enjoying it, King,” Spike replied. “I really am.”

“That’s your problem, Spike: you’re wound way too tight for a guy your age. You gotta learn how to loosen up, relax,”

“You’re right, King. I do,” Spike admitted. “A little harder on the shoulders, please, Aloe.”

“That’s it, kid! Now that you got that, all we gotta do is teach you how to dress properly,”

“Don’t you ever get tired of massages?” Aloe asked Spike as she kneaded his shoulders. “Ever since you laid eyes on my sister and I, you’ve had us pound away at you.” She leaned in close so that her lips were almost touching his ear, and added in a whisper, “I would like you to pound away at me for once.”

Spike raised his head to answer. Then his eyes went wide and he motioned for Aloe and Lotus Blossom to stop massaging him.

“Spike, what’s wrong?” Zephyr asked.

Spike was staring at a man on the far side of the spa—a man who radiated a unique blend of sophistication and brutality.

“That’s Dragon Lord Torch!” he breathed.

Torch was absurdly tall for a crime lord. At eight-foot-one, he towered over everyone else in the room. With angry black brows and a ruthless jut to his jaw, it was impossible for him to vanish into a crowd, and he couldn’t wander unnoticed through an airport. If someone was looking for him, they’d find him—in a club, in a bar, in a crowded casino.

Torch controlled all the Dragonese in Equestria. Some existed poorly, and their rivalries often came to violence. But the claim of each Dragon Lord was that the role was established solely to look after the welfare of his family’s individual members. In fact, they derived their income through control of prostitution, gambling, and the sale of weapons—among other equally lucrative rackets.

“That’s Dragon Lord Torch?” Sunset asked. “That’s a giant in a bathrobe!”

“Stay here,” Spike told them.

“Spike, the man is eight feet tall!” Zeph said. “And even if he wasn’t, you do not interrupt another man’s massage! That is just one thing you do not do!”

“I’ll be right back,” he promised.

Spike got up from the massage table, rewrapped the towel around his waist, and approached the Dragon Lord. Torch looked at Spike and a wide smile broke across his face.

“Saluton, mia filo, kiel vi fartas?” Torch greeted him. “Mi ĝojas vidi vin. Mi bezonas paroli kun vi.”

Spike looked into Torch’s dark eyes and replied, “Kio pri?”

“Iu ekiris bombon en unu el la hazardludaj trunkoj de Impossibly Rich,” Torch said. “Du el ŝiaj dungitoj estis mortigitaj.”

“Ĉu vi estis?” Spike asked.

“Mi festas en la Hard Rock Club venontan monaton, kaj la tuta Drako-Mafio estos tie,” he said. “Se vi ne volas veni, mi komprenos.”

“Ne, bonas,” Spike replied. “Mi estos tie.”

A nod of Torch’s head, and ten large men in robes suddenly sprung out of reclining chairs all around the room, and Sunset and Applejack were struck by how huge they all were. They made Spike look like a doll.

Torch placed his hands firmly on Spike’s shoulders. Then he kissed Spike on both cheeks, like a father to his son.

“Have a good day,” he said to Spike and his ten bodyguards followed him out of the spa.

Zephyr, Sunset and Applejack approached Spike.

“Spike, what language was that?” Applejack asked.

“Dragonese,” he replied.

“What did Torch say to you?” Sunset asked. “Did he threaten you?”

“No,” Spike promised.

“Then what did he say?”

“He invited us to a big party at the Hard Rock next month,”

“A big party at the Hard Rock?” Zeph repeated. “You better not be lying to me!” he said. “I will slap you so hard that you end up back in the 19th Century! I mean it, man, I will send you back to the Dark Ages! A big party?”

“Big one,” Spike stated.

Zephyr smiled, as did Sunset and AJ, and they returned to their original spots and enjoyed the rest of their spa day.

High rollers didn’t take cabs from the airport. They didn’t carry their own bags. They never waited on check-in lines. They stayed in rooms with Jacuzzis, circular leather couches, wide-screen televisions, and magnificent views. And they wore whatever the Tartarus they wanted, no matter how ridiculous they looked.

Spike came out of the changing room in a new black suit and a clean, silk emerald-green shirt. He had exchanged his shoes for shiny black leather designer boots, and his hair was slicked down with so much mousse that the outline of his skull was visible. With the hair and flashy clothes, he could have easily passed for a rich kid from Jockeypan.

Major L’Orange laughed out loud, his feet thrust up on the glass coffee table in the center of the lavish store as Sunset, Applejack and the rest of the L’Oranges nodded at Spike approvingly.

“Are you sure this looks good on me?” Spike asked them.

“Are you kidding?” King L’Orange asked. “Every girl’s crazy about a Sharp Dressed Man!”

Vinyl Scratch must have had superhuman hearing, or a psychic sense of some kind, Spike thought, because as soon as King said those words, the song by ZZ Top started playing over the resort’s sound system. And, like many of the songs he’d heard during his stay, Spike found himself agreeing with the lyrics: everything from the white gloves and top hat to the silk suits, new shoes and shirts. These were not bargain-counter shirts: these were custom-tailored, made to Spike’s measurements and bearing Mr. Drake’s monogram on the breast pocket. He didn’t worry about the cost of any of it because his wallet was fat! And no matter what he chose, Spike always looked his best.

He swaggered through the casino like he was untouchable; he almost always brought Sunset and/or Applejack with him and sometimes he let them carry some of the cash. He had become a fixture at the Flimflam Brothers’ casino—as well as the Stardust, the MGM Grand, and the Mirage—and many of the pit bosses, including and especially Sassy Saddles, thought of him as a friend. Except for Sassy, none of them knew who he really was, but they knew he was rich and liked to make big bets, and on Friday nights he liked to party. Everyone smiled when they saw him, and he felt more and more at ease.

After Spike had had his fun for the day, he changed into his dealer’s uniform and slipped behind one of the blackjacks tables just as Twilight entered the casino, as a customer, with a big wad of cash in her hand.

“He is not going to win this time!” she said.

“I don’t know,” Pinkie, who was bussing drinks as a Bunny Girl, said. “He sure looks like a big winner to me.”

“Payback time,” Twilight said to herself.

She approached Spike’s table and sat down.

“You really don’t know when to quit, do you, Sparkle?” he asked her.

Twilight counted out five hundreds, set them on the felt, and watched Spike recount them and exchange them for five black chips. The other girls watched the transaction.

“Here’s an idea,” Spike suggested. “Why don’t you give me half the money you were going to bet, and we’ll step out into the alley, Sunset will kick you between your legs, and we’ll call it a day?”

Twilight placed a single chip in the betting circle and scowled at Spike.

“Now, now, don’t scowl,” he said as the cards came out and he dealt the first two to her, the Six of Diamonds and the Ace of Clubs. “It makes you look old.”

He showed the King of Hearts.

“Do you hit or stand?” he asked.

“I’ll hit,” she said.

He dealt her the Four of Hearts. Then he revealed his second card—the Three of Spades—and dealt himself a third card, the Eight of Clubs—Twenty-One for both of them. It was a tie! A push!

Spike dealt again and showed the Ace of Spades. His second card was the Nine of Diamonds, for a solid twenty, beating her seventeen. He flipped out two more cards to her and then gave himself two. Twilight glanced at her two cards—sixteen. She looked up at Spike and shook her head. He turned up a Jack and a ten. Then, she had twelve and drew a three and then a nine – twenty-four—and busted. He had seventeen. After that, she had seventeen and he had nineteen.

“So close,” he said.

But Twilight didn’t care about those hands. She was running the cards, counting down based on Spike’s deal. She was trying to control the deal so that a specific card would be dealt to her.

Her heart thumped as she drew a pair of nines against Spike’s five. It was the most beautiful hand she’d seen since he’d arrived. She split the nines, and drew eights on both. Then her stomach dropped as Spike turned over his bottom card to reveal a six. Spike flipped the next card, a ten, for a twenty-one. Twilight’s ears rang as he swept her fifty thousand dollar bet off the table.

Her hands were shaking as she moved three stacks of chips into the betting circle. He dealt her a twenty, an ugly fourteen, and two seventeens, then pulled the worst card in the deck, a six.

Spike flipped his bottom card, revealing a queen. He now had sixteen, the worst possible hand. Twilight was actually smiling again as Spike drew his next card. Then the entire crowd that had amassed around the table gasped.

A five.

Spike flipped a damn five for another twenty-one! Twilight had lost no less than a hundred million dollars in ten hands. She sat there, frozen, as Spike swept away her money. For the rest of the shoe, Spike played perfectly, growing more powerful with each hand until he busted her down to her last quarter—you can give me that tomorrow, he said—and that was that.

Shuffle tracking, a basic probability-distribution exercise. Players could calculate the percentage of low-card infiltration into the run, caused by the dealer’s shuffle. After that, it was only a matter of practice. Really good players could track a group of 15 cards with a six-deck shuffle without breaking a sweat.

It was not magic, just math.

Twilight rose and stumbled to the elevators, her face numb.

After exiting the elevator, she continued to stumble down the hallway to her room. She laid on her bed, arm outstretched, staring at the ceiling. A hundred million dollars in ten hands... She could have paid the money if she really wanted to, but the truth was she would never regain the advantage she’d lost. Twilight had convinced herself that she had challenged Spike simply to restore her wounded pride, but if that was all she wanted, then she shouldn’t have needed to and shouldn’t have dared to play a game with such disastrous consequences.

“I never should’ve tried to play against Spike,” she thought. “It was stupid to believe I might be able to get my old position back. And, more than that, going up against Spike Drake was the biggest gamble of all. You go up against him, and you will always lose!”

It was a good 20 minutes before Twilight finally fell asleep.

That night, Twilight had more horrible nightmares and no matter how many times she woke up, Spike found his way back into them. Over the next few days, the nightmares got worse. She’d wake up, half-expecting to find clumps of her hair missing and her scalp bleeding. She chalked them up to stress and feelings of guilt about wanting to do something bad to Spike. She wanted the nightmares to stop, but even if they did, she couldn’t escape the darkness of her past. She hoped never to have to heave her squirming nakedness before the eyes of strangers ever again.

Spike was still very handsome, she thought. He always had his quick smile ready, and he was ever courteous. Sometimes he could still make her heart flutter, and he could make the other girls laugh when they were low. But something about the way she felt about him was changing, and it had been doing so for a while now. Whether she was hating him or longing for him, he was always on her mind, a strong, definitive presence, and one that she could not shake.

Meanwhile, the past three weekends had been the best of Spike’s life. He’d spent most of his free time with his harem (mostly Celestia or Applejack), using the Keys to the Kingdom and his favors at the various establishments to sweep them off their feet. They’d spend half the day in bed. Then they would hit the pool, a swank bistro, and a posh nightclub. He had standing reservations at the fanciest restaurants and hottest clubs, and front-row tickets to all the sold-out shows. The only thing stopping him from truly embracing her fully was Twilight Sparkle—her very presence was a dark storm cloud hanging around him, ready to pour down on his head—and he was looking for the perfect opportunity to cut her loose.

As for Applejack, she had never been happier. Every night and each time Spike touched her, she grew more sensitive to him. Sometimes she ached for his hand before it came to her flesh, and she despised herself for such weakness. Then she remembered how no other guy had ever made her feel that way, and she knew that made Spike extra special. He even started doing her laundry for her; mostly her panties. One time, they even made out with her sitting on one of the washing machines in the staff laundry room before he dropped his pants and started doing her on the machine while it ran. He set her upon the washer, adjusted no more than his shorts, and drove into her with the velocity of a summer storm. They only stopped when Coco walked in on them as the machine went into its rinse cycle.

“Oh, sorry!” she exclaimed. “I didn’t realize anyone was--I’ll come back later... much later!”

But Spike grabbed her wrist and invited her to join them... and she did.

The following night, Spike and his harem (minus Sassy) sat down for dinner. As usual, the casino was surging with visitors from all over the Northeast. It was an amazing thing to comprehend, considering that Las Pegasus was located in the middle of nowhere. The restaurant was small and dark, lit only by candles in gilded candelabras whose warm light was repeated in wall mirrors set in gold picture frames. The walls were covered in dark red satin and the chairs and ‘banquettes’ in matching red plush. In the far corner, a quintet consisting of Frederick Horseshoepin on grand piano, Octavia Melody on her cello, Wolfgang Canter and Symphony Song with their violins, and Parish Nandermane on harp, was playing the Gamblers’ Waltz with muted sweetness. Seduction dripped on the quietly throbbing air. It seemed to Spike that every woman was touching him with passion under the table.

“Have you made your decision on what to drink?” their waiter, a snooty man with pale cream skin, slicked back blue hair and brown eyes, asked after he’d offered Spike the leather-bound wine list.

“We would like your finest Champagne,” Spike said, with his finger on the page. “The Trottinger ‘45.”

“A fine choice, sir,” said Savoir Fare. “But if you will permit me,” he pointed, “the Flanc de Flanc Brut 1943 of the same marque is without equal.”

Spike smiled. “So be it,” he said. “And bring plenty of toast.”

Savoir Fare bowed as he went to get the wine.

“That’s not a well-known brand,” Spike said, “but it is probably the finest Champagne in the world. And the trouble with caviar is not how much you have, but how to get enough toast with it,” he explained to the women. “Forgive me, but I take ridiculous pleasure in what I eat and drink. It comes from being a bachelor for so long, but mostly from a habit of taking a lot of trouble over details.”

“Well, I like doing everything fully,” Fleur replied, “getting the most out of everything one does. I think that’s the only way to live.”

The bottles of Champagne arrived in their bowls of crushed ice and the waiters filled their glasses.

“Have you decided what you would like to have for dinner?” Savoir Fare asked when he returned.

“Please be expensive,” Spike said as he sensed the girls’ (particularly Applejack’s) hesitation, “or you’ll let down those beautiful dresses.”

They all smiled at him as they finished deciphering the maze of purple ink which covered the menu.

“I’d make two choices,” Fleur laughed, “and either would have been delicious. Behaving like a billionaire occasionally is a wonderful treat and if you’re sure... well, we’d like to start with the caviar and then have a plain grilled ‘rognon de veau’ with ‘pommes soufflées’. And then I’d like to have ‘fraises des bois’ with a lot of cream. Is that very shameless to be so certain and so expensive?”

“I myself will accompany the Mademoiselles with the caviar, but then I would like the ‘tournedos’, well done, with Béarnaise sauce, and scrambled eggs with bacon,” Spike added. “While they are enjoying the strawberries, I will have the salad with a little Ranch dressing. Do you approve?”

“My compliments,” Savoir Fare replied.

They sat in silence for a while, listening to the music, none of them smoked. Then Spike talked of other things while the women sipped their Champagne.

“When my mother died, I felt so lost and hopeless,” he said. “Every night I’d cry myself to sleep. It felt like each day that went by was another day lost. I didn’t care whether I lived or died. But one day, I was walking along and I saw someone dancing in the street, not a care in the world. And that’s when I realized something: I wasn’t really living. When I thought about you before falling asleep, I noticed I wouldn’t have nightmares. I began looking forward to seeing you again. It was like, for the first time, I was glad I was alive. You girls are everything to me! You are what the last two months have been about! You’re proof that I’m alive! Why’d I get in the limo and come to Las Pegasus that day? It’s obvious: so I could come here and meet all of you! I’m still alive and I have something to live for!”

Suddenly, Spike felt he had said too much, but the women appreciated the intimacy of his words. They were tempted to run their fingers through his hair, but many of them bit into her lower lips and held back, afraid of the very depths of the thing that raged between them. They could hold nothing back from him, and that was frightening, while he still held so very much of himself away from them.

Savoir Fare returned with the caviar and a mound of hot toast. Spike started heaping the caviar onto their plates. Savoir Fare supervised the other waiters’ serving of the second course and the group ate the delicious meal.

And all of this was witnessed by the Flimflam Brothers via the wall of monitors in their high-rise office.

“Ah, young love,” Flim said. “It’s a shame it won’t last.”

“This boy is our puppet, and we have barely begun to pull his strings,” Flam added as he and his brother turned from the monitors to Sassy Saddles.

“I don’t like this,” she told them. “He’s a lot smarter than you give him credit for.”

“What do we have to do to convince you?” Flim asked. “Diamonds?”

“A Maserati?” asked Flam.

“Your own show in the Midnight Lounge?” they both asked.

“It’s a start,” Sassy replied. “But you know I prefer cash.”

“What a coincidence,” a bittersweet voice said, “so do we.”

The Brothers and their #1 pit boss turned to face the doors and saw two familiar girls in purple suit jackets and plaid skirts standing across the room.

“Ah, Sour Sweet and Sunny Flare,” said Flim.

“Our two favorite enforcers from across the street,” added Flam.

“What can we do for you... ladies?” they both asked.

“Our boss wants her money,” Sunny Flare said.

“She’s starting to think that you don’t even have it,” Sour Sweet added.

“That’s... not entirely true,” Flim replied.

“Nor is it entirely false,” added Flam.

“She doesn’t care, either way,” Sunny Flare said. “If she doesn’t have what you two owe her by the end of the month... She starts by taking your resort.”

“And breaking your legs!” Sour Sweet added.

They took their leave and the Brothers continued watching Spike until he finished his drink and called for the bill. After he paid the check and gave a handsome tip to Savoir Fare, he rose and left the restaurant.

“And as for you, Twilight Sparkle, you’ve lost your friends,” Flim said, switching the monitor from Spike to her. “Now it’s time to lose everything else.”

After dinner with Spike, a few of the girls saw Twilight gambling and found themselves compelled to watch her. She had spent the past several hours playing, and no matter what she tried—Roulette, Craps, Poker, Blackjack, or the slot machines—she always lost. She was currently showing the Queen of Hearts, Nine of Diamonds, Seven of Clubs, King of Spades, and Six of Spades—Nothing.

“How?” Twilight asked. “How?”

Midnight Radiance, who was the dealer, shook his head as he showed the Five of Diamonds, the King of Diamonds, the Six of Diamonds, the Two of Hearts and the Two of Spades.

“Seriously?” Twilight thought. “Is this for real?”

“A pair of twos?” Starlight asked. “That’s the weakest hand in poker!”

Twilight got clobbered.

Her luck had finally run out.

“That’s it, I’ve had enough!” she said as she turned her back on the table. “I’m out of here.”

“Twi, why don’t you just call it a night, head up to your room, and lick your wounds?” Applejack asked her.

“Wait, is that Spike... with Countess Coloratura?” Fluttershy asked.

“What would Spike be doing with Countess Coloratura?” asked Sunset.

“That’s not Spike,” Rainbow Dash said. “Spike went to sleep hours ago.”

“He must be one Tartarus of a sleepwalker,” Applejack said as she pointed across the casino.

It was Spike. He was sitting at a table in the back of the dining area with Countess Coloratura, talking with her. Since they met, Coloratura had started playing what pleased her, not necessarily what the people wanted. Usually, when she played a spot, no matter how noisy or rude the clients, she wore a smile that eventually conquered even the most antagonistic audience; she projected her very real love of people, bathed the customers in it until they succumbed to her charm and responded. But now, she just didn’t care.

“Being an idol isn’t always fun,” she confessed. “Lessons are tough, and you don’t have a private life. And of course, romance is out of the question.”

Spike continued to listen carefully as she spoke about one of her songs.

“It’s about a lot of different things, but the main idea behind it was sex and gambling,” she explained. “I gamble, and I know several people who are really into sex and gambling, so I wanted to write something that they would like too. To make a long story short, that’s how they came up with the title ‘Poker Face.’”

“Because the same principle applies -- How to bluff... Or fake it,” he said.

“Exactly,” Coloratura smiled.

“And you recorded that in 2008?”

She nodded.

“Spike?”

He looked up and saw Twilight and Applejack standing by the table.

“What are you doing up?” Applejack asked. “I thought you went to bed.”

“I couldn’t sleep,” he replied. “You remember Countess Coloratura?”

“Twilight Sparkle,” Coloratura said. “I hear you used to be the top cat around here?”

Twilight went a little pink in the cheeks at the reminder.

“As I was saying, I would like to have lunch with you tomorrow,” Coloratura told Spike.

“I’m sure he would love to, but he has a lot of plans,” Twilight interjected. “Don’t you, Spike?”

“No, I don’t,” he said at Twilight. “I would be honored,” he told Coloratura. “Let me just tip Octavia. She was marvelous.”

“I might have... I’ve got something here,” Twilight mumbled as she sifted through her pockets.

Countess Coloratura dipped into her purse and gave Spike the cash.

“Oh, thank you,” he said gratefully. “Thank you very much for the drink, Rara. Good night.”

And he left them.

“Would either of you like to sit down?” Coloratura offered.

They both did.

“Very special guy,” Coloratura said.

“I know,” Applejack replied. “That’s why I started dating him.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Coloratura told her. “You know, AJ, I love men. I observe them. I cherish them.” She took AJ’s hand in hers. “Don’t let him get away. Or I just might steal him away myself.”

Coloratura spoke to Applejack like an old friend, but she sounded as though she meant it. When she spoke about Spike, AJ sensed that Rara really loved him.

Just then, Pinkie Pie popped out of nowhere.

“Oh, my Faust!” she exclaimed. “It’s Countess Coloratura! I’m a fan!” she said as she shook Rara’s hand. “I can’t believe I’m standing next to you!”

“Well, here, take my seat, Pinkie,” Twilight offered.

Pinkie gladly did, and she stared at Coloratura for a whole 20 seconds before asking, “Do you need a bodyguard? I’d die for you!”

At a quarter to midnight, Twilight returned to her room.

She didn’t sleep well at all that night.

As she lay in her bed, she experienced a sudden sense of melancholy. Was this where she belonged? Was this who she had become?

As she drifted off, she realized that she had no one to hug or kiss or laugh with. Instead, she had coworkers in a casino that seemed to gravitate toward the man who she saw as her sworn enemy.

She had a family back in Canterlot who didn’t know her anymore, including an older brother who worked for the Equestria Secret Service; and ex-boyfriends who had broken her heart because they didn’t play blackjack.

“Spike has stolen my job, my friends, and my life! Wait! Is this who I’ve become?” she wondered.

Every time she thought of Spike, she thought of him with malevolence. There had been many long, sleepless nights when she thought he deserved something bad—something really bad—to happen to him for the way he hurt her. Then Twilight felt the familiar twist of jealousy.

Had she wanted to think Spike was to blame?

Was she that jealous?

She had never even given Spike the benefit of the doubt. Not the smallest. Twilight felt her face burn yet knew with helpless finality that if the whole thing were to be played over again, she would think act and the exact same way.

Author's Note

Next time, Spike spends the day with Countess Coloratura and Discord disrespects Twilight one too many times.

P.S. In this universe, "Dragonese" is the equivalent of Esperanto. For those of you who were wondering.

Speculation

That night, Twilight’s nightmare changed. It began the same way, but then it changed. Spike was coming toward her; tall, towering, and muscular. It was Spike, but then it was not, and she was afraid. He caught her by the ankles and wrenched her down, brutally parting her legs. She tried to scream, but nothing came out.

Spike dissolved into mist and Twilight found herself walking toward a line of body bags. She didn’t want to open them, but she felt she had to. She started to scream again. There were corpses indeed, a line of them. First, Spoiled Rich’s body, a dagger protruding from her belly; and then Impossibly Rich, riddled with worm holes. Beside her lay Twilight herself, wide-eyed and covered in third-degree burns, the remains of a charred object in her arms.

She bolted up, trembling, drenched in sweat, shaking convulsively. Her heart beat hard, but it began to subside. The light from the moon bathed the room in a soft glow, and she was leaving behind the shadowy world of her terror. She didn’t even notice Spike stepping out of the Resort and onto the sidewalk just a few stories below her window... with Chrysalis, naked and on a leash, beside him!

Spike gazed at the choker around her neck. It was black leather, with the words “SPIKE’S BITCH” engraved into the silver tag—her birthday gift to him.

“Come along, now,” he said, a big smile on his face.

“Yes, Master,” Chrysalis replied.

Spike pulled on her leash and they walked slowly down the street. Chrysalis strutted alongside him with her head up high, her hands at her sides, her long hair flowing behind her, her breasts bouncing and hips swaying with each graceful step, and her nipples rock hard in the cool night air.

A drunken man’s jaw dropped as he stumbled out of a nearby alley. They ignored him as young kids, boys and girls, pulled out their cell phones and started to film Spike and Chrysalis. She sneered at the children, causing them to drop their phones and run away. Meanwhile, a group of elderly people across the street stopped dead in their tracks. They gasped and stared in shocking disbelief until Spike and Chrysalis rounded the corner.

“Don’t even think about it,” Chrysalis said to a guy as she sauntered past.

The punk reached out to grab her, but she threw him against the wall and he fell to the ground, face down. Chrysalis remained close to Spike as they continued to down the block. When they returned to the resort, Spike took her up to his suite.

“Thank you for taking me out for a stroll, Master,” she said.

Spike smiled as he began to unbuckle his belt. Since his return to Las Pegasus, he’d had more sex than any man deserved, and he was very grateful for getting so much tail.

Chrysalis got down on her knees in front of Spike, pointed to her collar, and said (in her most husky, not-so-innocent Fluttershy voice), “Fuck my throat until it breaks.”

Spike didn’t have to be told twice. But instead of shoving his cock into her mouth, he grabbed her by her hair, hauled her to her feet, forced his tongue down her throat, and the leather collar snapped like a twig. He broke her choker... now he was going to break her ass.

Chrysalis assumed her position on the bed, getting down on all fours, sticking her ass up as she arched her back and lowered her head onto the pillows. She bit her bottom lip as she nervously spread her legs for him. It was still a little difficult for Spike to believe that a woman so dominant in life was so submissive in the bedroom. Then she let out a light moan as he mounted and penetrated her.

“Anh! Y-Yes! Oooh s-so goood! I love your cock in my ass,” she squealed.

Just thinking about his hard cock up her uptight ass got her soaking wet now.

Her legs trembled a bit but she kept herself steady, grinning like an idiot as he rammed her anus, stretching it out.

“Mmmmh, slam your bitch’s butthole!”

Chrysalis was screaming Spike’s name as he ravaged her. She started to play with herself as he pounded her, only for him to grab her wrists and twist her arms behind her back.

“Did I say you could rub your clit?” he shouted. “Did I?!”

He hammered Chrysalis until her legs gave out and she slumped forward in a stupor. Her mouth hung open and she panted like a bitch in heat, drool running down her chin and onto the bed, as Spike’s load dripped out of her and she slowly started to come back to her senses.

“Mmmmn... It’s sore, but oh sooo amazing,” she admitted as she finally found the strength to stand. “You can use me as your personal cum dumpster anytime. My only wish is to please you.”

“You know, despite your humiliation, you could win ‘Best in Show’,”

“You spoil your slave, Master,” she said as she walked to the door.

“Until next time, my pet,” he replied.

The resort was bustling over with life as Twilight took a shortcut to the staff locker room that morning. She didn’t want to chance meeting anyone she knew, and most certainly didn’t wish to make conversation, especially not on this day. But as soon as she exited the staff locker room, Discord pulled her into his office.

“Sorry I’m late,” she said.

“Miss Sparkle, can you call the manufacturer of my watch and report a problem?” he asked her.

“What problem is that?”

“Well, it says it’s eight o’clock, but that can’t be right because I know you’re supposed to be here, at work, no later than 7:45,” he said.

“I already apologized for being late,” she replied. “Perhaps you could have snacked on your self-satisfaction.”

“So what happened? Was there a long line at the ladies’ showers again this morning or did you take some sort of detour?”

“No, you got it right the first time, long line at the showers,”

“So you didn’t stop anywhere? Not even that nerdy bookstore with the antique titles you like, the one that smells like ancient leather?”

“You know, now that you mention it, I did pop in--But how did you know?”

“Lucky guess,” Discord answered. “Twilight, how about, in the future, no more lies? You’re already standing on thin ice.”

Twilight knew that tardiness was one of the help’s greatest problems to her manager. She guessed it wasn’t so much that Discord cared about her being late, but that he would have to dismiss her for negligence. More than once had she complained about being forced to perform tedious tasks, but she was being paid more than adequate for her services. In that respect, Twilight reluctantly credited Discord. But there were days she wanted to strangle him. Some days she wished she had Discord’s neck between her hands. She’d delight in choking the lift out of him. However, Spike was the one who’d caused her most recent humiliation, and if he was there, she’d have gladly twisted his neck also.

Her brother, Shining Armor, had always told her she was a fighter. That when the deck was stacked against her she’d somehow turn out a winner. Twilight had endeavored to please her father and her mother when she was young. To her youthful eyes her father was the most intelligent and kindly man, her mother was astonishingly beautiful. She remembered how they’d tuck her in at night when she was a child and plant a loving kiss on her forehead, tell her what a big girl she was and how much they loved her.

Loved her! Her father’s love had turned out to be as thin as gossamer. A woman claiming to be an old friend had come to Canterlot to visit and he had fallen in love with her. Never mind that he and the woman were both married to other people. Their lust to each other became the driving force in their lives.

Twilight recalled that until the day she’d left home her father had been a different sort of man, for she had known him to be a faithful, loving husband. As Twilight grew older she wondered who that woman was. However, her parents appeared happy with things as they were. Though they never divorced, Twilight wondered why her mother and father never fought, and why they docilely allowed Shining Armor to leave home and didn’t protest his job with the Secret Service. Had her father been a basically weak, cuckolded man, a man who pretended to adore his wife and only for the sake of their children? Twilight hated to think so.

But when she got through her shift, none of that mattered. All she wanted to do for the afternoon was sit down to a game of blackjack, and be thankful that Spike Drake wasn’t playing with her or the one dealing the cards to her.

“Twenty-One, that’s the name of the game, ladies and gents,” Midnight Radiance said as he shuffled the cards.

Twilight stood on a pair of tens, which she refused to split. Then he showed the King of Clubs and the Ace of Hearts—Twenty-One.

“Care for another go?” he asked her.

“What do you think?” she replied. “Do you think I am a sucker? You think I just got off the bus? I bet two hundred and fifty bucks!”

“Sorry, Twi, you’ve already had three thousand on credit,” he said. “You’ll have to get the okay from... Sassy Saddles!”

The pit boss came over when Midnight Radiance called her name.

“What’s the problem, Midnight?” she asked.

“Our friend here wants more credit, but she’s already into us for quite a bit,” he explained.

“I see,” Sassy replied. “Well, Twilight, you owe us money and obviously you can’t pay, so what are you going to do about it?”

“I’m going to make a comeback,” she said.

Spike arrived at Countess Coloratura’s house outside the city and reached for the doorbell. He paused, his palm damp, his heart beating too hard and too quickly. It was too good to be true, yet, after pinching himself several times on his walk up to the door, he realized it was truly happening to him. Then he reminded himself that Coloratura was just a normal woman like all the others in his life. He did not need to tremble like a little kid in the principal’s office. He rang the bell and she answered the door herself, wearing tight black yoga pants, a gray tank top and blue tennis shoes. Her eyes twinkled and her hair was in a ponytail, which made her look five years younger.

“Spike, welcome,” she greeted him warmly.

“Um, did I come at a bad time?” he asked. “Because... I could just...”

“Oh, no, a singer’s body is her instrument and I believe in keeping my instrument finely tuned,” she replied. “Come on in, you can join me.”

She pulled the door open and he stepped into her home. She closed the door behind him and their feet echoed across the marble floor as she led him into her living room. There began one of the most thrilling days of his life.

“This is a nice place, Coloratura,”

“Please, call me Rara,” she said.

She brought in a second yoga mat and he stood on it, right next to her. They started with the Dancer Pose, transitioned to Cat Pose, then Coiled Snake, Trained Llama, Inverse Badger, Stranded Turtle, Eagle, Peacock, Warrior, Rabbit, Tree, Fish, Locust, and of course, Downward Dog. Spike sighed as he and Rara finally knelt into sitting position. He stretched his neck to the right and then to the left, marveling how loose every muscle in his body felt.

When they had finished, and were warm and rather sweaty, they relaxed into the final stretches. And even though Coloratura was very flexible, it was difficult for her to get the full benefit of certain stretches without assistance. So, when she asked Spike to help her, he was more than happy to. They ended up very close to one another, with Coloratura’s leg over his shoulder, his arms around her, and looking straight into one another’s eyes. Spike tried to look away, to avoid the exchange of that look that conveys the inevitability of sleeping with one another, that mutual feeling of shared sexual purpose.

After yoga, they spent most of the afternoon reenacting the choreography from her famous “Poker Face” music video: everything from her emerging from her swimming pool to the Poker game itself.

“What do you think, Spike?” Coloratura asked mid-pose. “Should I stick my butt out a bit further? Or maybe that’s too much for the opening of the show.”

“It’s really up to you, Rara,” Spike said. “You’re the artist.”

“That I am,” she replied.

Meanwhile, back at the resort, Applejack and Sunset Shimmer were stopped by Twilight when they passed through the casino. Of all the people that Sunset and AJ did not want to see, Twilight topped their lists.

“What do you want?” Applejack asked her.

“I just thought you’d be interested to learn what Spike is up to,” she said.

“That’s funny,” AJ replied. “I always thought that creatures like you rattled before they struck. And I didn’t hear a thing.”

“I thought I was doing you a favor,” Twilight said. She seemed to purr those words. “Sorry I bothered you.”

Applejack and Sunset both fought back the temptation to slap Twilight’s face. They both knew exactly where Spike was, and what he was doing... and they both had had enough of Twilight’s childish little schemes.

“No, malicious, we’re not bothered,” Sunset replied before she and AJ walked off. “When we learn Spike has an enemy as venomous as you it just makes us love him even more. Feel free to come to us any time; I’d love for you to waste your breath.”

As they left Twilight, Sunset began to wonder if there was something more to Spike’s relationship with Countess Coloratura other than friendship. She felt a bit of surprise at the stab of jealousy coursing through her at the thought that Coloratura might be Spike’s newest mistress.

Applejack, on the other hand, hadn’t thought about Spike with Rara since the evening they had drinks, but it haunted her nightly. Rara had her faults, but she was a trusted friend. And Spike... He had never lied to her. And he had never given AJ reason to believe that he would betray her. It was her temper, she thought, her damn temper, and the jealousy that soared from her heart—and between her legs—when she saw the light in his eyes when he spoke to another woman.

That evening, Coloratura changed into a blue silk nightie gaping at the bosom with white veiling that did very little to cover her breasts. She watched Spike in awe as he helped himself to a third bowl of her pasta. This exquisite creature, who casually lounged on her sofa, filled Rara with love. And she hadn’t felt love in some time.

“Dinner was wonderful, Rara,” he said when he’d finished. “Thank you.”

“Well, I hope you enjoyed the company half as well as the food,” she replied. “You know, Spike, I’ve always felt very blessed by all the gifts that I’ve been given. But after meeting you I realize how truly alone I am.”

“But, Rara, you have millions of fans,”

“You mean that cult? Please. They just love me for my talent. I feel so many things right now. I wish I could spend the rest of my life with you,”

For the first time in a long time, Spike was at a loss for words.

He didn’t know what to say.

There had been a time when Countess Coloratura had listened to everything that Svengallop told her and had done what he said she had to do, even when it made her sick on occasion. But that was before she met Spike Drake. After Spike looked at her, smiled at her, and touched her, Rara knew he would be more than just another fan, a stranger passing through town.

“Spike, there’s something I have to tell you. I’ve always been a moral woman... a moral woman living in an immoral world. But my resolve is melting in the blinding light of your handsome smile,” Rara said as she handed him a little blue velvet box. “I have something for you.”

“It’s not a lock of your hair, is it?” he asked nervously.

“Oh, no,” she assured him.

Spike timidly opened the lid, half expecting it to blow up in his face. That’s when he saw half of a small, custom made silver locket.

“It’s a piece of my heart,” she said.

Rara got up and Spike heard the whisper of her slippers crossing the carpeted floor as he watched her walk toward him.

“Please, Faust, don’t let her touch me,” he prayed. “Don’t let her trust me like a lover right now.”

But she had touched him, and soon she was climbing on top of him. Her eyes huge, her lips parted, the closeness, the intimacy, her vulnerability, it was overwhelming. She wanted him so bad she could scream, and when he noticed the beautiful parts of her body; the white of her legs and thighs as her nightgown rode up, he found himself trembling.

“Rara, please,” he said breathlessly.

She was just about to kiss him when a pair of women, a hot blonde and a smokin’ redhead, burst through the door to the living room.

“I can’t believe it!” the blonde exclaimed. “Twilight was right!”

“Get off of him!” the redhead shouted.

“Sunset, Applejack, it’s not the way it looks!” Spike said quickly.

“I’m sorry, AJ,” Rara told her childhood friend, “but I’m in love with him.”

“Rara—” Spike attempted.

“Spike, you’re more romantic than any love song, you’re a loyal friend, and an amazing kisser! On a scale of one to ten with ten being the best, you’re a twenty-two! You are the first decent, honorable man I have met and I am unbelievably turned on by your kind heart,” Rara went on. “The worst thing anyone can ever do in life is deny their true feelings.”

“You really believe that?” Sunset asked. “In that case, we’ll just be stealing Spike back right now. We’re gonna fuck you right here, right now, right in front of her. We are going to show this pop star what it really looks like when a couple of young people are in love.”

Rara gasped.

“That’s enough, all of you!” Spike shouted. “If this is how you’re going to behave, then we should all fuck!”

The three women stared at him with the same wide-eyed expression.

“We should all fuck?” they asked.

Spike wasn’t exactly sure what happened next, or how it happened, but within minute, the three women were undressed and all over him. They took their time undressing him; their hands rubbing all over his body, plenty of kisses too, as they took off his clothes one piece at a time. As Sunset and Applejack removed Spike’s shirt, Coloratura got on her knees to unbuckle his pants. She pulled his boxers down with her teeth, his erection making it a struggle.

A mob of fingers feverishly danced over Spike’s chest and abs as Rara’s hands gently brushed over his cock as if she were playing a harp before she licked the tip. She started slowly and softly, then hard and fast. Spike’s gentle moans were incentive for her to continue.

Applejack pushed Spike back onto the sofa and Rara knelt before him on all fours, her snow white derrière angled up to meet him. Like the rest of her, it exuded a cheeky defiance that Spike felt he needed to conquer.

“Push me into her,” he said to Applejack.

AJ’s eyes gleamed as her hand took hold of his cock and pushed it down into Rara’s little puckered hole. Rara moaned, her head thrown back. His cock glistened in the dim light with their juices.

“You’re... so...”

“I know,” Spike said as he stroked Rara’s hair. “I know.”

Rara could hardly speak, as her face was buried between Applejack’s legs, which she licked while Spike fucked her and Sunset went between licking Spike’s balls and Rara’s clit. The whole foursome lasted little more than an hour, even after they changed positions four times, but when it was all said and done, the three women were spent.

A few minutes later, Twilight stormed into Discord’s office.

“For the past few days, you seem to know my every move,” she said. “The bookstore, my tailor, how many times I’ve used the restroom. Fess up. Did you install something in my phone so that you could track my movements?”

“In your phone, no,” he confessed. “Remember when we had that infestation of bats last year and the Brothers made all the employees get mandatory rabies shots? Well, you were the only one that actually got them.”

“Why would you bring in a nurse to give only me a rabies shot?”

“Well, she wasn’t actually a nurse; she was a veterinarian,”

“No. Did... Did you implant a tracking chip in me? You actually inserted a microchip into my body to track me? Unbelievable!!”

Discord nodded. Under the guise of a rabies shot, he had a GPS tracking chip implanted into Twilight’s ass.

Twilight marched out of Discord’s office in a rage, only to run into Spike... and the bulk of his harem. They formed a wall in front of him; they didn’t like the way Twilight was looking at him, like she hated him. As if she knew him, or knew something about him, deep inside, and hated him for it. But what?

And why should he care?

“Are you even a little bit curious about my problem, which you created?” she asked him.

“Your insanity?” Spike replied. “In my defense, I did not do that to you. You did that yourself.”

Twilight was about to speak again when Applejack ordered her to shut up.

“You’ve been top cat for a long time, but you’ve been acting like a brat!” AJ shouted. “You’ve been treating Spike like he’s the plague, and the only time we ever hang out is when you’re on your way in or out of the casino!”

“I’ve invited you!”

“You know, I find it almost amusing how you’ve had a hate-on for Spike all summer even before he started bedding us one-by-one,” Fluttershy put in.

“He’s overcompensating for feelings of inadequacy with an ostentatious display of hormonal activity!” Twilight replied.

“It’s unlimited sex!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “The adult male’s version of owning a candy store!”

“Even if he did show any interest in you at all, I wouldn’t have to try to impress him and I would still kick your butt in the better girlfriend department!” Rarity told Twilight. “I mean, why would he want second-hand discount mall when he can have the very best in designer couture?”

Then Sunset glared at Twilight with burning eyes.

“You find the Twilight Sparkle we became friends with and tell her we are with Spike ‘the Lucky Prince’ Drake!” she yelled. “Come on, girls.”

She took Spike’s hand, eager to be gone from Twilight and to put the whole sordid mess from their minds.

“Don’t worry about me!” Twilight hollered after them. “I got plenty I can do on my own in Las Pegasus!”

The following morning, the first thing she did—after having the tracking chip removed—was turn in her letter of resignation to Flim and Flam.

“I quit. I don’t belong in Las Pegasus and there’s no point in arguing about it,” she said. “As of now, I no longer work under you, with you, or for you.”

“If this is the part where you’re supposed to wait for an apology, and I’m supposed to give one, you should know by now that you’re never going to get it,” Discord told her.

“I know. It will be a cold day in Tartarus before that ever happens!” Twilight shouted. “If I end up getting there first, I’ll tell Cerberus to keep your reserved spot extra hot for you when you get there, you bastard!”

“You will be contacted at a later date in regards to how we intend to collect the debt you still owe,” Flim said.

“You may escort this loser outside,” Flam told Caramel and Lucky Clover. “We’re done with her.”

As Pinkie Pie made her way through the ninety-nine cent buffet at the Montage later that night, she piled her plate high with Crab Rangoon, chicken fingers, the Jackpot Burger, and the Tropical Banana Torte.

“Thanks for buying me dinner, Pinkie,” Twilight said.

As Twilight stared at her plate of spaghetti Bolognese, macaroni, and extra runny bread pudding, she couldn’t help feeling a little sad about leaving the Resort. It was like a bad relationship ending. For Twilight, the agony of the final parting with her coworkers tore her to shreds. However, the bitterness for Spike Drake rose within her. All her pent-up anger and frustration was still transferring to him. For his treatment of her, she vowed to make him sorry.

“Pinkie... when you look at me, what do you see?” Twilight asked.

Pinkie, who sat across from her at their table, stared at Twilight for a whole seven seconds, trying to come up with an answer... and couldn’t.

“I’ll tell you what you see,” Twilight answered for her. “You see a stubborn, opinionated, smug woman who used to be the best card dealer in Las Pegasus, who used to have friends, who doesn’t belong in this city, who’s not even worthy of this lousy food. I’m not a sister, I’m not a daughter, I’m not a friend, and I’m not even a washout... I’m nothing! Look at all these happy friends and families. Where did I go wrong? Without my friends and family, there is no Twilight Sparkle. Pinkie... I’ve gambled away more than you’ll ever understand.”

“Try me,” the party girl replied.

Twilight leaned across the table and whispered, “Twenty billion dollars.”

“Oh, Faust! Oh, Faust! Oh, Faust! Oh, my Faust! Oh, Faust!” Pinkie swore up and down.

“I don’t know what I’m going to tell the other girls,” Twilight said. “If I could just get a little money, I could turn it all around.”

“Twi, you’ve been good to me through all these years. I hate to see you down like this. I’ve got some... money stashed away and... it would be my honor to help you in your time of need,”

“You mean it?”

“There’s just one little problem,” Pinkie said. “We have to meet with the Brothers. They’ve extended an invitation for me to join them at the fight.”

Twilight had never been to a professional boxing match, but she knew that the tickets for a Las Pegasus fight were almost impossible to get. But not only was Pinkie hooked up, she walked around with ten thousand dollars hidden in her hair and tucked between her breasts. What else did she have left to lose?

Pinkie handed Twilight the ticket.

“It’s a good seat,”

Fight night in Las Pegasus was a night like no other.

The night sky was black as sackcloth, and that weekend was packed even worse than usual because of the fight. It was the high-profile pay-per-view event: Octavia Melody vs. Cherry Blossom, the fight of the season. Octavia was the reigning champion in female mud, oil, and jello wrestling.

Twilight knew that the whole city would be jumping by Saturday night. Fights (boxing, wrestling, or cage fighting) made for the perfect conditions; crowds of drunk people filling the pits, high-rolling celebrities drawing everyone’s attention, mammoth sport stars throwing huge money down on foolish bets—and whenever the crowds came out, the card counters followed in droves. From the moment the doors opened, Twilight was swept up in the sea of frenetic energy. A mob of drunken revelers packed together, all dressed in colorful, sometimes bizarre fashion, everyone shouting and pointing and rushing in random directions, buzzers and bells and bright lights and flesh, so much flesh, women in leather skirts and saran wrap tops, men with their shirts open to the navel and too much jewelry, mobsters in pinstripes, middle-aged tourists, cowboys and wannabe hipsters...

Pinkie and Twilight walked down the center aisle of the arena, weaving through the crowd, their eyes dazzled by the bright lights, pay-per-view cameras, and shouting fans. Twilight kept checking and rechecking the seat number on her ticket; the ring was getting closer, and there was still no sign of her row.

They approached the Flimflam Brothers’ box—right up by the ropes.

“More credit? No!” Flim answered Twilight’s request. “No! No way, no how! Do you have any idea how much you owe already?”

“Twenty-two billion six hundred million exactly,” Flam added.

“Of course, we could erase your debt,” Flim went on. “But you would have to disappear... out of Las Pegasus, out of Equestria, and never see or speak to Spike Drake ever again. Well?”

“Or I could just tell Spike about your plan to sell your resort in order to pay off your debt to Impossibly Rich and keep whatever was left over for yourselves,” Twilight answered.

“That sort of claim could send a man like Spike into quite a rage,” said Flim.

“Especially if the messenger had no proof,” added Flam.

“Spike and I are friends, he’ll believe me,”

“People believe what they want to believe, Miss Sparkle,” Flam replied. “And my brother and I both want to believe that you’re a smart woman who doesn’t go around spreading dangerous rumors.”

“You know what? I don’t care anymore! I don’t care if I ever get my money back! And I don’t care what happens to me!” Twilight said. “But I am not going to let you two weasels worm your way out of your own debts! As soon as I find Spike, I am going to tell him exactly what’s been going on! Then we’ll see how well your plan worked.”

As soon as Twilight turned her back on the Brothers, one of them sent a message to one of the bouncers’ pagers, ordering him to pull the burglar alarm.

“What the--?” Twilight exclaimed.

“There has been a robbery! All guests to the lobby!”

The crowd vacated their seats and marched towards the lobby of the hotel, with Twilight and the Flimflam Brothers bringing up the rear. Twilight was so stunned by the sound of the alarm going off that she didn’t even notice as one of them slipped something into her pocket.

Spike was with his harem when Twilight came in, but he did not look at her because he was bothered by her presence. When the last of the guests had finally assembled in the lobby, the Flimflam Brothers stood at the base of the gold statues of themselves.

“Ladies and gentlemen, my brother and I regret to inform you that there is a criminal in our midst,” Flim announced.

“But before we expose them to the public, we would like to give them the chance to step forward and admit their wrongdoing,” added Flam.

When no one moved, Flam said, “Very well. A very valuable necklace has been stolen from one of the V.I.P. suites.”

“A necklace belonging to our dear, dear friend, Spike Drake,” Flim added.

“My Fire Ruby?” Spike breathed.

“All right, who did it?” Rarity shouted. “So help me, if you don’t step forward right now, I will personally--”

“I don’t think violence will be necessary,” Flim told her, “because we already know exactly who stole the Fire Ruby: a desperate individual, drowning in gambling debt.”

“Gentlemen, turn out your pockets. Ladies, empty your purses,” Flam instructed. “Whoever has the Fire Ruby is the culprit.”

Each of the men quickly did as he was told while the women did the same. The security guards searched every single one of them, beginning with Applejack and ending with Twilight Sparkle.

And the Fire Ruby was found in Twilight’s pocket.

Fluttershy and Rarity gasped.

“I didn’t take it!” Twilight cried.

“Do you deny that you owe this casino over a billion dollars in gold with no way to pay it back?” Flim asked.

Then the entire crowd gasped.

“Is that true?” Rarity asked Twilight.

Before Twilight could even say another word, Spike tore the ruby necklace from her hands, slicing his fingernails across her palms so quickly and so hard that he cut into them.

“Security, take this woman to jail!” Flam shouted.

Caramel and Lucky Clover grabbed Twilight by her arms and dragged her across the lobby, despite her frantic struggling.

“And to think, I had notions of grooming you for higher office -- assistant manager, even,” Discord said to her. “What a disappointment.”

Twilight turned her head to look at Moon Dancer; another person that had double-crossed her. It had always been that Moon Dancer could bring Twilight luck whenever she needed it, but now, when she needed Moon Dancer the most, she had loused out on her.

It was all Spike’s fault, damn him. If he had chose her, if he’d just picked her, everything would have gone perfectly and she wouldn’t be on her way to jail. But he had given up on her, and not only had he given up on her, he took all of her luck, all Twilight Sparkle’s fabulous luck.

To Tartarus with them all, she thought. Spike, Applejack, Sunset Shimmer, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Starlight Glimmer, Moon Dancer, Trixie, Celestia, all of them—they could all go to Tartarus. From now on, she’d look out for her only friend, Twilight Sparkle.

As she was forced into the back of a police squad car, Twilight smiled a secretive smile, a sudden malicious light coming into her eyes.

“I’m going to make him pay, make him rue the day he met me and ruined me. Before I’m finished, he’ll be on his knees, begging me to end him.”

Spike was apprehensive when he rode the elevator up to his suite that night. He was full of mixed emotion. Anger with Twilight for stealing his most prized possession—assuming she had stolen it at all—he did have at least some doubts about that. Although he had to admit to himself that it gave him a certain degree of pleasure to see the shoe switched to the other foot... and with such unexpected speed. Sorrow for his mother, and also joy—a counteractive joy that seemed to wash any and all thoughts of Twilight away. When he entered his suite, Spike closed the door behind him and saw someone standing before the window that led out onto the balcony.

“Shining Armor?” he asked.

“Come on in,” Twilight’s brother said. “It is your suite, after all.”

Spike was reluctant to do so. This was the third time (fifth if you counted Spike’s birthday and the Ragamuffin Case reopening) in the same number of months that Shining Armor had dropped in on Spike, and every time he had he’d done so it with a certain tenderness and love as if the two men were brothers. But now, as he looked at Shining Armor, Spike knew that he had something very important to tell him, something that would change his life.

“My sister’s evilness has finally caught up with her,” he said solemnly. “She’s always been evil. Smart, obsessive, realistic—but evil. I know what Twilight really was but I loved her in spite of it. So now, here we are.”

“You didn’t come here just to say that,” Spike stated.

Shining Armor looked at Spike, who had crossed the room to where Shining was standing, and his voiced dropped to a whisper.

“What I’m about to tell you can’t leave this room,” he went on. “I found out my sister’s been working as a mole for Impossibly Rich; she has for a while now.”

“Do you have proof or did you just hear about it?” Spike asked.

“I’ve been following her myself for the past two weeks,” Shining replied. “I tracked her to a back alley, and I saw her and a couple of Rich’s employees enter the sewers. I followed them down, where two sketchy guys were waiting for them. They were Dragons. I couldn’t hear everything, but I heard the Dragons say that they were the ones who bombed that gambling den the other day.”

Shining turned his head from one side to the other, and his eyes shifted around the room, as if to make sure that they were completely alone.

“The men who were killed in that bombing were not working for Impossibly Rich; they were undercover EBI agents trying to break a counterfeiting ring,”

“But somebody found them out and that’s why they were killed,” Spike assumed, rather passively. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Impossibly Rich’s back is to the wall, Spike. She is having trouble getting financing from the city’s banks. She’s missed her last two payrolls and is losing employees as well as customers. Her only hope is the Dragon Mafia,” Shining said. “I want you to help me. I know about you, about Dragon Lord Torch, and your connection to him.”

“He and I are not working with Impossibly Rich,” Spike stated.

“I know you’re not, and I know he’s not. That’s why I’m leaving him out there as bait. This is a lot bigger than Torch and the Dragons,” Shining exhaled before going on. “I know he’s throwing a party at the Hard Rock Hotel next Friday night. I want you to go there and find out what you can.”

Spike shifted his gaze from Shining Armor for a moment. Then he met eyes with him once more and slowly nodded his head.

“I’ll do it,” he said.

Shining Armor placed his hands on Spike’s shoulders and thanked him.

Author's Note

Next time: things get complicated when Spike and his friends attend the party at the recently reopened Hard Rock Hotel, and Spike confronts his godfather.

Torch Overthrown

Spike watched the dawn-kissed horizon from his balcony, feeling more than weary. A small grin split his lips as he exhaled a small green flame (another positive side effect from his time being trapped in Micro Chips’ video game). He longed to return to his bed and sleep, but remembered the beautiful women who waited there for him. Not only were they beautiful, but spirited too. Spike liked that in a woman. He recalled most of his past girlfriends being too easy, too eager to come to his bed, to please him. Most men, he knew, would have killed for the chance to bed willing women, but Spike was different than most men. More than anything, he appreciated a challenge, and his harem never disappointed him. On this particular morning, he breathed deeply as he admired the tapestry of colors in his bed as the sun rose, mesmerized by the image of almost two dozen women in his boudoir, their hair fanning his pillows.

They had returned to his suite after watching the Dazzlings perform their newest song, “Find the Magic”, in the Midnight Lounge the night before, and once again, Spike found himself hypnotized by their beauty. As he sat in the audience, front and center, he couldn’t help but smile at how happy the trio looked as they sang. He loved their new outfits: everything from Aria’s tight pants to the spikes on Adagio’s leather jacket and thigh-high boots. He even got a good chuckle from the designs on Sonata’s dress, which looked like tacos. But the cherries on that sundae were the ruby necklaces they held in their hands throughout their performance. Spike had given them to the Dazzlings in their dressing room before they went onstage. And after giving him a tearful, thankful group hug, they gave it their all, leaving the audience breathless from their angelic crooning.

As the Dazzlings rode the elevator up that night, they thought of just how lucky they were to know Spike. They’d had a few boyfriends that gave them baubles and all sorts of trinkets, but gifts didn’t keep them warm at night. Adagio, Aria and Sonata would never give up one moment of their time with Spike for a ruby necklace or anything else. They loved him more than they loved themselves, and they treasured each and every one of his kisses and touches. Now, they lay in Spike’s bed with the rest of his women, still smiling and still happy, knowing that they were a part of his ever growing horde.

“Twilight in jail,” Sonata said. “Do you think she’s anyone’s bitch yet?”

“Sonata, she’s been in jail for over twelve hours,” Aria replied. “Of course she’s someone’s bitch!”

Their comments caught Spike by surprise, but he felt even more surprise to suddenly feel pity for Twilight. He remembered his conversations with Shining Armor the previous day, and found himself wondering just how many of the Captain’s words were true. Shining shared his knowledge of his sister’s many mistakes; including the ones he hadn’t told Spike before, like Twilight having to do soft-core in order to stay off the streets.

Spike hadn’t thought about that. In his mind, any woman or man who sold themselves was a disgusting creature. He had known poverty, but only for a short time. Between his godfather Torch and his adoptive mother Celestia, Spike had always been well provided for. He didn’t want to think of being poor, nor could he imagine resorting to selling his body, or worse, his soul, just to survive.

Spike looked at Applejack, who sat up in his bed, with the crimson sheet pulled up to her breasts, her long honey-colored hair cascaded around her shoulders like a waterfall, and her lustful green eyes shined at him. Her face was still flushed with their recent lovemaking and she made a most voluptuous sight as she shot him a devastatingly lovely smile.

“Don’t listen to them,” she said. “She treated you shabbily.”

Spike leaned over and kissed her on her ruby-colored mouth. Then a frown furrowed his brow when he heard a knock at his door.

“I won’t be long, my tigress,” he flirted as he patted her on her bottom.

He stood up straight, handsome in his nakedness, and pulled on his robe. He walked to the door, put his eye to the peephole, and saw two familiar faces close together. It was Lyra and Bon Bon, looking gorgeous as always.

“What are you two doing here?” he asked after he opened the door.

“We’re sorry to pop by unannounced like this,” Bon Bon said, “but we meant to invite you to our party tonight and someone...” She pointed at Lyra. “...forgot to do it.”

“Oh, like that’s the crime of the century!” Lyra exclaimed. “We’re both here now, so why don’t we just ask him?”

“Ask me what?” Spike asked, raising an eyebrow in mild curiosity.

“We’re having a little get-together at the Hard Rock tonight,” Bon Bon said.

“Just a few friends,” Lyra added.

“Very casual,” Bon Bon went on.

“Fabulous catering,”

“Yummy waiters and waitresses,”

“And lots of famous people!” they finished together.

Applejack had gotten out of bed and stood beside Spike, tenderly running her fingers through his hair and across his chest.

“We would love to, but we already have plans,” she told them.

“Aww, it won’t be the same without you, Spike,” said Bon Bon.

Lyra agreed and they left arm in arm. After Spike closed the door, he turned to Applejack. He tilted his head to one side, his bottom lip trembling, and his warm, loving eyes starting to well up with tears.

“Don’t even try it!” she glared at him.

“The same night as the party that Torch invited me to, what are the odds of that happening?” Spike asked. He gasped. “It could be the same party!”

Spike ordered scrambled eggs with bacon, doughnuts, and cocoa for breakfast in the Café later that morning. Sitting with his harem at his exclusive booth, he’d finished peppering the eggs when Applejack asked him to pass the salt.

“Say we’re going to the Torch-Lyra-Bon-Bon party at the Hard Rock,”

“No!” she stated.

“Then no salt for you,” he replied, and proceeded to stick the shaker down the front of his pants. “I can’t believe I’m gonna miss a really great party with fantastic food, top shelf booze, celebrities including famous singers, pro athletes--”

“Whoa, whoa! Professional athletes?” Zephyr Breeze, who had just entered the Café with Soarin, inquired.

“Yeah, but what do you care?” Spike replied. “You don’t follow sports.”

“No, but I follow models, and models follow athletes,” Zeph replied.

“He’s right,” Soarin added. “Back home in Cloudsdale, we Wonderbolts got all the best tail. In fact, the Lady ‘Bolts were the best tail.”

“I’m going to that party,” Zephyr said.

“You weren’t invited,” Spike told him.

“A mere formality,” Zeph replied.

Suddenly, Spike felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out and he checked his messages.

“Are you serious?!”

“What? What is it?” Pinkie asked.

“Thorax just texted me; he wants me to meet him at the Hard Rock tonight,” Spike said. “He’s bringing his brother Pharynx along and he wants you gals to come with me,” he told his harem.

Applejack loved Spike. She loved him so much that sometimes she actually felt a physical pain to imagine that he might be lying to her. And he was smart enough and crafty enough to lie convincingly about anything.

“I don’t believe you!” she exclaimed.

“I’m not lying, Thorax really texted me,” he said, showing them the message on his phone.

“You’re serious?” Sunset asked. “You got three invites to the same club on the same night?”

“Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, but three times... is anything but,” Spike said. “Well, I guess I won’t be needing this anymore.”

He reached down the front of his pants and pulled out the salt shaker.

“How long has that been in there?” Zephyr inquired.

Spike entered Flim and Flam’s office five minutes before seven o’clock that evening. He had been feeling for some time that the Brothers were getting into deep water. In nearly all respects they were competent men, but their habits were their Achilles heel of which many had been able to take advantage of from time to time, including being able to obtain insight into their private affairs. And according to Shining Armor, the Flimflam Brothers were on the brink of a financial crisis. Further investigations were made with a little help from a few insiders, and a lot had come to light.

“What brings you here?” they asked Spike.

“I’m here about some things that I found out about your resort’s great and honorable past. Like how Gladmane sold it to a couple of shysters who are dealing it through so many dummy corporations that not even the IRS knows who really owns it. About how you two have been waiting until the right time to turn it back into a playground for Mafia bigwigs, and about how you almost had to be shut down when one of them ended up dead... Along with his bodyguards,”

Flim and Flam stood in surprised silence.

Frowning, Spike continued.

“The best part happened after ‘Bugsy’ Green was shot, though. Two more quick shuffles and then the resort is suddenly owned by a private citizen, a woman named Impossibly Rich, who just happens to be the same woman who owns the resort across the street from yours. And don’t even try to claim that this is ‘public knowledge’ because I can assure you it formed no part of my knowledge. People may remember the Green shooting, sure, but I doubt if anybody has been able to put together all the wondrous and strange shuffles your resort has been through since the Second Great War. And it always seems like a Rich or an associate of the Rich Family comes up with the door prize. What was Impossibly Rich running here from ’76 to ’86, before Gladmane owned it? It was a brothel, wasn’t it? That’s what Ragamuffin found out when he and his wife checked in that summer in 1986. They found out that Impossibly Rich bought control of a whole chain of brothels for fifty million dollars. And when they tried to turn her over to the authorities, she murdered them herself along with the maid who agreed to help them bring her down... and made it look like a double murder-suicide to the public eye.”

“Lies!” the Brothers stated.

“Are they?” Spike asked.

“If you are planning to write some ugly smear article...” Flim began.

“Or if this is some ill-conceived blackmail idea--” Flam added.

“Nothing of the sort,” Spike said. “I just don’t like being played for a fool.”

“Did you really think that we would share a big pile of dirty laundry with some dancer?” Flim asked. “Who do you think you are?”

“And how could those old stories possibly affect you?” added Flam.

“This isn’t even your resort, is it?” Spike asked them.

“We should sack you for this impertinence,” said Flim. “In fact, we will.”

“I think your shareholders, Mr. Glimmer and Mrs. Flare, might object. Strenuously,” Spike replied.

“And we believe you have finally overestimated your friends’ commitment to you, Mr. Drake,” said Flim.

“Who owns the resort now?” Spike demanded. “Is it still Rich Enterprises? Or are you two too small fry to know?”

“That will do, Mr. Drake,” Flam interjected. “You are an employee of the hotel, no different from a busboy or a kitchen pot scrubber.”

“It is Impossibly Rich, isn’t it? Maybe I should walk across the street, tear my way through her entire army of flunkies, march right into her office, and ask her myself. I might even tell her that the Flimflam Brothers—”

“Impossibly Rich doesn’t own us,” Flim said finally. “None of the Richs own this place. The stockholders do. Starlight’s father, Firelight, owns the largest block of stock himself: thirty-five percent. You would know better than us if he has any ties to Rich.”

“Then who did you take out a loan from to completely refurbish the amusement park? I can’t imagine it was cheap,”

“We have no intention of divulging any more names to you,” Flam stated.

“I’ll find out one way or another,” Spike said as he turned to leave. “I am sorry for being so brash, but I’ve got an appointment to keep.”

Later that night, Applejack, Sunset, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash and Rarity, all clad in glittering dresses, followed Spike, who was dressed all in black, into the Hard Rock. The theme was rock and roll. The clientele was hip, Applewood. The music was loud enough to crack glass and the air was crisp enough to burn eyes.

Here, it was all about the scene: gorgeous models and actresses from Applewood in for the weekend with their producer boyfriends, A-list celebrities partying with sports stars and assorted high rollers. The décor fit the scene—wood tones and plush velvet, everything loud and young and in your face, from the custom motorcycle in the lobby to the grotto pool outside.

Spike hated it. Everything about it turned him off. The inside was dark, the music was deafeningly loud, the bass thumping in time with the rapidly flashing lights as sweaty bodies grinded together on the dance floor, and the smell of cigarette smoke and alcohol filled the air and drunken couples sat making out in booths. Needless to say it stank, and the lack of lighting gave everything an interesting sheen.

“Whoa. This is unbelievable,” Sunset said.

She loved nights like this: nights where one could get lost in the atmosphere of the club life. Nobody cared about anything but dancing, blowing off steam, and letting everything go.

“Follow my lead and try to blend in,” Spike replied.

“We should find Lyra and Bon Bon,” Applejack told him.

“I say we start our hunt at the bar,” Dash put in.

Spike nodded in agreement.

He saw Lyra and Bon Bon talking to Soarin and Zephyr Breeze.

“Thanks for having me,” Zephyr said.

“Well, it’s hard to say no to someone who followed me and my best friend around all day, begging,” Bon Bon replied.

“Just remember, we only agreed to let him come because you promised to keep an eye on him,” Lyra told Soarin.

“These are our friends and colleagues,” Bon Bon added, “and they deserve to not be sexually harassed.”

“He’ll be on his best behavior,” Soarin assured them.

“We’ll settle for him keeping his pants on the whole time,” Lyra replied.

“I didn’t realize you’d set the bar that low,” Soarin said. “I’ll do my best.”

Soarin turned to face Zephyr Breeze so that he could lay down some rules, but Zephyr had already disappeared. He found him at the bar with Spike and the girls. Spike was slowly nursing a Scotch while Zephyr was flirting with a pair of cute Dragonese girls.

“Hey, ladies, how you doin’?” he asked. “Wait a minute...” He reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out an English-to-Dragonese dictionary. “Ĉu vi volas nudi kaj razi mian pugon?” he asked.

The women both gasped and smacked him firmly across his face before storming off.

“Ow! What? Was it something I said?” Zephyr called after them. “Did you see the way they just slapped me?” he asked Spike.

“You’re lucky that that’s all they did,” Spike replied. “You insulted them.”

“All I did was ask them if I could buy them a glass of wine,”

“You asked them to get naked... and shave your ass,”

Zephyr’s eyes went big. “I said that?”

“Yes!”

“Spike, I’m sorry, I feel terrible, okay? But I’ve been in this city for almost three months and I’ve done little more than work! The only reason anyone even comes to Las Pegasus at all is to have a good time! I am on vacation, man, and I want some moo shu!”

“Moo shu?” Applejack repeated. “Ya hungry?”

“Not that kind of ‘moo shu’, I want to see some women!”

“You already have a woman,” Spike told him, “or have you forgotten?”

“I haven’t; she’s in the can as we speak,” Zephyr answered.

“Speaking of which, I gotta use it,” Soarin said lamely.

“Well, hurry back!” Zeph replied. “We’re gonna par-tay!”

Spike found himself escorted to a private booth, surrounded by strippers and starlets from Applewood, with Sunset and Applejack on his arms. Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Rarity sat one booth over but never made eye contact with him, and Zephyr Breeze was on the dance floor, his head bouncing high over the crowd. Everyone else had relatively the same expression on their faces, a sort of reckless abandon, heads tilted up towards the giant mirror ball in the center of the ceiling. Spike sat, lost in thought, drumming his fingers on the table as Sunset watched the flickering lights and wondered if life could possibly get any better.

Then she heard someone call Spike’s name.

They looked over and saw Hock Fetlock waving at him. He weaved through the crowd, occasionally stopping to shake somebody’s hand. Everyone tried to get a good look at Spike, trying to figure out who he was. They figured he had to be someone famous to be hanging out with the celebrity baseball player.

“How’re you doing? Hock Fetlock,” he introduced himself. “Make yourself feel at home. You need anything, Champagne, caviar, my party is your party.”

“This is your party?” Spike asked. “That’s funny, because I was invited to this very same party by no less than four different individuals, two of which asked together... at the same time. And they all claimed it was their party. So, whose party is this really?”

Hock didn’t get a chance to answer because Sunset and Applejack each grabbed one of Spike’s hands and dragged him off to one of the private rooms. Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash and Rarity followed them.

“Hey, what the Tartarus?” Spike exclaimed. “What are you doing? My Scotch is still out there.”

“Look!” Sunset hissed.

Spike peeked through the crack in the doorway. “Yeah, I see it, single malt, right there, on the table.”

“Twilight’s brother just walked in,” Applejack said.

Spike looked again. “Wow,” he commented.

It was Shining Armor.

Rarity slammed the door shut.

“Why is he here?” she asked. “Why did I go along with this?”

“Hey, at least be thankful you have a drink,” Spike told her. “Let me take a look and see if there’s an escape route--you son of a buck!”

“What?” Pinkie asked.

“Some asshole took my Scotch,”

Meanwhile, out on the dance floor...

“What are you doing here?” Shining asked Soarin.

“Turns out, I’m in charge of making sure these two keep their clothes on,” he replied, jerking his head in Zephyr Breeze and Tree Hugger’s direction.

“Good luck,” Zephyr laughed. “So, what are you doing here?” he asked Shining Armor. “I thought you were having your own little party.”

“And you wonder why I didn’t invite you,” Shining countered.

“I thought you’d invite me because you liked me,” he replied.

Zephyr’s eyes strayed to a tall woman with long auburn hair, smoke-colored eyes, and high cheekbones. He glanced at the woman, trying not to be too obvious, or obnoxious. She was wearing a silk halter top that barely contained her unnaturally round breasts, and a sliver of tan abdomen was showing above her tight leather pants. She was the epitome of the Las Pegasus girl, the kind of woman you saw on the arm of a celebrity in the high-stakes pits or whisking through the VIP line at a nightclub.

“Hi, I’m Zephyr Breeze,” he began.

“And I’m married,” she quickly shut him down.

“Oh, well, you should be. You’re gorgeous,”

“My husband is right over there,”

“I can’t see anyone past Hock Fetlock,”

“It is Hock Fetlock,”

“Yikes,” Zephyr squeaked and he felt his face growing warm as Hock came up beside her.

From the private room across the dance floor, Spike saw the scene unfold.

“Hold on. Hock Fetlock is going in motion... He’s setting a block for us. Come on, we got an open field. Go, go, go!”

Spike strode quickly down a dark corridor and the girls followed, trying to keep up with him.

“Scarlet, is this guy hitting on you?” Hock asked his wife.

“I think that’s what he’s trying to do,” she replied.

That’s when Lyra and Bon Bon walked up to them.

“Hock, Scarlet, is everything okay?” Lyra asked.

“You know, Lyra, I came here to relax and unwind,” Hock told her, “and all of a sudden, this oversized blond rat started dry humping my wife’s leg!”

“You what?” Lyra directed at Zephyr Breeze.

“Why would you do that?” Bon Bon asked.

“Yeah, why?” Hock repeated.

“Why?” they all demanded.

“I didn’t! I wasn’t hitting on her! That doesn’t even make sense!” Zeph said. “Just ask my girlfriend,” he added, wrapping his arm around Tree Hugger’s waist.

“You’re dating her?” Hock inquired.

“Tell ‘em what I did to you last night. She’s so insatiable!” Zephyr chuckled. “That was close,” he whispered after they had all walked away.

Spike and his girlfriends found themselves in an elegant room where Thorax and Pharynx, in their custom tailored three-piece suits; and a shapely young woman, a little older than Spike, seemed to be waiting for them.

“Hello, Ember,” Spike said.

She slowly removed her coat, revealing her slinky, dark blue, almost black, backless dress. She leaned back, balancing against the sofa, her unblemished back arched seductively. She turned to face Spike, looked him up and down before lowering her gaze, and smiled. Then she pulled him into a lingering kiss, which heated up quickly. She made a lovely armful, and it was impossible to mistake an old flame’s kisses for anything else.

As Ember broke the kiss, Spike was overwhelmed with memories of their night of passion in that very same room years ago. Him nuzzling the back of her neck as he ran his fingers through her hair before sliding her dress over head and making love against the wide window overlooking the Strip, the sweeping choreographed movements of the water fountains outside echoing the rise and fall of their tender embrace.

“Dad’s waiting for you,” she said.

She batted her eyelids suggestively and she relieved Spike of his gun, and Thorax and Pharynx escorted them into the elevator, where Spike began to tell the girls about his connection to the Dragon Lord.

“What the Tartarus is going on here, Spike?” Applejack asked.

“Remember my conversation with Torch in the spa the other day?” he replied. “He told me that two of Impossibly Rich’s employees were killed.”

“What?” Sunset asked.

When the elevator doors opened, Ember led them through a large room on the 18th floor—the top floor—of the Hard Rock. As Spike’s girls looked around, they couldn’t help but be impressed. Such living space, even in Las Pegasus, they realized, was almost unheard of, except for those powers that ran the show. Two of the walls were covered with heavy, dark blue, gold-bordered curtains. From the way the borders gleamed against the dark fabric, Spike knew that it was real gold in the threads. Two hazy Dragonese landscapes hung from scrolls on the third wall. There were tiny Dragonese figures in the corner of one and at the very bottom of the other, and both of them contained great mountain peaks rising out of mists to dominate each of the pictures completely. Dragonese characters ran up one side of each of them. And there were various paintings in gilded frames, including a Rocoltcco portrait of girl smiling while on a swing, a woman modestly covering herself like Broncocelli’s Venus de Marelo, and a man wielding the Bloodstone Scepter in one hand and holding a dragon egg aloft in his other hand. The furniture was all large, and exquisitely detailed and finished. All the surfaces were lacquered to a shiny black sheen that was almost alive in its brilliance. The chairs and sofas were covered with scarlet silk, and the coverlet was of the same incredibly smooth material. Thick, tightly-woven rugs covered the floor in a rich, careless profusion.

“Now, let me get this straight,” Applejack said. “You stole Torch’s favorite car, you dated and slept with his daughter, and now you expect him to help you?”

“Yes,” Spike answered.

“What are you gonna do?” Sunset asked. “Appeal to his heart?”

“No. His wallet,”

“That might work,” Sunset, Applejack, Pinkie, Dash and Rarity all said.

The women stayed close to Spike as they were led down a plush marble corridor and outside, onto the roof, where the huge, illuminated guitar blazing with the words “Hard Rock Hotel” pointed skyward. And standing near the edge the roof, overlooking the city skyline, were Garble and Dragon Lord Torch.

Garble’s clothes and hair were a mess and his ashen face was a mask of failure. The Dragon Lord was circling him, his huge frame stuffed into a two-thousand dollar arctic blue three-piece suit, crafted out of enough material to blanket half of the desert.

Torch’s façade always contained a hint of scorn, of disapproval, of a dislike he didn’t bother to conceal, but now it was full blown outrage. He was speaking to Garble in Dragonese but Spike understood him perfectly.

“You disappoint me, Garble,” he said. “Have you forgotten where you’re from? Don’t forget who you work for. You think you could ever be Dragon Lord?”

Torch’s gaze shifted to his daughter as she led Spike and the others towards his position. Torch frowned as his eyes trained on Garble again and he dismissed him. Garble nodded dumbly and he walked past Spike, each man eyeing the other coldly. Garble’s shoulders filled the doorway and then he disappeared through it.

Ember gave her father Spike’s gun, and he held it in his hands.

“Single shot derringer, small but effective, in the right hands. Only three men I know use such a gun. I have killed two of them,” the Dragon Lord said.

“Lucky me,” Spike remarked.

For just a brief moment, the disdainful expression on Torch’s face melted... and he smiled at Spike, but the smile withered and died as soon as it had appeared.

“I’ve been expecting you,” he said. “Please, ask your friends to wait inside.”

“Tartarus no, we’re not going anywhere!” Rainbow Dash stated.

“It’s okay,” Spike told them.

“We are not leaving you alone with him!” Rarity replied.

“I’ll be fine,”

“Are you sure?” Fluttershy asked.

“I promise,”

The air went quiet as Spike’s girlfriends went back inside. Thorax, Pharynx and Ember all stood close by as Torch approached his godson and gave the small weapon back to him.

“I know what everybody’s saying,” Torch said. “Despite what people suspect... what you suspect--I did not blow up Impossibly Rich’s gambling den. I’m not that stupid. But I believe some of my people did. My enemies are trying to frame me. There is a war going on, right now, within the Dragon Mafia -- I’m afraid I’m going to lose this time... if Barbara was still alive, I would be turning to her right now.”

“Don’t!” Spike stated. “Please don’t.”

Torch heard the steel in Spike’s voice, and acknowledged it.

“Spike, I really need your help. I can’t trust anybody else. The Richs aren’t just ruthless criminals, they’re monsters. They’re stockpiling Las Pegasus’s wealth, but I don’t know why. Maybe for themselves, maybe for something else, but they’ve harmed a lot of good people doing it and I intend to find out why,”

“Tell me why they killed the EBI agents,”

“I will tell you everything you want to know, but you have got to get me out of Las Pegasus right away!”

“You’re willing to put everything at stake just to bring her down?”

“Easiest bet of my life,” Torch said. “There’s no way you can lose, right?” He placed both of his hands on Spike’s shoulders. “I’m counting on you, Spike. Equestria’s entire future rests on your shoulders.”

Suddenly, Garble burst onto the roof, flanked by eight Dragons that Spike recognized as Backdraft, Charcoal, Cinders, Clump, Fizzle, Fume, Maar and Whip. Garble cursed at Torch in Dragonese as he reached into his pants pocket, pulled out a gun, and shot at them. The bullet pierced Torch’s blue jacket, just over his heart, and he fell back, over the ledge. Spike, acting on instinct, moved toward Garble, but his bodyguards attacked him, Ember, Thorax and Pharynx from all sides.

The Dragon men started throwing punches and Spike breathed fire in Clump and Fume’s faces, while Ember kicked Cinders and Maar (the two girls), and Thorax blocked and countered Charcoal and Fizzle’s blows. Pharynx grabbed Backdraft and flung him into Whip, sending them both off the side of the building. When Spike saw Ember land on her front after a sweeping kick from Cinders, he grabbed Ember by her ankles and flipped so that she landed on her feet and jabbed Maar in the face before the turncoat could land another hit.

Once they had helped Ember deal with Garble’s band of traitors, Spike, Thorax and Pharynx gave chase. With Applejack, Sunset, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash and Rarity close behind them, they chased Garble down the stairwell and across the neon blue dance floor into a wide open “Staff Only” area: the kitchen. Garble pushed the waiters out of his way and hightailed it past chefs wielding flaming pans of food. Spike and his friends spilled through the doors behind Garble and surged after him in hot pursuit. They were closing in on him... but he escaped into the crowd.

When Spike and his friends exited onto the street, no less than three Las Pegasus police squad cars were parked on the curb with their lights flashing. That told Spike way too much. Showing up long before too many people could have heard the gunshot and reported it. Somebody must have tipped them off. But what really stunned him was that no one found Torch’s body... and Garble and his followers all vanished, as did Ember.

“Well, Spike, Torch was our only bait, and now he’s gone,” Shining Armor said. “So, you got your revenge... at the expense of a government investigation.”

“‘Revenge’?” Rainbow Dash asked. “What are you talking about?”

“Now, I don’t know if Impossibly Rich paid you to get rid of Torch, or if it was a pure vendetta killing, or if you’re involved in the counterfeiting yourself, but I don’t ever want to see you again. Is that clear?” Shining asked.

“Hey!” Dash shouted.

“Rainbow Dash, stay out of this!” Shining told her. “You and Soarin are in enough trouble! I’ve already contact your superiors. You’re both going back to the Wonderbolt Academy, right now.”

“Hey, that’s fine with me, man!” Dash shouted in reply. “I haven’t had fun since I got out here!”

Spike, Thorax, Pharynx, Soarin, Zephyr Breeze, AJ, Sunset, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Dash and Rarity all left the Hard Rock with their heads up high, passing Shining Armor, who was on his way back to his car.

“Great,” Zephyr groaned. “Can this day possibly get worse?”

It could, and it did.

Spike was still replaying the events that had transpired at the Hard Rock over in his mind when he and his friends returned the Flimflam Brothers’ Resort twenty minutes later. A small crowd had gathered in the lobby and was looking at the startled surprise on Flim and Flam’s faces, as they stood with Celestia, Discord, Chrysalis, Feather Bangs, Firelight, Starlight, Stellar Flare, Sunburst, Trixie, Moon Dancer, Vinyl, Coco, Sassy, Fleur, Adagio, Aria, Sonata, Tempest Shadow... and the entire Rich Family.

“I know foul play when I see it!” Discord spat.

“Don’t worry. You three can work off the debt you owe performing in the nightclub for the next... seventeen years,” Impossibly Rich smiled at the Dazzlings.

Spike’s eyes snapped to the Adagio after he made his way across the lobby.

“It wasn’t us, I swear!” she told him.

Spike looked toward the pack of Rich employees, and they parted, revealing Twilight Sparkle in a purple and plaid Rich company uniform: pleated skirt, fitted maroon jacket, and blue Stiletto heels. She’d also done her hair up into a tight bun.

“My employers had the money to cover my bail,” she said.

“Twilight,” Rarity gasped, “you were working for Impossibly Rich the whole time?”

“So you were the mole,” Discord growled.

“Wait! If you really are working for Rich, which do you prefer?” Pinkie asked. “Cake... or pie?”

“Neither,” Twilight said. “I hate your pies! And so does Rainbow Dash!”

Pinkie recoiled.

“A real friend wouldn’t hurt my feelings like that!” she sobbed.

“That’s because I’m NOT your friend!” Twilight shouted. “And having to work alongside all of you pathetic termagants has been nothing but torture! But it’s all been worth it, now that Impossibly Rich finally has control of your Resort!”

“And while you’re still here, I happen to have something I want to discuss with you,” Impossibly Rich added at Spike.

“What?” he asked.

“Miss Sparkle’s skills are unparalleled, but I can’t deny you have potential,” she told him. “How would you like to work for me? Many of the guests here would hate to see their Lucky Prince go. Well?”

“Not. Interested,” Spike stated.

“A part of me knew you would say that. Allow me to sweeten the deal. What if I said I’d take you on, with a guaranteed promotion to general manager? I’d even grant you full control over this resort. Plus, you would be free to rehire any of your little friends. Is that enough to entice you?”

“Spike, we order you to accept those terms!” Flim shouted.

“And hire us!” Flam added.

“Thanks, but no,” Spike told Impossibly Rich. “I can’t stand you. At. All.”

“That’s such a shame.” Impossibly Rich said. “That means you all are out of jobs. Abacus Cinch, show these men and women off the premises! Don’t ever set foot in any of my casinos again.”

Caramel and Lucky Clover, two of the men who had worked security under Applejack, now dressed in Rich uniforms, stepped forward.

“Escort them to the airport,” Cinch told them.

“No, I’ll take them,” Spike said.

“Get your hands off me!” Dash shouted.

Spike came up to the Dazzlings.

“Watch your backs,” he warned them.

With a last look at them, a look that held some message that was more than the obvious warning, Discord, Chrysalis, Feather Bangs, Soarin, Zephyr Breeze and the rest of Spike’s harem followed him.

He stopped for a moment, looked at Twilight, and swore suddenly.

“Bitch.”

The word stunned her so much that it wiped the smirk off her face.

Spike walked out of the lobby, leaving the abashed traitor standing in the middle of the room, looking around her at the grinning faces. And then, to her astonishment, he was gone.

Author's Note

Next time: Spike tells his friends the truth about his mother, takes them to an underground gambling den, and consults an informant.

Reverse

The first thing Spike did before leaving the Resort was go up to his suite. He unlocked the door, expecting to find the room trashed and all of his winnings plundered. Thankfully, they weren’t and he emptied the suite of all his money and personal belongings, which he’d put into the trunk of the big black limousine he now sat in; except for his Derringer, his Gates cards, and his mother’s Fire Ruby necklace, which rested in his vest.

There was a tense quiet in the limo as Spike and company—Applejack, Sunset Shimmer, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Starlight Glimmer, Trixie, Moon Dancer, Vinyl Scratch, Zephyr Breeze, Sunburst, Thorax, Pharynx, Chrysalis, Feather Bangs, and Discord—took Rainbow Dash and Soarin to the airport. After the long black car screeched to a stop, the rest of the group climbed out and onto the curb, leaving Spike alone in the limo with Dash. And even though she sat on the seat next to Spike, she didn’t look at him.

“We should be thankful that we only lost our jobs,” Applejack began.

Zephyr Breeze agreed. “At least Impossibly Rich left the Brothers the Sky Resort out of pity. Compared to what Spike went through back at the Hard Rock, that’s nothing.”

“I feel so bad for him,” Fluttershy said.

“Betrayed by his own former allies,” Rarity added. “On top of that, he thinks it’s his fault we lost.”

“I can only imagine how he must be feeling right now,” said Sunset.

“All because Twilight sold us out,” Pinkie finished.

Inside the limo, the windows were all rolled up and they were tinted so no one could hear or see what was going on inside. Spike tried to avoid hunching over, but it was hard. He was so lost in thought. The things he’d seen—and worse, the things he suspected—it made his head spin. He’d tried to set right the wrongs of others. He’d tried to keep the promises he’d made... and he had failed.

“I’m sorry,” he said finally.

Dash scowled at Spike like he had stabbed her with something sharp.

“Is that all you have to say to me?” she asked. “That you’re sorry? Let me tell you something: ever since I met you I have almost been incinerated, drowned, shot at, and turned into virtual monster food! And that was just in a video game! Out here, in the real world, I’ve been kicked out of a building, I got beat up, stripped butt naked, and not only did you lie, repeatedly, you held out on us! And that’s even worse!”

Spike couldn’t reply. He couldn’t even look her in the eye.

“We are all caught up in something sinister here, Spike, and you’re going to tell me what or I’m going to break you in two!” she yelled impatiently. “Talk!”

“I don’t expect you to understand,” he said.

“You know what? You’re right! And now that I think about it, I wouldn’t want to!” Dash snapped as she got out of the limo. “I’m going home.”

She slammed the door behind her and forced her way past the others with Spike close behind.

“I was four-years-old when I lost my mother,” he said.

“Ask me if I give a shit!” Dash shouted, not looking back.

Her voice was burning.

“I didn’t just lose her,” Spike said. “She was murdered.”

Rainbow Dash stopped walking. Spike paused for a long moment... then he dropped another bombshell.

“Impossibly Rich is the one who killed her,” he said.

Finally, Dash turned around.

“What?” the eighteen friends and former coworkers all asked.

Finally, they were all ears.

“For the last 30 years, Torch was the most powerful crime lord in the world. Before I was born, he and my mother were helping the Equestria Secret Service bust a big international crime ring,” Spike went on.

“Impossibly Rich,” Fluttershy guessed.

Spike nodded. “They helped raid almost every known asset of Impossibly Rich’s operations. They confiscated billions in weapons, cash, and a priceless collection of rare Dragonese art that Torch thought was lost forever. In exchange for their help, Torch was promised amnesty and the art. But they still failed.”

The group listened intently.

“After my fourth birthday, my mother found out that Impossibly Rich was working to get revenge on Torch. She was going to usurp him and seize control of the Dragon Mafia herself. But before my mother could prove it, she was killed. Impossibly Rich disappeared, as did all of the evidence that could have convicted her, and my mother’s murder was declared ‘unsolved’. My mother’s murder was the hottest court case of that year... I have spent every day of my life since trying to find a way to bring Rich down... My mother believed in truth and justice, and now she’s dead because of some woman who didn’t want to live by the rules and laws of decent society. She died for nothing,”

“You really believe that?” Dash asked.

“Look me in both of my eyes and tell me that I’m wrong,” he stated.

“Spike, why didn’t you tell us?” Vinyl Scratch asked quietly.

They all turned to look at Vinyl with wide eyes.

“You can talk?” Pinkie asked.

“I never said that I couldn’t, people just assume that I can’t,” she said.

“You want to explain that to me?” Starlight asked.

“Not being able to speak is not the same as not speaking,” Vinyl replied. “I don’t like to talk. I like to let people talk who like to talk. It makes it easier to find out just how full of shit they are.”

Dash stared at Vinyl and asked, “What the Tartarus did you just say?”

“I get it now,” Applejack said to Spike. “This isn’t about you. It’s about your mother. Not avenging her, not about vendettas, or even trying to get even, you just want to put her to rest and finally see that justice is served. You want to see these people pay for their sins. Not just for Barbara’s sake, but for yours.”

He nodded.

“Spike, if it was my Mom and Dad, I would do everything it took to square their deaths. I would do anything,” AJ said. “So deal me in!”

“I’m with you, too!” Moon Dancer added.

“And me!” Trixie stated.

“So am I,” Fluttershy joined them.

“Ditto,” said Vinyl.

“Look, Impossibly Rich hurt you. She hurt all of us. I know how that makes me feel. I know what that makes me want to do,” Discord said. “But the take would have to be really, really good to get me even vaguely interested.”

“Every single one of these women will get what I’ve always wanted to give them,” Spike replied. “I’m gonna get close to Rich, and I don’t care if it gets messy. She stepped over the line. She broke the rules, so I’m going to get rid of her and the Flimflam Brothers. If you’d help us, you would get to keep your job as day manager at the resort, in exchange for one full day off a week.”

“You’re out of your Faust-damn mind!” Discord said. “Are you listening to me? You’re nuts! Applejack and I know more about Impossibly Rich than any man, or woman, alive. She can not be beaten. But what am I saying? You are a pro, the best. I’m sure you can make it out the front door of the casino, maybe even out of Las Pegasus. Of course, lest we forget, once you’re out, you’re still in the middle of the fucking desert! Don’t think I don’t see what you’re doing. If you’re gonna try to bring down Impossibly Rich, you better know. This sort of thing used to be civilized. You’d hit a guy, he’d whack you, done! But with Rich, at the end of this, if we fail, she’ll not just kill you. She’ll make you suffer.”

Spike looked Discord in the eye, like he knew that Discord had something against Impossibly Rich... something personal.

“Everybody said she would try to screw me. That she’d done it to every one of her partners. But I defended her, I said, ‘No! We’ve been around long enough that we both shook Flank Sinatra’s hand. And there’s a code among men and women that shook Sinatra’s hand.’ You know what she said? She said, ‘Screw Sinatra’s hand!’ She called me dead weight! And then she torpedoed my casino, muscled me out. That’s why I had to work for Gladmane. He was the only one who was willing to buy me out. Now, she’s going to turn it into another gaudy monstrosity that’s going to cast a shadow over the swimming pools,” he went on. “I’ll help you, but only on three other conditions: number one, I want to be a big player again. I know I haven’t played in years, but I can’t let you guys run a scam in my house and not prove that I can do more than just boss others around. Number two, if any of you try to screw me, you’ll be dead. I want to break Impossibly Rich as much as you do. But I want to break her into a million little pieces. The woman has no taste. I want her to lose what matters most to her.”

Discord paused, shot a glance at everyone, and they met his stare. His eyes had gone cold for a moment, as though to add: Don’t get in my way on this, friend or no friend.

“And three, you’re gonna need a crew as nuts as you are,” he finished.

Spike turned to look at the rest of the group. None of them moved. None of them left. It was a smart tactic. It showed Spike that he had several people who would follow him to Tartarus and back.

Chrysalis was the first to speak.

“You can’t expect me to turn down a nice opportunity like this,” she said.

“Especially where there’s almost no risk factor,” Pharynx commented.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Chrysalis replied.

“I take it that’s a yes from you too, Pharynx?” Spike inquired.

“Look, we all go way back and I owe Trixie and Starlight from the thing with the guy in the place, and I’ll never forget it,” he said.

Thorax nodded in agreement. He was with Spike, too.

“Rainbow Dash?” Spike asked.

“I never figured you go this route,” she said. “No plan is foolproof. And even if this was a military operation, executed by trained men and women, I can’t. I’ve got my family to think about.”

“Think of them wealthy,” Spike told her.

“Think of me dead!” Dash countered.

“Stop talking like a child!” he shot back. “Why waste all those cute little tricks the Wonderbolts taught you just because it’s sort of peaceful now? You went through four years at the Academy without dying. Why should you all of a sudden die in peacetime? You’re Rainbow ‘The Indestructible Iron Woman’ Dash!”

Dash thought of her mom, her dad, her older brother, and the girl who looked up to her like an older sister.

“You saw Scootaloo,” she said. “You know the kind of crap she takes from others! I don’t want her to take it one more day!”

“I don’t either,” Spike replied.

Dash looked at him and asked, “Will my cut be big enough for me to help pay off her student loans?”

“Dash, it’ll be big enough for you to buy her the college!” Spike told her.

“All right, I’m in,” she said.

Suddenly, Rarity felt a familiar presence overtake her.

“She’s been possessed by Nightmare Moon again!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“I thought we had a deal!” Spike told her.

“Spike, my Castle, Impossibly Rich is planning to destroy it because it doesn’t draw in customers,” Nightmare Moon said. “If you don’t do something, I will lose my home.”

“I don’t know what you expect me to do,” he said.

“You’re a Roll Ruler! You know all of the angles! Figure it out!”

Then she left Rarity.

“Rarity, are you all right?” Fluttershy asked.

“I am going to have her exorcized for good one day,” Rarity said. “But I will help you to help her.”

“Does anybody wanna walk away from this?” Spike asked.

Most of them shook their heads.

“Even if I wanted to walk away, a guy doesn’t cut out of a big one like this; not after he passes a certain point along the way,” Soarin said. “Sometimes you got to fight, even if it’s hopeless.”

“Let’s gut the bitch,” Starlight gritted.

“No one messes with Sunset Shimmer’s friends!” Sunset added.

“I’ve always wanted to pull off a casino heist!” Pinkie smiled, super excitedly.

“I never liked Sparkle that much, anyway,” Sunburst admitted. “She’s a control freak.”

“Spike, you’ve always done everything for everyone else, it’s our turn to do the same for you!” Fluttershy put in. “We’ll make Twilight and Impossibly Rich wish they’d never set foot in Las Pegasus!”

“I don’t want to die, but if you gals think it’s worth a shot, then I agree,” Zephyr Breeze joined in. “Let’s do it.”

“Feather Bangs, you’re either in or you’re out,” Spike stated. “Right. Now.”

Feather Bangs waited to answer.

“I love the life too much to give it up,” he said finally. “But I don’t want to end up turning into Sparkle, or worse, the Richs. One day I hope to settle down and, Faust willing, have a wife and kids. So I’m with you.”

“You know what I just realized,” Thorax said. “We add up to nineteen: Spike, my brother and I, our mother, Discord, Applejack, Sunset Shimmer, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Trixie, Rarity, Starlight, Sunburst, Moon Dancer, Rainbow Dash, Vinyl Scratch, Soarin, Zephyr Breeze, and Feather Bangs.”

There was a silence that stretched and then Spike smiled. They all smiled. They were a gang, a crew, a team. They were Spike’s team.

His team, or whatever this was, was large, and it would be effective.

Later that night, Spike and his friends doubled back to the city and set up an observation post on one of the floors near the top of a fenced off construction site close to the Flimflam Brothers’ Resort. The eighteen were sitting in a circle behind Spike, who was looking through a pair of binoculars at the building across the street. A sign that read, “Coming Soon, Rich Towers!” had been put up in front of the main entrance. Adjusting the focus, Spike peered into the board room overlooking the dolphin pool. The same room he and his girlfriends had played Poker in the night he first met Chrysalis. There is where he saw Twilight Sparkle and the Shadowbolt Five.

At that very same moment, Sour Sweet, Sunny Flare, Sugarcoat, Lemon Zest and Indigo Zap were watching Twilight closely as she threw playing cards into a pile on the table in front of them.

“What’s the count?” she asked them.

“Plus 9,” Sugarcoat said.

“No,” Twilight stated.

“Plus 11,” said Sunny Flare.

“No,” Twilight repeated.

“Dude, I lost count, like, 20 cards ago,” Lemon Zest said.

“Unless you want me to climb across this table and kick your ass, you will never call me ‘dude.’ Ever,” Twilight stated.

“Plus 9?” Sour Sweet guessed.

“You’re just following her!” Twilight shouted, pointing to Sugarcoat. “We had a total of 76 cards that came out of the deck! Twenty-three were high cards with a value of minus one! Seventeen were neutral with no value at all, and the rest were low cards with a value of plus one! How could you lose the count?” she continued to yell. “Let me make one thing clear to you, I am not your friend! And you are not my friends! This is business! You are only as good to me as the money you make, and, right now, it’s not worth a Tartarus of a lot! Every single one of you is going to give back to Impossibly Rich everything you have ever lost!”

Indigo Zap locked eyes with Twilight.

“The count is plus 13,” she said.

“That’s right,” Twilight replied. “She’s the only one who got it right.”

“I may be right, Sparkle, but you stink!” Indigo stated.

“What’s your problem?”

“My problem is that you’re dealing from the bottom!” Indigo shouted as she grabbed Twilight’s arm. “The last card you put down was a King, well there’s a King on the bottom of this deck, ready when you want to pull it!”

She twisted Twilight’s wrist, forcing her to turn the deck over, and to reveal the King of Spades!

“You cheat!” Indigo shouted.

“You’re just ganging up on me because I’m winning!” Twilight countered.

“Yeah, well I’m gonna sort you out!” Indigo stated.

She punched Twilight in the mouth with her free hand, and then flew over the table, tackling her. They rolled around on the floor, ending with Indigo on top, until two other dealers—a young man named Citrus Drops and a woman named Frosty Orange—barged in and tore Indigo off of Twilight, the former telling them to break it up.

“Indigo caught her dealing off the bottom!” Sour Sweet shouted.

“She’s a liar!” Twilight yelled.

“Enough! We’ve had it up to here with you, Sparkle!” Frosty Orange pointed to her own neck as she shouted at Twilight. “You’ve been thrown out of every casino in town!”

“Can I help it if I’m popular?” Twilight retorted.

“We also know that you’ve been stealing from us and selling to the Dragons!” Citrus Drops added.

“Prove it!” Twilight ordered.

“Why are you even here?” Indigo snapped at her. “I mean it. We’re the ones who take all the risks. Seems to me that, aside from lying, stealing, and cheating, you don’t do shit.”

“You are going to pay Impossibly Rich that money you owe, every hay-penny, one way or another... you arrogant, little bitch,” Twilight stated.

The Shadowbolt Five watched Twilight as she turned her back on them and stormed out, slamming the door behind her.

“I need a drink,” Lemon Zest sighed. “Anybody else?”

Sunny Flare looked at Sugarcoat, who looked at the floor.

“We don’t need her,” Indigo said.

Sour Sweet opened her mouth to speak, but Indigo cut her off.

“I’m serious. Why do we need her?” she asked. “We were doing just fine without her. You know, her cut was fifty percent as a mole, and she doesn’t even play! Why do we need her? You know what I think? I think we drop these damn uniforms, and everything that they represent, like a bad habit.”

“No, no. I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Sunny disagreed. “I think we should figure this out.”

“Well, why don’t we take a vote and let the team decide?” Indigo asked.

“I’m with Sunny Flare,” Sugarcoat said. “This is Rich’s operation. She’s the one who brought us together.”

“And she’s the one who’s driving us apart,” Sour Sweet put in. “You all saw how she played Twilight against Spike. She may give us protection, but she’s more of a mewling quim that Sparkle is. I’m with Zap.”

“Zest?” Indigo asked. “What do you say?”

“You’re talking about risking our very lives here,” Sunny Flare said.

“All right, listen up!” Indigo told them. “We are in a position where we have to make a choice: Spike or Rich. Now, the rest of you don’t understand Spike the way I do, but we all understand Impossibly Rich and very well. So, you gotta ask yourselves one question: do you wanna spend the rest of your already miserable lives in an Impossibly Rich kind of world? Or do you want a piece of the world that Spike has offered me?”

The women all looked at the floor, their eyes full of thought.

“I’m with you, Zap,” Lemon Zest said.

“Okay, yeah,” Sunny Flare slowly agreed.

“I’m with you, too,” Sour Sweet joined in.

“So am I,” Sugarcoat stated.

Citrus Drops and Frosty Orange nodded.

Across the street, atop the construction site, Spike couldn’t help but smile as he read the Shadowbolt Five’s lips. There was a lot of debate, most of it in anger, some of it in worry, but it was all in urgency.

Suddenly, Spike thought of something he should have asked a long time ago.

“Starlight, did you know that Twilight was working for Impossibly Rich?”

“What?” she asked. “Why would you ask me that?”

“You were roommates,” Spike said. “She must have said or done something that made you suspicious... anything?”

Starlight averted her gaze and said, “Yes. She talks in her sleep.”

Spike exhaled and gave a slight roll of his eyes as he handed the binoculars to Sunset Shimmer, who glanced into one of the penthouse suites: Flim and Flam’s former penthouse. Spoiled Rich and Diamond Tiara stood near the center of the room, and seated at a brand new wood desk, was Impossibly Rich. She looked comfortable in the dark safety of her new office.

“There they are, the entire Rich Brood, minus Filthy, living large,” she said, handing the binoculars to Spike for a moment. “And guess who’s with them.”

It was Shining Armor.

Spike stared at him through the binoculars, shocked, as he read their lips.

“There’s a gentleman here to see you, ma’am,” Abacus Cinch said.

“Very well, show him in,” Impossibly Rich replied.

“Yes, ma’am,” Spike gave Sunset back the binoculars just in time for her to watch Cinch say, “She will see you now, sir. Come in.”

“Pardon the intrusion, Miss Rich,” he began. “I am Captain Shining Armor of the Equestrian Secret Service.”

“How can I help you?” Impossibly Rich asked.

She looked almost pleased to see him.

“Actually, it’s what I can do for you,” Shining replied. “I’ve been tracking Spike Drake’s movements since he left here earlier this evening. I have reason to believe he may be planning to crash your grand re-opening later this week, and I’ve come to offer protection.”

“While I appreciate your concern, Captain, my own people provide me with all the security I need. Cinch, I want you to cooperate with the Secret Service in every way,” she said.

“Strictly off the record, what do you think Spike is really up to?” Shining asked Impossibly Rich.

“Well, unless I’m mistaken, that’s what you’re being paid to find out,” she answered.

“Thanks for your help,” Shining said.

“You’re more than welcome, Captain,” she replied.

Shining Armor marched out of the office with Cinch, and she shut the door behind them. That in itself told Sunset there was nothing more worth looking for in the penthouse area. She handed the binoculars back to Spike, then left to rejoin the others, and he peered through them into Room 1215—Lyra and Bon Bon’s suite. Inside, he saw the remains of a supper for two, a basket of fruit, and an open bottle of Champagne in a silver bucket. Eventually, the two women emerged from their bedroom. Their skirts were short, not even knee length, they were wearing dark blouses, the top two buttons were undone, and their legs were bare, no pantyhose.

“And guess who’s with them,” Spike thought.

Filthy Rich!

He looked every bit the wealthy prick he was. A man who was accustomed to being chauffeured around: expensive cashmere overcoat, leather gloves and silk tie. He was carrying his monogrammed briefcase, which he placed on the table.

“We got ‘em!” Spike stated.

“Now, all we have to do is wait,” he added in thought as he read more lips.

“I’m glad you could get away,” Bon Bon said to Filthy.

“Spoiled has been asking all kinds of questions,” he replied.

“You didn’t tell her anything, did you?” Lyra asked.

“Of course not,” he boasted. “Filthy Rich knows how to keep a secret.”

“I bet you do,” Bon Bon commented.

She and Lyra leaned in and touched his cheeks with the back of their forefingers, but Filthy Rich didn’t move. Spike expected Filthy to move his hands, to cup their breasts, even squeeze them, but he didn’t budge.

“Are they still talking?” Rainbow Dash asked Spike.

“Mm-hmm,” he replied. “Wait... Filthy’s leaving.”

“He’ll be back,” Dash said.

“How do you know?”

“Spike, you know from personal experience just how fine Lyra and Bon Bon are,” she told him. “His wife obviously isn’t putting out at home, so he’s got to get it from somewhere else. He’ll be back for them. I guarantee he’ll be back.”

The way Rich had just acted didn’t convince Spike. He continued to follow Lyra and Bon Bon’s path back to their bedroom, and his eyes went wide as the two women started making out while they unbuttoned each other’s blouse.

“What are they doing now?” Applejack asked.

“Not much,” Spike replied.

“Well, don’t fall asleep,” Discord said. “Sooner or later, something’s going to happen.”

“Okay, I’ll try to stay awake. It’s just so boring,”

Spike started to sweat as he watched Lyra and Bon Bon remove their tops.

“Oh, slow down, baby,” he whispered.

“What?” Soarin asked.

“Nothing, I didn’t say anything,” Spike lied.

“You said something,” Thorax said.

“No, I didn’t,”

“We heard you say something!” Pharynx snapped.

“I said nothing!” he kept lying.

Spike shook his head, his eyes still pinned on Lyra and Bon Bon’s legs, breasts and butts. Their asses looked spectacular in those skirts. Then he tugged at his collar as he saw them reach for said skirts. He swallowed hard as the zippers went down, revealing their lace panties (mint green on Lyra, white on Bon Bon) which matched their bras.

“Spike, what is going on?” Zephyr Breeze asked.

“They’re getting undressed,” he said.

“What?” the guys all asked. “Let me see!”

Discord, Soarin, Thorax, Pharynx and Zephyr rushed to Spike’s side, all trying to take the binoculars away from him. Sunburst would have joined them, if Starlight hadn’t glared at him.

“Faust, have mercy!” Spike exclaimed. “They just took their skirts off!”

“I don’t believe this!” Rarity cried.

“This is no fun!” Discord complained. “I can’t see!”

“My turn!” Zephyr shouted. “My turn!”

“Wait a minute!” Spike said. “They’re going back to the living room.”

His eyes focused on the briefcase that Filthy Rich had brought with him and left in their suite. Bon Bon laid the case on its side on the table in front of her, snapped the locks open, and lifted the lid. It was filled with ten thousand brand-new one-hundred-dollar bills, neatly stacked and secured with rubber bands.

“Holy Guacamole!” Spike thought.

The bills looked new but the writing on them seemed blurred. He was too far away to make it out. His glance shifted to Lyra, who had walked to the bathroom, naked, graceful, and completely unself-conscious. Just then, Spike felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw that he’d gotten a text message... from Bon Bon.

“Come on up, you Peeping Tom.”

Spike stared slack jawed at the message. Then he blinked as he lowered the phone and his green eyes shifted back to the Resort.

Lyra and Bon Bon were standing there, looking straight at him.

They smiled at him like they were flattered they had their own personal, private pervert (try saying that five times fast) to spy on them through their windows. Maybe they sensed he had been standing there, minute after minute.

Spike’s gaze moved down to the base of the Resort. He saw three Dragon thugs—Garble, Clump, and Fume—standing guard outside the hotel.

This wasn’t going to be easy.

Even though he was across the street, Spike looked deep into Lyra and Bon Bon’s eyes for a moment. Then he bolted to the site’s stairwell just as Shining Armor exited the Resort. Spike’s friends bounded after him as he raced across the boulevard, toward the resort, once Shining Armor’s car drove away. Garble saw Spike charge him, but Spike was running so fast that he knocked Garble to the ground. He kept going and the other eighteen all bobbed and weaved between the doormen’s flailing arms as they rushed in.

Spike ran into the middle of the lobby, filled with people. Abacus Cinch and the Shadowbolt Five appeared in the crowd. Locking eyes with Spike, they chased him through the casino. The gang veered off in different directions through the rows of slot machines, zigzagging frantically as a pack of grim-faced Dragon enforcers ran after them, tossing people out of their way.

Spike sprinted through the Blackjack area, keeping ahead of Garble and his toadies. He tipped over a room-service cart, spilling food and dishes across the floor. Clump and Fume tripped over the cart and fell on their faces, skidding across the carpeted floor. Swearing furiously, Cinch took off after Spike.

“Get back here, you thief!” she yelled. “Stop those trespassers!”

Swinging wide, Spike ran toward the elevator bank. He kept going, hoping to outrun the sons of bitches, but they were catching up to him—Cinch and the Shadowbolts from one side, Garble and the Dragons from the other.

“Grab him!!” they all shouted.

Spike kept running, even as Twilight appeared in front of him, and he suddenly dove forward. Stretching out his arms, he flew arrow-straight at Twilight before sliding across the tile floor, between her legs, and into the open elevator, thus allowing the Dragons and Shadowbolts to crash into each other and land in a heap on the floor.

As soon as they all hit the ground, Spike jumped up and hit the button for the twelfth floor. He was out of breath by the time he reached it. As the elevator slowly ascended, Cinch and her subordinates shakily rose to their feet.

“Attention all staff! We have an emergency situation! This is not a drill!” Cinch shouted into her radio. “I repeat this is not a drill!”

Up on the twelfth floor, all the elevator doors opened. Spike stumbled out of one elevator, Discord, Chrysalis, Feather Bangs and Rainbow Dash out of another; Applejack, Fluttershy, Sunset Shimmer and Pinkie Pie out of the third; Moon Dancer, Vinyl Scratch, Rarity, Soarin and Zephyr Breeze out of the fourth; and Thorax, Pharynx, Starlight, Sunburst and Trixie out of the fifth.

All nineteen had made it.

Once they were out of the elevators, Discord, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie and Pharynx took a moment to push every single button for ever single floor on every single elevator before the doors closed again.

“That should stall them for a while,” Pharynx said.

Spike nodded and they followed him down the hallway. Spike stopped and stood outside Room 1215 and knocked. Bon Bon opened up and stood back to let them in. She and Lyra were both wearing white bathrobes.

“I’m glad you made it,” Bon Bon said as she closed and locked the door behind them.

“Spike, would you please tell us what’s going on?” Starlight demanded.

“I’m Special Agent Sweetie Drops, Equestria Secret Service,” Bon Bon said.

“And I’m undercover Agent Heartstrings with the Equestria Treasury Department,” Lyra added.

“Show us some badges, right now!” Rainbow Dash demanded.

Lyra and Bon Bon opened the tops of their bathrobes to reveal tiny badges pinned to their bra straps, resting snugly just above their right breasts.

“Satisfied?” Bon Bon asked.

“Let me see that again,” Zeph said. “I-I didn’t get a good look at it.”

“We’ve been working with Shining Armor on this case for months now, so if we seem a little aggravated, I apologize,” Bon Bon told them.

She was looking straight at Spike as she spoke, the way she always had since they first met, like she was interested in him. She probably found it to be a valuable interrogation technique. Ninety percent of asking questions is about listening to answers. Her voice was low and warm and a little husky.

“The Dragons and the Rich Family, they think Shining Armor and we are dirty,” Lyra added.

“Well, I could have told you that,” Chrysalis commented.

“Is that a payoff?” Sunburst inquired about the briefcase full with the packs of brand-new bills.

They were all standing in a line in the middle of the living room. The briefcase was still on a table where Bon Bon had put it down.

“No. That’s a sample,” Lyra said. “You guys ever heard of the ‘superbill’?”

Spike had. “Sometimes called the ‘supernote’ or the ‘superdollar’, it’s supposed to be the mother of all counterfeiting,” he replied. “But it’s just a myth.”

“Spike, honey, it’s far from ‘just a myth,’” Bon Bon said. “And it is so much more than just counterfeiting. Fourteen out of fifteen world banks can’t even tell the difference anymore. The paper is Crane linen blend and the bills are printed on Equestria Intaglio presses.”

“You want to tell us how in the world the Richs got into the Equestria Mint to use the presses?” Discord asked.

“In 1995, Equestria was very friendly with some delegates from Saddle Arabia,” Lyra went on. “Why? We wanted their oil. The Equestrian government gave them a gift: a Canterlot Treasury Intaglio printing press. And it’s the only one to ever leave the country. Twenty years ago, Impossibly Rich bought that press on the Black Market.”

“Twenty years ago?” Spike asked.

“Mm-hmm,” Lyra replied.

“That would have been just before my mother died,” he breathed.

The group stared at him, bewildered.

They didn’t like his tone, or where he was obviously heading.

“Three years ago, Impossibly Rich got a hold of a set of one-of-a-kind Swiss made one hundred dollar front and back engraving plates, and she started printing superbills,” Bon Bon went on.

“That’s why Impossibly Rich had Garble kill Torch,” Spike said quietly, “for his printing plates. She bought off the Dragons that were tired of Torch lording over them, they got rid of him, thereby eliminating her only other competition, and monopolized her business.”

Lyra reached into her bathrobe’s pocket, pulled out a one hundred dollar bill, and gave it to Rarity, who looked it over very closely. It appeared and felt genuine, except for one little detail.

“It’s Chancellor Neighsay, all right,” she said, showing it to Soarin. “You can tell by the beard, but look at the words ‘Federal Reserve Note’.”

“The second ‘E’ in ‘Federal’ is out of line,” he said.

“You’re right,” Applejack added.

“What does that prove?” Pinkie asked.

“Well, every bill is inspected before it’s put into circulation,” Soarin explained. “If they had found that mistake, they would have destroyed the plate.”

Then Bon Bon lifted a single bill from the briefcase and handed that one to Rarity. And like with the previous bill, she inspected it carefully, rubbing the paper between her fingers. It was the best counterfeit bill she had ever seen.

“This is great,” she told Bon Bon. “It is a fake, but a good one. Even I can’t tell the difference.”

“You would need a neutron microscope to tell that one apart from the real deal,” Bon Bon said as she plucked the bill out of Rarity’s hands and gave it to Lyra. “It’s identical right down to the number of hairs in the Chancellor’s goatee. Impossibly Rich brought in an expert to help her. And she has printed two hundred and fifty billion dollars worth.”

Lyra held up the counterfeit bill Bon Bon had given her and held a cigarette lighter under it.

“There’s one surefire way to find fakes: they use an optical transfer ink that burns red,” she said as she proceeded to demonstrate. “The real ink... burns black.”

“So what in the Tartarus is Impossibly Rich going to do with a quarter trillion dollars of phony money?” Feather Bangs asked.

“You’re asking the wrong question, Feather Bangs,” Bon Bon said. “The real question is: where are the plates, because if we can find the plates, then we can stop the whole operation, right?”

“Theoretically, yes,” Moon Dancer said.

A bitter look crossed Spike’s face. He was thinking hard. He had been around the block more times than he cared to count to know that Lyra and Bon Bon were thinking of ways they could use him... and he didn’t mind it at all.

“Haakim and Amira,” he said.

The others looked at him again.

He had seen them sitting at the Blackjack tables, betting the minimum, patiently studying their cards; and playing the maximum at the Roulette wheel. They were playing a progressive system on red at Table Five and had increased their winnings to exactly three million over two months. They were very lucky.

And now, the fact that they were in town at the same time that their former printing press was could not have been a coincidence. The Richs, the Flimflam Brothers, and the Dragon Mafia, and now the Saddle Arabians... the pieces were slowly coming together, but Spike still couldn’t see the picture the puzzle was trying to make. He decided to put the thought aside for now.

He exhaled, thinking he should have seen this coming for a long time.

First his father dying in an explosion, trying to diffuse the same bomb that killed him, then his mother being killed after she and Torch helped the Secret Service bring Impossibly Rich down all those years ago. They had been the only things standing in Impossibly Rich’s way.

Then Spike thought about the conversation between Twilight and the other Shadowbolts a few minutes earlier: they weren’t going to be satisfied with just partial control and partial profits. They wanted the lion’s share. And Spike was beginning to see things that way. He was starting to think like them! He was the one working the floors—why shouldn’t he reap a larger portion of the benefits?

He was broken from his thoughts by Bon Bon’s voice.

“We have something in common,” she said to him. “I want to get close to Impossibly Rich to stop her counterfeiting operation. You want to get close to her to avenge your mother.”

“My mother’s dead. There’s nothing I can do about that now. And that’s not why I’m doing it,”

“You’re wrong,” Lyra said. “We can all tell that it’s still eating away at you. Impossibly Rich is unfinished business. And we all know that you’re the kind of guy who hates unfinished business.”

Spike wanted to deny it, but he couldn’t. And as much as he hated to admit it, he needed them, and they needed him; not only that, he liked them, and they liked him a lot. It was a Catch-22. If Spike was friends with the Richs, then he was Lyra and Bon Bon’s enemy. But if Spike was enemies with the Richs, then Lyra and Bon Bon were ready to be his friends.

Spike nodded. “Just tell me what you need from me.”

Lyra and Bon Bon smiled at him.

“Well, then it’s settled,” Lyra said.

“Welcome aboard,” Bon Bon added. “From this moment on, you are all officially working for the Equestria Secret Service.”

The blood suddenly drained from all their faces when they heard footsteps beyond the door, coming very close to it. The group froze for a moment, and then moved away. They heard voices, rising over the sound of the footsteps.

Spike reached into his pocket, whipped out his cell, and called in a favor.

He texted the Dazzlings: “Rendezvous behind the dumpers in 15 minutes. It’s a matter of National Security! P.S. Rainbow Dash told me about the you-know-what you girls made of me, so you BETTER BE THERE!!!!”

Adagio replied in less than three seconds. They would be there.

Meanwhile, out in the hallway, Abacus Cinch, Twilight, Garble, Indigo Zap, Sour Sweet, Sugarcoat, Sunny Flare, Lemon Zest and Suri Polomare stepped out of the elevator with two guests, a pair of high rollers, who had joined the manhunt. Spike’s heart pounded furiously as he signaled his 20 friends to follow him into Lyra and Bon Bon’s bedroom. Spike eyed a window washing scaffold outside the window. They could use that to get to the alley.

But it wouldn’t hold all of them. Some of them could ride the scaffold down, but the others would have to risk taking the secondary door out, through the bedroom, and make a break for the stairwell, to the delivery entrance at the back of the building, or the fire escape. They would have to act fast, as Cinch and her cronies were already storming through the hall.

When Cinch’s master key didn’t work, Garble took a running start and kicked the door open. As soon as Rainbow Dash heard the door fly open, she clung to the wall, kept out of sight, quietly cleared her throat, and put on her best Chicoltgo accent, so that she sounded like a gangster’s moll.

“Hold it right there!” she shouted.

Cinch, her staff, and the two big spenders stopped dead in their tracks.

“This is the casino manager, ma’am!” Cinch announced.

“I knew it was you,” Dash replied, still out of sight. “I could smell you getting off the elevator!”

The Shadowbolts subtly started sniffing themselves (and each other), checking for body odor.

“You was here last night too, wasn’t ya?” Dash added from the bedroom.

Cinch said nothing at first.

“Yes, ma’am,” she confessed. “I was.”

“You was here... and you were smooching with my lover!”

Cinch’s thugs all looked at her, who (for a brief moment) had a look on her face that said, “Did I?”

“I’m afraid you’re mistaken, ma’am,” Cinch replied.

“Don’t give me that crap!” Dash shouted. “You’ve been smooching with everybody! Alizarin Bubblegum, Celery Stalk, Citrus Drops, that delivery girl with the lazy eye, Frosty Orange, Melon Mint... Jet Set!”

One of the high rollers, a young man with rounded glasses who was wearing a green polo shirt with a white sweater draped on his back with the sleeves knotted at the front of his neck, gasped.

The others, including his wife—the other high roller, who was named Upper Crust, a young woman wearing a white top and skirt with a pink sweater draped in the same manner as her husband’s—looked at him with disgust.

“No!” Jet Set protested. “It’s a lie!”

“I could go on forever, baby!” Dash went on.

“I’m terribly sorry, ma’am, but I’m afraid you’re mistaken,” Cinch repeated. “We’re looking for a young man--”

“All right, I believe you,” Dash said as she scrolled through the apps on her phone and opened one that played gun sounds. “But my Tommy gun don’t!”

Cinch and her pawns gasped rather loudly.

“Get down on your knees and tell me you love me!” Dash commanded.

Cinch, Garble, Twilight, Indigo, Sugarcoat, Sunny, Sour Sweet, Lemon Zest, Jet Set, Upper Crust and Suri all got down on their knees, very slowly.

Cinch sighed, and then smiled. “I love you!”

Fluttershy snickered quietly as Dash said, “You gotta do better than that!”

“We love you!”

Spike opened the bedroom window and climbed onto the scaffold with Applejack, Sunset, Fluttershy and Pinkie, while Discord, Chrysalis, Feather Bangs, Moon Dancer, Trixie, Rarity, Starlight and Sunburst walked to the other exit, then ran down the hall and down the winding stairwell, and the rest of the crew—Soarin, Zephyr Breeze, Vinyl, Thorax and Pharynx—took the fire escape.

Rainbow Dash would follow Vinyl and the guys, but she stayed behind with Lyra and Bon Bon to make sure they would ditch Cinch and the others.

“Maybe I’m off my hinges, but I believe you. That’s why I’m gonna let you go,” she said. “I’m gonna give ya to da count-a three to get your lousy, lyin’, low-down, fore-flushing carcass out my door!”

Cinch and her lackeys scrambled to their feet.

“One...”

“Everyone, out the door, now!” Cinch ordered.

“Two...”

As soon as Cinch and her employees were back in the hall, Dash cranked up the volume on her cell phone. She laughed maniacally as the sound of a machine gun firing echoed throughout the twelfth floor. They dropped to the carpet with their hands over their heads, praying for the chaos to end.

“Keep the change, ya filthy animal!” Dash stated.

Then she darted down the hallway to the fire escape.

“Stay in your rooms!” Cinch shouted to guests that had come out of their own suites. “This is an emergency! There’s an insane guest with a gun!!”

Dash crashed through the door that opened out onto the fire escape and spotted Spike with Dazzlings in the alley below. She barreled down the ladder, and then vaulted over the last guard railing at the same instant Discord stepped out of the hotel’s delivery entrance, followed by the rest of the crew.

Meanwhile, back in Suite 1215, Lyra made a call of her own and handed the cell to her partner.

“Spike and the others are all set,” Bon Bon said.

On the other end of the line, Shining Armor smiled. “Then Operation Casino Storm is a go.”

Later that night, the gang followed Spike as he led them down a dark, sleazy alley. A glaring neon sign of a red spider spinning her web caught Spike’s eye and he stopped.

The Widow’s Nest.

This was the place.

“They’ve got pretty good ribs here,” Spike told them.

“What are we doing here?” Rarity asked.

“Following a hunch,” he replied.

Spike moved to the dimly lit front door and knocked three times. There was a moment’s pause, then they heard shuffling from inside. A panel in the door slid open and a pair of huge, ferocious eyes appeared on the other side.

“We’re closed,” a voice grunted, “private party.”

“I’m here to see Smolder,” Spike said evenly.

The eyes went big and the panel slid shut. Whoever was on the other side recognized Spike, and after a rattle of locks and the sound of a beam being slid back, the door swung inward. The bouncer, built like a brick wall, stood in the doorway, beckoning them forward with big, gorilla arms.

“Come on in, Spike,” he said, surprisingly friendly all of a sudden.

He stepped aside for Spike and Spike nodded to him as he entered with his friends right on his heels. When she stepped inside, Rarity’s nose wrinkled at the smell, her ears cringed from the music, and her eyes went bleak at the sight of the décor and the lack of customers. As they moved further into the tawdry little dive, through a dark, dingy passageway, they began to hear noises from somewhere beyond the bar. It sounded like a party: laughter, clinking glasses, high heels scraping against wood.

The hallway ended at a large, steel door. Spike pushed it open, and a blast of smoke and yellow light poured out around him. He and the gang took the last few steps and entered a long, rectangular room with a low ceiling and no windows. To be fair, the interior was as swanky as one could find anywhere in Applewood.

Discord’s eyes widened through the cigar smoke as he counted three Blackjack felts, a Roulette wheel, and two Craps tables, all regulation size, as if stolen right out of a casino. There were no less than 20 people in the room, and over half of them were Dragons. The rest looked to be businessmen in their thirties and forties, many of them dressed in suits and ties. There was another bar running along the far wall, and cocktail waitresses in black dresses moved through the crowd, carrying trays littered with various concoctions.

An underground casino and nightclub in Las Pegasus.

“Oh, I know I don’t see what I think I’m seeing!” Spike shouted.

He searched the room and finally caught sight of the owner, standing next to one of the Blackjack tables. His first instinct was to go over to her, but she came to him. She was wearing a flaming orange jacket and sneakers, a yellow T-shirt with a fireball on the chest, and tight blue jeans. She had baby blue eyes like Fluttershy, high hair the color of orchids, and she stood literally an inch shorter than Spike.

“What are you doing here?” she asked Spike.

“I need to talk to you,” he stated.

The owner led Spike and his friends into her dimly lit office and one of her enforcers closed the door behind them.

“Spike Drake,” she said.

“Smolder Chan,” he replied.

Smolder’s small hands gripped Spike’s shoulders with such surprising strength that she threw herself into his arms, wrapped her legs around his waist, grinding her pelvis into his crotch, and kissed him repeatedly; on both cheeks, on the tip of his nose, but mostly on the mouth.

“It’s so great to see you!” Smolder said.

“Faust, girl, you got a tan!” Spike replied.

Las Pegasus had an underside that everyone suspected but never really got to see in action. And Smolder was one of the people who represented the part of Las Pegasus the tourists didn’t read about in the guidebooks.

“I heard you’ve been kicking some serious tail, handsome,” she said.

“Who told you?”

“I’ve got my sources,” she said as she got down and stood on her own feet.

“Garble told you I whipped him in the dance contest,”

“You know my bro,”

“‘Bro’?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Garble’s your brother?”

“All right, you’re obviously here about the funny money,” Smolder said.

“How’d you know?” Pinkie asked.

“C-notes, right?” Smolder inquired.

“Yeah,” Applejack confirmed. “Any of them come through here?”

“A few days ago, Garble brought a new face in and she lost no less five hundred large on the tables in there,” Smolder told them. “I was about ready to tune her ass up myself, but she came back the next day with the whole thing: brand-new one hundred dollar bills, sequential. And I knew they were fakes without even looking at them because this girl’s got a regular day job. I still had ‘em tested, though. But under infrared, they checked out.”

“You still got the bills?” Spike asked.

“Handsome, I’ve still got my lunch money from the third grade!”

“Let me see ‘em,” Spike stated.

Smolder crossed her office to the far wall, to a portrait that hung there: an erotic painting of her and Spike. She lifted the painting off the wall. Behind it was a large, black metal safe. She put one hand on the dial. Then she turned back to look at Spike and his friends. They were looking at her intensely.

She motioned for them to turn their backs, and they did. Smolder watched them turn. Once she was sure that no one was watching, she turned the dial of the safe. She opened the safe’s door; inside lay stacks of cash and gleaming jewels. She reached in, pulled out one crisp $100 bill, and handed it to Spike.

Spike barely looked at it. Then he breathed on it, exhaling a little green flame that ignited the paper.

It burned bright red.

“Eeyup, it’s fake,” Applejack said. “Who’d you say gave that to you?”

“Some lime-haired twat named Lemon Zest, works with my brother at the Rich Plaza on the north side of town,” Smolder replied. “Now she better start hoping that you find her before I do!”

Spike gave Smolder another long kiss on the mouth, with tongue.

“I appreciate it,” he whispered into her ear. “I’ll see you later.”

Back at the soon-to-be opened Rich Towers (formerly Flimflam Resort), Impossibly Rich was yelling at Abacus Cinch and the others. They had gone over the resort several times but there had been no sign of Spike, his friends, or the “insane guest with a gun.” It was like they all just disappeared into thin air.

“No excuses! You all have to be on the same page,” Impossibly told them. “All eyes of Las Pegasus are going to be on me. It has to be perfect.”

She glanced out her window. That’s when she noticed several of her customers entering their limousines and leaving.

“Where the Tartarus are they going?” she asked.

“I don’t really know what’s happening, ma’am,” Cinch replied. “We’ve just lost two dozen of our biggest players without an explanation.”

“Well, get an explanation!” Impossibly Rich shouted. There was a knock at the door. “Who’s there?”

It was Twilight.

“Well, what do you want?” Impossibly Rich asked.

“I regret to inform you that the intruders somehow managed to escape,”

“Miss Sparkle, there’s something stuck to your back,” Cinch said.

It was a note.

“It seems to be a message for you,” Cinch said to Impossibly Rich.

“Go ahead, read it,” she replied.

Cinch nodded. “‘I am going to bring you down. If you want to try and stop me, go ahead. It will be that much more fun, and infinitely more satisfying, for me when you fail, you bitch.’”

“That’s the Serpent’s son, all right,” Impossibly Rich said. “I was really hoping that he wouldn’t try to avenge her death. Well, this time, I will kill him!”

Author's Note

Next time, Spike and the girls are captured and Spike faces Impossibly Rich’s ace in a game of Russian roulette!

Aces

The next day, Spike and his crew stepped through the entrance to the Rich Plaza, wondering what they had gotten themselves into. Helping Shining Armor, Lyra and Bon Bon bust a counterfeiting operation was a big deal. A counterfeiting operation that had printed two hundred and fifty billion dollars was even bigger; probably the biggest in Equestria’s history.

The Plaza’s lobby was full of the usual kind of activity. A couple of bellboys moving luggage carts, janitors sweeping while the maids dusted and vacuumed, a messenger was dropping off something at the front desk... and that’s where Spike and company saw their target: a young woman in a maroon jacket and plaid skirt with a set of pink headphones over her ears—Lemon Zest.

She saw them coming and she took off running.

With a snarl, Spike took off in pursuit. He and his friends chased her across the lobby, down a short hall, through the door to the loading dock behind the building. An 18-wheeler was parked in the big space, and thirteen Dragons in black suits with submachine guns stood in front of it. When they saw Spike, they all turned and aimed at his head, but they didn’t shoot. And in the middle of the group was none other than Twilight Sparkle.

Spike looked into her face. Her eyes were smiling and cold.

“The great Spike Drake,” she said.

She grinned at him; a lunatic’s grin. She reeked with the smell of pineapple. Spike had little doubt that he would break out in hives from the perfume alone if she came any closer. She was ten feet away.

“You know, the last time we spoke, you were quite rude to me,” she added.

“I apologize,” he replied. “When you work for someone powerful sometimes the collar can get a little tight.”

She stared at him, like a challenge. The Dragons’ guns didn’t move.

“Stay alive,” Spike told himself in thought. “Keep them alive,” he thought about his friends. “See what the next minute brings.”

He spent the next two seconds running the odds in his head... and they were not good. Not good at all. Then the whole game changed again.

Two more familiar faces came out of the crowd. It was Lyra and Bon Bon.

“I think there is someone who would like to talk to them first,” Bon Bon said to Twilight.

She and Lyra vanished back into the crush of Dragons that were still staring at Spike. Then Twilight kicked Discord in the mouth and he fell to his knees. Discord felt inside his mouth. He touched one of his front teeth with two fingers, checking to make sure it was still tightly attached to his gums. It was, but blood stained his fingers.

“You are going to pay for that,” he told Twilight.

Then Twilight slapped Discord backhanded across the face.

“I have never hit a woman in my life,” he said. “But you are pushing it!”

Spike knew they were in for it now and part of his mind slowly digested the knowledge, wondering how it was going to be done. But at the same time, another part told him that he was about to discover what he wanted to know, what he had returned to Las Pegasus to find out, and he would get his answers soon. He tried to shout when strong hands suddenly wrapped around his arms and a black canvas bag came down over his head, muffling his voice.

He felt himself lifted and half carried, half dragged across the loading dock. Then Spike heard a door open and close, and he was tossed into what he was sure was a basement, well below street level. The air was heavy with the stink of smoke and ink, and with each step, the stench grew stronger. Then the canvas bag was ripped off his head to reveal Garble, Sour Sweet, Sunny Flare, Sugarcoat, Lemon Zest, Indigo Zap, Lyra, Bon Bon, Shining Armor, Fancy Pants, Fleur de Lis and Zecora standing over him, frowns on their faces.

They were in a large room with a cold concrete floor that was puddled in spots from the water that seeped through the pipes overhead. It was bare except for half a dozen steel tables, one of which had a unique design. It had a downward slope cut into the center, which led to a concealed chamber below. The air was damp and musty and light bulbs hung in wire cages close to the ceiling.

“No cameras down here,” Spike observed.

“This is an interrogation room, created for the sole purpose of reforming the card counters and cheaters,” Sunny Flare explained. “It’s locked, sealed and completely soundproof.”

“Yeah... you probably don’t want anybody to see what goes on in here,”

They ignored Spike’s comment.

Spike looked at his friends. The women were all pale and trembling. An urge to cry gripped Fluttershy, but she quelled it. Crying wouldn’t accomplish anything, not wanting to admit she was as frightened as the other women who clustered together, holding on to one another. But she was more afraid than she’d ever been in her life. She could barely swallow from fear; a cold numbness stole across her.

“Don’t look so frightened, Fluttershy,” said Sour Sweet.

“Let us go,” she said softly.

“What did you drag us here for?” Rarity demanded. “What do you want?”

They heard the sound of feet on the floor in the nearby corridor... and a voice. Then a woman appeared. She was wearing a shiny black suit, different from her usual maroon, and she had on a blue tie.

“Directly below us is a room full of printing presses turning out enough counterfeit money to flood the world,” she said.

“And who the Tartarus are you?” Spike demanded.

Spike knew who she was, he had seen her many times with Impossibly Rich, but they had never been formally introduced.

“Spike, that’s Abacus Cinch!” Rarity said. “She’s Impossibly Rich’s CM!”

“This is bad!” Starlight added. “This is real bad!”

“Do you think a rotten delinquent like you will ever be allowed to meet Impossibly Rich on your terms? That is out of the question,” Cinch said. “But if you absolutely insist on going after her, you’ll have to go through me first.”

She paused only to take a breath.

“I could have had Garble kill you at the Hard Rock,” she said.

“Then why didn’t you?” Spike asked.

“You have cost us time, money, and effort. You have damaged my organization and my pride,” Cinch said. “I was curious to see what kind of a man you were. I thought there might even be a place for you with us. Unfortunately, I misjudged you. You are just a stupid womanizer whose luck has finally run out.”

Then Twilight stepped forward. Her eyes were greedy, longing for an excuse to kill Spike, wanting him to try something.

“Now, I suppose you want me to explain to you why I’m tormenting you,” she said to him.

“I’m sure they would like to know,” he jerked his head toward his friends.

Twilight slid her left hand into her jacket and pulled out four playing cards with the Sun on one side and a series of sapphire numbers on the other: an Ace, a Five, a Six, and a Nine.

“Spike, I challenge you!” Twilight shouted.

Spike didn’t answer her, he just blinked.

“Spike, I’m challenging you to a Gate Battle and you have to accept it!”

So that was it, Spike thought. Twilight had become desperate enough to challenge him to a formal rematch—the one right given to any employee who wanted to play any other employee they wanted just once to one big game with no upper betting limit—as a last ditch effort to regain some of their status within the casino hierarchy. And if the bet amount was reasonable, the person being issued the challenge was not allowed to refuse no matter what. Another unwritten rule prevented Gate Holders from refusing Gate Battles, so Spike’s hands were tied.

“Twilight isn’t a Gate Holder, but she’s a far more talented dealer than you,” Cinch said. “The Gates you won from Diamond Tiara and Filthy Rich belonged to Impossibly Rich. They were supplied from her own personal collection.”

“So that’s it,” Discord said quietly.

“Twilight’s my ace,” Cinch told him. “I sent her to you as part of Impossibly Rich’s plan to take over the Flimflam Brothers’ Resort. And now, it’s finally ours.”

“I don’t think so,” Spike said.

“I hacked Micro Chips’ game at the Gamers’ Convention myself and everything after that went exactly as I planned it!” Twilight replied.

“Why?” Spike asked. “Why would you do that? Why would you do this?”

“You don’t know? You really don’t know?” Twilight asked. “I wanted to get my revenge on you... and your mother, Barbara Drake!”

“Barbara?” Sunset asked.

“My mother?” Spike asked. “Why? She did nothing to you!”

“You may think she’s a saint, but I know the truth!” Twilight went on. “All because of that woman, my family was torn apart! It was all Barbara’s fault!”

“What are you talking about?” Applejack asked.

“My family has always struggled to stay together,” Twilight said. “I thought my father loved my mother with all of his heart. They were so happy together... until you and Barbara showed up! My father left my mother for your mother!”

Suddenly, Spike’s mind flashed back to the day he’d arrived in Canterlot with his mother, Barbara. Twilight and Shining Armor had come home from playing at a friend’s house, and there Barbara had sat in the parlor.

“I was there...” he breathed.

“You finally remember,” Cinch said.

Spike also remembered how Barbara rose to her feet, the way she looked at Twilight and her brother, her eyes warm and soft as if they were her own children. Twilight would never forget that. To her, it had all been a lie!

“This is a very special friend of mine,” Night Light had said with love in his eyes as he took Barbara’s hand in his.

And in that moment, Twilight discovered just how special this “friend” was to her father. When Barbara came forward to hug them, Twilight pushed her away.

“My parents stayed together after your mother’s death, but their marriage has barely survived since,” Twilight continued. “I discovered the truth much later. That woman, your mother Barbara, stole my father’s love for us!”

“Twilight’s father and Spike’s mother have something of a history together,” Cinch explained. “Even after Night Light married Twilight Velvet, he and Barbara continued to see each other privately. Barbara entered the home under the guise of an old friend... Barbara then took that opportunity to seduce Twilight’s father.”

“That’s why their marriage almost fell apart!” Twilight spat. “He would have abandoned us for that horrible woman!”

“My mother would never betray anyone like that!” Spike stated.

“Are you calling me a liar?” Twilight shouted. “I saw them leaving together with my own eyes!”

“Wait!” Rarity exclaimed. “Does that mean...? Spike and Twilight are...?”

“That’s right,” Cinch stated. “They’re half-siblings. They have different mothers, but they’re related by blood.”

“You mean, this whole time, Twilight’s been lusting after her half-brother?” Pinkie asked. “That’s DISGUSTING!!”

“You are NOT my family!” Twilight yelled at Spike. “I decided a long time ago that if I couldn’t have your love, then no one could! Because of my father’s experience, I vowed never to fall in love and appear foolish, never to be the discarded object of a man’s whimsy. Never. Now, I will have my well-deserved revenge! Even if your mother didn’t steal my father from me and my mother, you still destroyed me when you came to Las Pegasus. You tore me apart from my brother! And I will NEVER forgive you for that! Now, I’m going to return the favor! I’ll take the last thing tying you to your mother, your Gates!”

Twilight’s face was distorted by her fury as she grabbed Spike’s cheeks and forced her mouth onto his. She sucked on his bottom lip and then nipped into it as she pulled away. The sting of pain caused Spike to flinch and he eyed her with a sour expression as she smirked. He spat in her face and punched her in the mouth, knocking her into Shining Armor.

Twilight loathed Spike, and it hadn’t taken him long to protest against the intimacy of her kiss; he was ablaze, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand as if he had tasted pure evil. This was hatred. But it was a passionate hatred, alive and searing. It caused him to stare at her with his emerald eyes aflame. And she had swept into the very core of his being, hating him anew with her own fire. In silence she swore against herself, and she swore against him.

“There’s no need for this violence,” Cinch told him.

“You might as well give up now,” Twilight added. “Las Pegasus isn’t big enough for the both of us!”

“No,” Spike said. “You broke rule number one, and that has consequences.”

“What rule was that?” Twilight asked conceitedly.

“Being arrogant with people’s lives... just so you can beat me in a game,”

“No one can be better than me!” Twilight stated. “I laid awake in bed for three weeks in a row trying to figure out how to finally best you. And the only way to know who the best is for sure is to play the same game.”

“It’ll take more than a regular game to settle this,” Spike replied.

Twilight stood quiet for a moment. Then she reached into her jacket again. This time, she pulled out a huge stainless steel .44 Magnum Revolver. It was thirteen and a half inches long and weighed almost four pounds.

“You ever played Russian roulette?”

Spike said nothing, just looked at her.

“You ever played Russian roulette?” she asked again.

“Never,” he said.

“Play Russian roulette with me,”

“What would that prove?”

“A federal agent wouldn’t do it,”

“I’m not a federal agent,”

“Don’t give us that crap,” Sugarcoat said flatly. “We may not know exactly who you are, who you work for, how much you know, why you carry that gun, where you learned to handle it, or how you came to be tied in with the EBI in the shape of Special Agents Sweetie Drops and Shining Armor, but we know you’re a cop or a private eye of some sort. You look like one and you behave like one.”

“I’m not a private eye,”

“Prove it. Play with me,” Twilight said.

“Why would I ever agree to that?” he asked.

“Why else?” she replied. “For the thrill of putting your life on the line! The risk of gambling is the greatest pleasure anyone can feel! Money’s not enough anymore. No matter how much I win or lose, I don’t feel a thing. That doesn’t matter... You and I are the same. We’re perverts who get off on the thrill!”

Spike just stood there, looking at Twilight.

“The rules are simple,” Cinch said. “Load as many bullets as you want into the gun and spin the cylinder. The maximum you can load it with is six. You can put a bullet in every chamber, or not a single one and choose to leave it empty. Once that’s done, you both will conceal your weapons so that no one can tell the difference. You will then take the guns and pull the trigger once. Whoever takes a bullet to the head loses! Well?”

Spike still said nothing.

“Let’s have the best game and the best killing that we possibly can,” said Twilight. “And don’t worry; you don’t usually die from one shot... Or maybe you’re worried about what will happen if you kill me? You idiot! Don’t worry! Cinch will take care of everything. After all, a casino shooting would ruin her reputation. She’ll make sure nobody will ever find out. Honestly, you don’t have to worry about a thing. So, come on, let’s play!”

“You’re completely out of your mind,” Rainbow Dash stated.

Spike stood silent, gathering his strength and his courage. It would be a waste of time to argue or try to escape. But he had gotten out of worse jams. So long as they didn’t intend to kill him. He could have easily killed Twilight then, and he wanted to. But then they would have killed him. His only chance of getting himself and his friends out was to do it their way.

“It is a little crude and primitive for a game of chance,” Spike admitted, “especially one where you bet your very life, but if it means that much to you, then... I accept.”

“What?” Rarity exclaimed. “You can’t possibly--!”

“But only on three conditions,” he added. “First, I’ll play as many games as you want me to, but only if Applejack gets to be the ref. And finally, the loser must pay one trillion dollars to the winner. If you break any of those, then you forfeit and we all get to walk out of here.”

Sour Sweet laughed. “You really don’t get it, do you?”

“You’re trying to set the conditions... for me?” Twilight asked. “And they say I’m crazy. Let me think... one trillion, huh? That’s fine, I don’t care about money. That’s not the point here. And I don’t care if Applejack can be the referee. You’re worried I’m going to cheat? I don’t blame you. But I have to ask... why would you ever agree to as many games as I want? Are you trying to set us up for a stalemate? Or maybe you’re planning on miraculously missing with every single shot you take!”

Spike didn’t say.

“That’s why I still like this kid,” Garble put in. “He knows how to keep things interesting. But we’ll need some kind of insurance. So, I’m adding one rule of my own: every shot you miss means your opponent can take one shot at you. Is that acceptable?”

“Yes, that’s fine,” Spike replied.

“That’s the spirit!” Garble shouted. “Let’s get started!”

“Don’t do it!” Applejack told Spike. “Even if you win, you still can’t miss on purpose! One of you is going to get shot!”

Spike wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace.

“AJ, I’ll be fine,” he whispered into her ear. “Have a little faith. Remember, I have Lady Luck on my side. I will win.”

He was extremely overconfident.

Spike finally pulled away and Twilight sneered at his girlfriends.

“Your precious boy toy is going to lose,” she told them, “because unlike him I couldn’t care LESS about my ‘friends’!”

“The final Gate Battle is about to begin!” Cinch said to no one in particular.

Spike and Twilight moved to the customized table with the slope and chamber and sat across from each other as his harem spoke to one another.

“He’s putting too much faith in us,” Sunset said.

“He might die,” Coco replied.

“Kick her ass, Spike!” Dash shouted.

“Fuck her up!” Chrysalis added.

Twilight slapped the barrel of the gun into her left palm and took her right hand away. She leaned over the steel table and held the thing out to Spike, butt-first, left-handed, like a store clerk. Spike took the gun from her, cracked open the cylinder, checked it, and looked down the barrel. It was a working piece. It was brand new. It had never been fired.

“By the way, you don’t need to say how many bullets you put in,” Cinch told him as she handed Twilight a second, identical revolver. “But I’ll admit something to you... Miss Sparkle’s putting in six of six!”

“Is she stupid?” Dash thought. “That’s suicide!”

Garble approached the table with a box full of ammunition, but it wasn’t all live. Some of them were blanks... probably there just for added effect. Spike reached into the box, took out a few bullets, and the bullets changed into little lizards while Twilight’s revolver turned into a snake that curled around her arm. But it was all just an illusion.

“That’s...” Starlight breathed.

“The Roll Ruler,” Trixie explained. “It’s a mind control technique.”

Moon Dancer nodded.

“I thought its purpose was to control your opponent,” Rarity said.

“With both players using their Roll Rulers, we are beginning to feel the effects of the Gate Battle,” Trixie replied.

Then they started loading bullets. Twilight thumbed her six in at random, closed the cylinder, and spun it free. The ratchet purred in silence. Spike mirrored her movements. He slapped it back together and put it down. Both guns slid down the ramp and into the concealment chamber beneath them. Then Cinch opened the chamber and gave each of them a gun.

“All we can do now is pray,” Applejack thought.

“It doesn’t matter,” Twilight said to Spike. “You know what’s coming, so I hope you’re ready... I’ll be remembered for getting rid of you.”

Her smile faded as Spike glared at her. Then she made another mistake.

“If you don’t pick up that gun in ten seconds, I will shoot you!” she stated as she pointed her Magnum at his head.

“Sparkle,” he said, “I don’t recommend pulling the trigger on that revolver.”

Her eyes shifted to the gun, which was in her right hand.

“That’s my gun,” Spike added. “Look at the cylinder. You’ll notice that it has a scratch on one of the chambers. I also stuffed the barrel with one of my handkerchiefs and filled the chamber with three bullets. So there’s a fifty percent chance that it will misfire... and you’re the one taking the risk.”

Twilight remained silent.

“I lied,” he said at last. “I didn’t put a single live bullet in. Just blanks.”

“What?” Dash exclaimed. “Are you serious?”

“Damn you, you bastard!” Twilight thought. “Damn you! Damn you, damn you, damn you!”

Spike watched her gun hand. Her wrist was small and her finger wasn’t hard on the trigger anymore.

“Spike, what’s the matter with you?” Zephyr Breeze shouted. “Stop messing around! Losing on purpose won’t prove anything!”

Twilight looked at Zeph, her teeth clenched, then at Spike, then at her gun.

“I’m not too proud to beg,” he added, “but taking pity on her isn’t kindness! It’s a lie! Why aren’t you taking this seriously? Give it your best!”

“How much longer do you intend to keep this up?” Twilight demanded. “Quit making a mockery of me, Spike!”

“I always give it my best,” he said. “Luck has always been on my side. And I will not lose.”

Spike took up his own Magnum, emptied it, and reloaded it with a single bullet. He jerked his hand to snap the cylinder shut, spun the cylinder, raised the revolver, and touched the muzzle to his temple. The steel was cold and hard. Spike looked Twilight straight in the eye and held his breath as he eased the trigger back. The cylinder turned and the hammer cocked. The action was smooth, like silk rubbing on silk. He pulled the trigger all the way. The cylinder turned and the hammer fell. There was a loud click. Spike felt the smack of the hammer pulse all the way through the steel to the side of his head. But he felt nothing else. He breathed out and lowered the gun and held it with the back of his hand resting on the table. Then he turned his hand over and pulled his finger out of the trigger guard. He was still alive.

“Your turn,” he said. “Or do you want me to go again?”

Spike picked up the revolver again, spun the cylinder, and let it slow and stop. He raised the muzzle to his head; the barrel was so long his elbow was forced up and out. He pulled the trigger. There was a loud click in the silence. He lowered the gun and spun the cylinder a third time. He raised the gun, pulled the trigger, and nothing. He did it a fourth time, fast. Nothing. He did it a fifth time, faster. Still nothing. He smiled as he spun the cylinder a sixth time and raised the gun to his head again.

“Odds are six to one,” he said as he held the gun to his head. “One in six... There’s one chance in six. Like one throw... of the dice.”

The room went completely silent. Spike pulled the trigger and felt the smack of the hammer falling on an empty chamber. Nothing else.

He pulled the trigger six times and didn’t die.

“How did he do that?” they all thought.

“Enough,” Cinch stated.

Spike lowered the revolver, cracked the cylinder open, and dumped the lone bullet out on the table. They were all looking at him like he was a wild animal. Like maybe they wished there were bars between him and them. His lack of fear was unnerving.

“You’re cold,” Sour Sweet said. “You’re not even a little scared to pull that trigger. You’re a freaking sadist!”

“You should know by now that there’s no way you can beat me,” Spike said to Twilight.

“There’s no way I can win!” Twilight thought. “At this rate, I’m going to lose for sure!”

Spike and Twilight both emptied their weapons, including the handkerchief which Twilight pulled out of her barrel, and they repeated the reloading process, but without any blanks. They didn’t even bother to conceal them this time.

“That wasn’t very kind of you,” Spike said. “As your punishment, I put only two bullets in the cylinder.”

“Oh, yeah? Well, one of my chambers has a bullet in it,” she said. “I’ll pull the trigger once and if nothing happens, I’ll do whatever you want.” She thumbed back the hammer. “But if it should fire, it’ll blow your face inside out. What do you think? Does that sound fair?”

Spike said nothing. The room was silent.

“Come on! I know you’re not scared of getting shot! There’s a five out of six chance to screw me. If I was in your place, I’d take me up on that offer,” she said. “In your place... That’s it! We’ll switch!”

She twirled the gun in her hand so that the barrel was pointed at her now.

“You shoot!” she told him. “If the gun doesn’t fire, you just walk away. Of course, if it does... well I certainly won’t be in any position to resist after that, so you can do whatever you want with me. You’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain, right? Come on! Do it! Your only choice is to take this gun and fire! So, do it! Come on! Do it now!”

Spike slowly reached out and spun her gun so that she was pointing it at him again, and not herself.

“You better make sure you don’t miss,” he told her, “because if you do, every bone in that hand will be broken before you can reload.”

Twilight stared at him with wide eyes. Her blood rained out of her face and fury swarmed it... and fear.

“I can’t believe it! I never thought a guy like you would ever appear in real life! I’ve been searching for so long... for the greatest man imaginable, for someone as flawless as you are, for someone just like Impossibly Rich! Please, control me, Spike! Control me like all the other girls! I want you to be the one to dominate me! I will give my everything to you! Rule over me! Rule over all I am! It has to be you! It has to be! Now!!”

Spike didn’t say anything.

“Don’t even try to hide it. You and I are the same. You want to feel the risk of death if you lose just like I do!” Twilight shouted.

Spike didn’t, nor did he feel any fear at that moment.

His lack of fear made him a great gambler.

And it was the reason he was going to win.

“Pathetic,” he stated. “One look and I knew instantly that you were trying to lose. Otherwise, why would you agree to let Applejack be the ref? The only reason you were unafraid to pull the trigger the first time was because you didn’t care if you were in danger. That’s fine, though. This, however, is just SHAMEFUL! Your cheats were made to be found out. You can’t possibly have done all this just to win a game against me, so why? Victory is different for you. For you, victory is death! That is the ONLY way you will ever win against me!”

Twilight turned pale.

Spike was right.

He took her cheating into account and then incorporated it into his own plan.

It was like punching her in the gut.

“You knew you would win, so why did you even put any bullets in your gun?” she asked. “You could’ve left it empty. Putting those bullets in the chamber just increased the chance you might get shot.”

“There are six chambers in the revolver, which means that after I put in two, I left four empty,” he growled. “Yes, there’s always a chance that one bullet would be fired. If you decided to load one or two, then there was a decent chance that I’d get shot. Russian roulette is NOT gambling! It’s stupid! It’s pointless and it’s not even entertaining! And I am nothing like you! We are NOTHING alike! To you, money and life are one and the same. No one with even HALF a brain in their skull would EVER trust their very life to a roll of the dice! And yet they do it, anyway... and they LOVE it! You flock like a sheep to the slaughterer because the only way you can feel ANYTHING is to risk it all! Gambling is only fun because BOTH sides have the chance to feel pleasure or pain! So why are you trying to monopolize it all for yourself? You don’t enjoy the risk! You just want to DIE!! YOU’RE THE TYPE OF CREATURE I HATE MORE THAN ANY OTHER!!! SO, YOU WANT TO HEAR THE TRUTH!?! YOU!!!! PISS!!!!! ME!!!!!! OFF!!!!!!!”

Twilight was motionless.

There was a long pause as everyone, Spike’s friends, his harem, the Dragons and Cinch’s underlings stared at them. They had all just witnessed the final, and humiliating, defeat of the former Princess of Friendship!

“This was a waste of time,” Spike said finally. “Now!”

Applejack reached for a rope that hung at her waist. She swung it as if it were a whip, snared a steel beam that was lying on the floor, and yanked hard, pulling the beam towards her, and knocking Sour Sweet, Sunny Flare and Sugarcoat’s legs out from under them.

Spike’s right hand grabbed Twilight’s neck while his left hand took the gun out of her right hand. It dropped to the floor and sounded exactly like four pounds of steel hitting a concrete floor. Then Spike leaped into the air and kicked her in the chest, sending her flying across the room. She staggered to her feet as she reached into her jacket and pulled out another gun. But before she could pull the trigger, a jet of green fire spewed from Spike’s mouth and, before her astonished eyes, Twilight’s gun began to melt until all that was left was a lump of hot metal.

As she tried to shake the molten goo from her hand, Spike made his move. He punched her once, twice, three times, until she fell to the ground again. Then the Shadowbolts and Dragons all opened fire. As his friends scattered, Spike ran sideways, up and across the wall. He wrapped Charcoal’s arm around him from behind and shot his gun at Backdraft. Sunset ducked as bullets pierced the metal pipes she and Fluttershy were hiding behind. Applejack grabbed one of the fallen revolvers, returned fire, and the Shadowbolt Five retreated.

Garble pulled out an Uzi and aimed at Spike. As the shots missed, chunks of concrete exploded from the walls. Spike hid behind a wall as Garble walked through the smoke, his gun at the ready. Spike dived out from behind the pipes and pinned Garble to the ground. Fizzle’s gun sprayed the walls, all around. The noise was deafening. Spent shell cases were spitting out and bouncing around, raining down everywhere. Backdraft blasted the ceiling with fifteen shots, bam bam bam, over half the magazine. The chamber was instantly full of bitter smoke and chips of concrete were flying everywhere.

More Dragons and Rich employees rushed into the room and fired into the dust. Spike and Applejack stood and returned fire. Maar and Cinders pulled pistols and Applejack shot the guns out of their hands. Spike dodged as Garble resumed firing back. They continued to trade gunfire and bullets sparked against the pipes.

Garble aimed at Spike again and Spike leaned back as the first bullet fired at him. The bullets shot through the air over his body, one barely missed his leg, another, his arm. He fell to the ground, and then looked up. Garble stood over him, aiming at Spike’s head.

CLICK!

Empty.

Running out of ammo, everyone dropped their guns and put up their fists.

Fume was the first to try his luck. He leaped at Spike, fists swinging. But Spike effortlessly ducked out of the way, countering Fume’s feeble attack with a roundhouse punch that lifted Fume off his feet and slammed him across the floor. Clump charged Spike, screaming. Spike simply stepped aside and Clump ran head first into the wall, knocking himself out.

Garble attacked and Spike blocked his punches with one hand behind his back. Two more Dragons—Barry and Billy—joined in and Spike locked two of their arms together before kicking Whip away. The two broke free and Spike jumped into the air between them. He hovered, neck-high, kicking Billy and Barry against a wall, and they slammed against it before they fell unconscious. As Spike countered Garble, he flipped over Whip, kicking him into the wall after them.

After Spike back flipped, Garble froze for a second. Then he moved.

He head butted Spike, then Spike grabbed Garble by the throat and head butted him again and again before punching Garble, sending him flying across the room. Garble lunged at him. Spike blocked his blows, and then hit Garble in the face. Garble fell, denting one of the steel tables with his head. Spike kicked Garble to his feet, and then knocked him against another table. Garble kicked at Spike, but Spike grabbed his rival’s foot and threw him across the room again.

Garble looked up from the floor, blood dripping from his nose and mouth, Spike glared down at him as he struggled to stand. Then Spike grabbed Garble and beat him to the ground again with his fists. Garble thudded to the floor as Twilight flew at Spike, her hands flailing.

“Bastard!” she screamed.

Spike barely protected his face, catching her clawing fingers in the nick of time before getting both hands around Twilight’s neck and squeezing her throat. She thrashed around wildly, fighting back. Spike shifted his grip and squeezed harder. Then Twilight did the dumb thing and gave up on Spike’s eyes, reached down, and went for his wrists. Spike only let go when more joined the fight.

Nineteen of them against a mob, but Spike, Applejack, Thorax, Pharynx, Rainbow Dash and Soarin had been trained in every known brand of fighting, especially dirty. As the charge met the thin rank, it slowed, crumpled and collapsed. They fought a grudging rearguard of action and their wake was dotted by men and women who clutched their faces, their middles and their groins, swearing, and, in two instances, throwing up.

Spike’s fists sledge-hammered into one face after another until there was a sharp thud when Bon Bon hit him from behind with the butt of her gun, right behind his ear, and he slumped to the floor. There was a blur, and nothing more. He fell and the world faded when he hit the ground. Fluttershy screamed with horror as Spike went down. She stared at him, frozen.

“Tie their wrists and put them in the truck,” Cinch ordered.

Clump and Backdraft got down on their knees and took hold of Spike’s shoulders as Cinch walked toward the exit. Her face showed neither pleasure nor excitement. They yanked Spike to his feet and dragged him toward the narrow door leading out of the chamber. The last thing he saw was Fluttershy being grabbed painfully by her hair before being cast over one of those bastards’ shoulders and held there forcibly. Then it all went black.

Spike regained his senses lying with his back flat against a wall with his hands above his head. Opening his eyes, just enough to get some idea of what was happening around him. He tried to lift his head, and felt a filthy stench flood his nostrils, burning his eyes. Slowly, carefully, Spike turned his head. He glanced around and saw that he was in a large rectangular container, a semi truck’s trailer, filled with over two dozen stone statues of ancient warriors wielding all kinds of weapons. He then glimpsed the borderline conscious forms of his friends, and like him, their hands were tied, suspended over their heads by thick black ropes.

Soarin was on Spike’s right, Applejack was on Spike’s left, Rainbow Dash was to Soarin’s right, and Sunset Shimmer was to Applejack’s left, Zephyr Breeze was on Dash’s right, and Fluttershy was on Sunset’s left, Discord was on Zephyr’s right, and Pinkie was on Fluttershy’s left.

So, on one wall, from the front to back, it was Pinkie, Fluttershy, Sunset, Applejack, Spike, Soarin, Rainbow Dash, Zephyr Breeze and Discord. And on the other side, across from them, it was Chrysalis, Starlight, Sunburst, Moon Dancer, Vinyl, Thorax, Pharynx, Trixie, Rarity, and Feather Bangs.

Spike was sore all over. He felt as if, while he had been unconscious, one of Cinch’s thugs had tried to tie him into a pretzel. His head throbbed, and every breath he took brought a painful response.

“What happened?” he groaned. “What hit me?”

“Bon Bon knocked you out, that’s what happened!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “She, Lyra, Fleur, Fancy, Zecora, Shining Armor, they all played you!”

“No, they saved our lives,” Spike said hoarsely.

“What?!” Dash exclaimed.

“Twilight would have killed us,”

“Spike, look at us, we’re as good as dead!”

“Stop your whining, Crash!” Spike shouted.

“Or what?” she dared him. “What are you gonna do if I don’t stop?”

“I’ll bitch slap you all the way back to Cloudsdale!”

“I’d love to see you try!” Dash yelled. “I will bite your damn nose off!”

She struggled to get close to him, which was impossible since Soarin hung in between them. So she knocked Soarin into Spike like a Newton’s cradle.

“Spike, how did you know that the gun would never fire when you pulled the trigger?” Fluttershy asked. “Please. I need to know why.”

“Russian roulette is a lot safer than people think,” he replied. “You think the odds are six to one—they’re closer to six hundred or six thousand to one.”

“Huh?” they all asked.

“Bullets are surprisingly heavy,” Spike told them. “The revolvers we used weighed less than four pounds, and each live bullet was about 15 grams apiece. A difference of six bullets means the gun itself was roughly ten percent lighter. That’s what happens to police officers who sit behind desks: they forget things like that. Like the weight of a gun that’s loaded and one that’s not. You put a single heavy bullet in a well-made, well-maintained weapon like that revolver and it would be a miracle if the cylinder came to rest with the bullet near the top. The momentum of the spin always carries it to the bottom. A precision mechanism, a little oil... and the law of gravity still applies.”

Applejack smiled. “That’s right,” she said.

“I-I can’t believe it,” said Sunset. “You-you could tell just by holding it? That’s inhuman.”

“And how did you know that Twilight would cheat?” Fluttershy asked.

“I’m a dealer. I can tell a cheater from their gestures, their mannerisms, even the look in their eyes,” Spike answered.

“You really are amazing,” Fluttershy breathed.

“And Twilight lost...” Dash said, “... all over her ego.”

Spike looked to his right, then to his left, past Rainbow Dash, to the rest of the girls. At first, he felt sorry for them. Their naked legs looked so childlike and defenseless. His second reaction was one of admiration.

Then he cursed himself for allowing them to be trussed up like chickens, having their skirts and other clothes torn.

“I’m sorry everyone,” he said softly. “This is my fault. I’ve been a lousy friend, blind to what I have. I was so obsessed with Impossibly Rich, so caught up in wanting to make her pay for what she’d done to others that I put your lives at risk. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Spike...” Fluttershy began.

“Shh,” Rarity said. “Darling, don’t interrupt.”

They were going to die. Half of Spike believed that. They were going to die in Las Pegasus on a weekend near the end of summer. But the other half was blazing with the kind of fury and arrogance that had powered so much of his life: Are you going to let this particular group of people take you down? Spike followed that silent argument and made his choice.

Even though he hurt all over, even though he was dizzy, he traced his teeth with his tongue and made a promise that he could keep.

“I promise, I’m going to get us out of this,” Spike told them.

That was what he would do if he lived through this nightmare.

Abacus Cinch and her employees stepped into the darkness of the loading dock behind Rich Plaza. Twilight was silent, twirling a knife between her fingers, as she watched the Dragons finish loading the 18-wheeler. Then her eyes narrowed wickedly as she looked at Lyra and Bon Bon.

“I don’t trust them,” she told the Shadowbolt Five with more than a hint of envy in her voice. “It’s a mistake having them here.”

“Our orders are to leave them alone,” Sugarcoat stated.

Twilight smiled a superior smile.

“I want to slice those lips right off their face and bury them in the desert with those idiots,” she said.

The Treasury woman and Secret Service lady both heard what she had said.

“I’d put that knife away, bitch,” Bon Bon told Twilight.

“Before you have an accident,” Lyra added.

Twilight’s smile disappeared as they entered a black SUV and she walked further into the loading dock. She clenched both hands and looked up at the blackening sky. A few hours ago, her world had been falling apart, now things were starting to realign.

What better way to wreak vengeance on the woman that had destroyed her family than through her own son? Twilight didn’t want to hurt Spike, at least not at that time, but the years of pain had taken their toll on her, hardening her heart until all she thought of was the joy she’d receive to see Spike’s shocked and surprised face on that day. She had done what had to be done to assuage her own pain... and the betrayal of her half-brother by her own unfaithful father.

“I got what I wanted,” she thought. “So why do I feel so hollow inside?”

A wave of pity for Spike washed over her. She had walked out of that jail cell and into Impossibly Rich’s limo with every intention of destroying Spike. An ache to see the Lucky Prince of Las Pegasus crumble with the knowledge that he’d been royally screwed by the daughter of the woman whose husband Spike’s mother had stolen from them filled Twilight like snake venom. She’d intended to reduce him to a sniveling pile on the ground, but he had spoiled it all for her.

She couldn’t forget his face, feeling such compassion for the other girls, an emotion she never felt herself. She knew that Spike very seldom gave vent to his emotions; that he tried to keep himself in check. Her plan for revenge had turned sour and she didn’t feel the exhilaration she’d expected.

She was about to return when her brother blocked her way.

“Impossibly Rich and Cinch have been playing you for a fool,” Shining Armor said. “They completely made up that story about Spike’s mother stealing Dad from us. It was all a big lie! They planted hatred in your heart to turn you against Spike. We and Spike are not related! Do you hear me, Twilight?”

He was no longer calling her “Twily”.

“I’ve known that for a while now,” she replied. “But if I admit that to myself, if I accept that... I risk losing the only part of me that I have left.”

Shining Armor growled.

“When I was lost within my own darkness, Cinch saved me. Her words lifted me out of the depths of despair,” Twilight went on. “Even if it was just a lie, my resolve to get revenge made me stronger. It was all I had to live for.”

Shining could see the conflict in her face. She was struggling to escape. She was fighting and trying to reclaim the love she’d left behind.

“As your brother, let me warn you,” Shining said, “if you continue down this road, I will arrest you, family or not.”

And he joined Lyra and Bon Bon in the sport utility truck.

Then Abacus Cinch spoke to Twilight.

“You look down,” she observed. “Are you feeling drained now that you’ve gotten your revenge? Frankly, I’m disappointed in you. Spike put up quite a fight... I thought you were stronger than him.”

“Don’t talk like you know me!” Twilight snapped. “And don’t talk to me about him!”

“Oh, did I offend you, even after I helped you out of the infinite goodness of my heart?” Cinch asked.

Twilight scoffed. “‘Goodness’? You didn’t care whether Spike or I won as long as you got those Gates. Just as long as you got them, you didn’t care! I’m just a tool to you, a pawn to do your bidding!”

“The Gates are vital! We need to gather all thirteen as soon as possible and have you become the MVCD. I need to see that rainbow just as much as Impossibly Rich does!” Cinch shouted.

“Why is the Casino Guild trying to collect the Gates now? Why did they wait so long?”

“You’re not going soft on me, are you?” Cinch asked.

“Of course not, I gave you my word,” Twilight replied. “I’ll keep my end of the bargain. No matter what, I will become the MVCD, the strongest dealer in the world! I will!”

“I know you will. Impossibly Rich will do absolutely anything to find those last three Gates. One sign of uncertainty from you, or any of the other girls, and I will not hesitate to have Iron Will and the Dragons intervene,”

“Relax. That won’t happen,”

“I hope so. After all, your future depends on it,”

Guiltily, Twilight realized that her future rested in their hands now, and she had no clear idea what Impossibly Rich was going to do next as she joined Cinch in the black Cadillac. She dumped herself in the passenger seat while Iron Will got in the driver’s seat and started the engine. The black vehicles eased onto the street one after another in a straight line. They didn’t speed up until they reached the street that would take them toward Rich Towers. Shining Armor edged ahead of the semi and Fancy Pants fell in behind him and followed.

Inside the trailer, Spike could tell that night had fallen. The temperature had dropped. It was a cold night and it was going to get even colder in the minutes to come. Then he thought of Celestia. He hadn’t tried to contact her for several hours. Then he thought of the loved ones of everyone in the trailer with him. Even though their families would miss them and wonder what happened to them, no one knew where they were. Rainbow Dash was still struggling with the ropes, but hadn’t made any progress.

“It’s no use,” Applejack said, admitting defeat.

“At least I’m trying!” Dash shot back.

Discord shook his head sorrowfully. “It shouldn’t have gone down like this,” he said. “But it was inevitable. Chaos theory: you put a bunch of overly intelligent people together sooner or later you get chaos.”

“Spike,” Zephyr Breeze said.

At first there was no answer, but then he stirred slightly.

“Spike, I know I’m gonna regret asking,” Zephyr went on, “but tell me how the Dragons are gonna kill us.”

“First, they’ll torture us for no less than three days,”

“Torture?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I can deal with that.”

Dash knew that the beginning of torture was the worst. There was a long chain of agony, a crescendo that led up to a peak where the nerves were blunted and bruised to the point they reacted less and less until unconsciousness and eventually death. She had been told by past Wonderbolts who had survived such torture that towards the end there came a wonderful period of warmth leading into a sort of sexual high where pain turned to pleasure and hatred and fear of the torturers turned into a masochistic infatuation. It was the supreme test of will. Until they either killed you and saved themselves further useless effort, or to let you recover sufficiently so that your nerves had crept back to the other side of the parabola. Then they would start again.

Then Spike said something that swept a wave of horror over the men and made the women feel like they would faint.

“Then, they will cut off our bananas and berries and feed them to us,”

“Cut off our--?” Zephyr Breeze asked. “Oh, Tartarus, no, we gotta get outta here! Come on, man! Don’t give up!”

He screamed and his body jangled like a marionette. Torture was terrible enough, but to be castrated and force fed his own manly parts, that was even worse. He fought even harder when he looked at his sister, Fluttershy. If that was what the Dragons did to men, he hated to think what they would do to women.

“Soarin, give me your left leg,” Spike said.

“What?” he asked.

“Like this,” Spike said, stamping his foot against the wall of the trailer so that his knee pointed out like the corner of a triangle.

Soarin did as Spike instructed, and Spike used Soarin’s leg as a step so that he could pull himself up close to the rope around his wrists. The Dragons had made no mistakes with the knots and left no play in any of the bindings. They bit sharply into Spike’s flesh. Then he sniffed them.

“These ropes,” he said, “they’re made of... black licorice?”

“We could eat through them!” Soarin exclaimed.

Pinkie groaned in disgust. “Maybe you can.”

Spike chewed through the licorice and landed on his feet. Before he even thought about helping his friends, he shoved his hands into his pockets, which were now empty. No Derringer, no Gate cards, and no Fire Ruby. They were all gone.

“Spike, hurry up and untie us!” Discord commanded.

He untied Discord and Applejack and she ended up kicking one of the warrior statues, which fell to the floor and broke apart, and they were rewarded with two sounds. One was the stone breaking. The other was the crinkle of paper.

Spike bent down and picked up a wad of Equestrian dollars. He threw another statue down and it broke apart to reveal even more dollars. Then another, and another, and another.

“These statues are full of money!” Discord exclaimed.

And not just bills, but coins as well. They found everything from Equestrian dollars and cents to Jockeypanese yen, Trottingham pound notes, Germane marks, Itailian liras, even French francs and pesos from South Equestria—fake money from every country and region in the known world!

This was how the Rich Family had been able to build their international empire! The men ran legitimate businesses while the women had been printing phony money! They had been secretly controlling global economics since the Dark Ages! Now, they were going to destroy the economy of the world, ruin every currency! The key of it all was the counterfeit bill, and those who tried to get a peek at its source, never lived to tell about it!

While Spike and the guys helped free the rest of the women, Discord and Applejack both started pocketing stacks of the counterfeit cash.

“What are you doing?” Spike asked them.

“I’m taking this for evidence!” they both replied.

They exchanged a look. Discord knew that Applejack was a little more inclined toward the truth, but she wasn’t so sure about him.

Suddenly, the ride shifted from smooth and gentle to rough and bumpy. Spike heard the faint sounds of the semi truck’s engine. The sound got louder. Then he heard the thump of hydraulics, the squeal of brake rotors, and the howl of locked rubber gridding on a blacktop; the tires.

“Do you feel that?” Spike asked them.

“Yeah, we’re slowing down,” Pharynx confirmed.

The truck looped around a corner and headed down to an underground parking garage. Eventually, the truck started backing up. Then it came to a complete stop. Spike and everyone else returned to their original positions and made themselves look as if they had never moved.

The trailer’s doors were pulled open in unison and a pair of burly Dragons—named Barry and Billy—walked in. They had Glocks in their hands. They walked slowly with the guns held low. The duo stood next to Spike and Rainbow Dash as they and the rest of the group appeared to hang on the walls.

They immediately noticed the smashed statues in the center of the trailer and asked what had happened.

“I’ll tell you what happened,” Dash said, and she and Spike brought a world of pain down upon them.

There was no plan in Spike’s mind except to do as much damage as possible to the two traitors and be able to exchange a few hurried words with his friends. No other plan was possible. Like lightning, he and Dash slammed the two Dragons against the inside wall of the trailer. Each slugged a ferocious fist across the Dragons’ teeth, and the two men crashed down to the floor like a weight had fallen on them from above, all the breath knocked out of them.

Soarin picked up their fallen Glocks, stuffed one into his pocket, gave the other to Applejack, and the gang ran out of the trailer. They slammed the doors shut and locked them. Then Spike led the way along a narrow corridor and down a twisting stairway that seemed to go on forever. At last they came to the bottom of the stairs, where Spike found a metal grate in the floor that led to the sewers beneath the city.

“Lower me down,” Applejack said after he removed the grate.

Grabbing her wrists, Spike lowered AJ down the hole. She touched down into the sewage muck and Soarin lowered himself down after her. One by one, Spike helped them down and they found themselves in a long, narrow passage.

“Come on!” Spike told Rarity.

“I’m not going in there!” she stated. “There are rats in there!”

“There are no rats!” Spike replied.

“Look at that rat!” she pointed.

Spike just threw his hands up in apathy before scanning the chamber and hopping off the short ledge. As the group moved down the tunnel, they heard the scuttering of tiny feet in the darkness. They turned left and followed the water-filled tunnel until Rarity saw something run down the ledge in front of them. She squirmed as Spike led the way through the shallow channel of dirty liquid, holding Fluttershy’s hand.

Crawling over each other, rats swarmed the tunnel. Spike sloshed past the vermin as Rarity struggled to keep up while trying to avoid them. Spike stopped and grabbed Rarity behind her legs, threw her over his shoulder, and carried her further into the sewer. After making their way to a larger tunnel, the group climbed up to the ledges on opposite sides of the water, rats still scurrying around their feet, and they proceeded to a ladder in the next chamber.

Spike led the way up the ladder and pushed up the manhole cover. He moved it aside, and climbed out of the sewer access tunnel, lifting himself onto the street. Then he helped his friends out one by one. They were in the middle of Las Pegasus Boulevard... a block away from Rich Plaza. It was fully dark out.

As Thorax looked at the new building, he thought of all the events that had led them here. Then, suddenly, a realization hit him like a ton of bricks.

“Spike, that’s how you launder two hundred and fifty billion dollars in cash!” he shouted.

Spike was quiet for a moment. Then he felt incredibly stupid for not figuring it out sooner. There was evidence all over the place: Impossibly Rich was wealthy enough that she was a counterfeiter. She made good money at it, but she wanted more. Lyra worked for the Treasury Department—she was the “expert” Impossibly Rich had called in to inspect the fake bills. And Bon Bon/Sweetie Drops and Shining armor were Secret Service, the latter after he was a cop. Pull a few strings here, call in a couple of favors there, and they could get the stuff through Customs with minimal fuss, paperwork and red tape.

Then Spike’s thoughts shifted to the Saddle Arabians—Haakim, Amira, and Hoo’Far—their old press printing Equestrian dollars and cents, Jockeypanese yen, Trottingham pound notes, Germane marks, Itailian liras, French francs and South Equestrian pesos. That’s when Spike remembered Fancy Pants, Fleur and Zecora—an Englishman, a French babe, and a half-Zanzebran beauty—when they sat together in the casino that very first day, it was like looking at the colors of a Picasso painting. They were the distributors.

And as for Torch... Torch was running a rival operation: guns, gambling, prostitution, and extortion, but mostly guns. They were a much better fit with him than drugs or counterfeiting. Impossibly Rich saw Torch’s operations as a threat, a takeover target. She didn’t like the way he was mining the Las Pegasus markets. So she moved in. She bought off as many of his Dragons as she could, which partially explained why she was having trouble covering her payrolls... and other, more personal, expenses.

A casino was the biggest front in the world: the people’s money went in, was exchanged for casino chips, and win or lose, Impossibly Rich pocketed the real currency, and when the chips were to be cashed in, the counterfeit money went back out... and into the world! That’s what Cinch had meant. Flood the world.

Spike remained quiet for a whole minute. Then he spoke.

“It was staring me blank in the face,” he said.

Now he was an inch away from busting Impossibly Rich, and he was not going to back down. Not now, never again.

They watched as limousines of many colors pulled up to the front of the hotel. The Rich Towers’ lights glanced off the body of a sleek, black stretch limo as it rolled smoothly up to the building’s entrance and the wealthiest of the wealthy made their way inside. It was like an Applewood premiere. Then Applejack noticed several of the security guards, some her former subordinates, passing around fliers bearing pictures of her and her friends. She knew what that meant.

“Wait a minute!” she told them. “We can’t go in there. We’ve been red-flagged. They’re watching for us. If we set foot in there, they’ll be on us faster than a flock of speeding hawks.”

“So, what are we gonna do?” Dash asked.

“We can’t fight our way in,” Sunset said.

Spike grinned as a light bulb went off in his head.

“I’ve got an idea! Follow me!”

Drake's Nineteen (And Then Some)

The sky was perfectly clear and their hearts were racing as they strolled past the faux-tropical lagoon on the Las Pegasus Strip. The volcano sprayed red plumes of flame high into the air as a crowd of elderly tourists in matching sweatshirts applauded. It was an awesome sight, one that would be repeated every fifteen minutes until midnight. Drake’s Nineteen took a deep breath and boldly entered through the golden double doors that led into the (former) Flimflam Brothers’ Resort, one at a time, at one minute intervals. Their plan was to enter as customers, and if they all started winning, the Richs would have no choice but to show themselves. Spike was the last one to enter. An inadvertent smile moved across his face as he looked at the vast atrium once more.

Spike felt like everyone was staring at him as he moved through the lobby and down the ramp that led to the casino. He passed no less than three uniformed security officers on the way. Thankfully, none of them gave him a second look. They were a heist mob, and within a couple of hours the big operation would either succeed or fail.

Impossibly Rich had converted the resort into a place for whales, not weekenders or conventioneers. She replaced the marble with stuff handpicked from Itaily, the chefs were stolen from the highest-rated restaurants in the guide books, and in the villas, for her big players, the silverware was actually gold, and the rest of the stone warrior statues—undoubtedly also filled with the counterfeit cash from the truck—lined the red carpet that cut through casino floor. Impossibly Rich had spent the past several hours checking and rechecking every inch of the property, getting ready for the grand opening.

The place was jumping—women in shiny tube tops, showing ample curves and way too much skin, mingled with men in leisure suits. Groups of Jockeypanese men, red-faced from alcohol and shouting loudly at one another, melded into junkets from Dodge Junction and Appleloosa. Cowboy hats, silk suits, leather pants, gold lamé, slicked-back hair, ponytails, even the odd tuxedo—it was perfect.

The lights dimmed and a spotlight shone on Impossibly Rich.

“Welcome, friends, to the greatest casino in the world! Flimflam Resort is so passé, it has been reborn as the Rich Towers! Plenty of tables and slots for all! You’re all winners in my book!” she announced. “Especially you losers...” she added under her breath.

After Impossibly Rich’s little speech, Spike’s Spotters spread out through the casino, taking positions at the tables. There were two or three shills at the platinum Roulette wheel, more attractive girls in smart evening dresses who had been given fifty dollars with which to warm up the dead tables, and there was a very drunk man clinging on to the high surrounding wall of one of the crap tables and shouting exhortations to the dice. The energy level was at an all-time high, and their ears were ringing from the noise as they reached the blackjack pit. Even though he was prepared for this, Spike was anxious; the place was more distracting than any amusement park.

And he saw that something else had changed: every single dealer from the Blackjack tables to the Roulette were pretty women dressed in the same colored uniforms as Impossibly Rich’s employees – short plaid skirts, light blue blouses with reddish-purple vests, black metal-studded belts, dark blue bowties, and black heels over dark blue nylons.

As Spike moved through the crowd, between the tables, into the center of the Blackjack area, he scoped the scene, taking count of the others. Shifting his gaze as he walked, Spike almost immediately picked out Soarin and Zephyr Breeze, two tables apart. Zeph, the preppy tennis jock, was flirting with a beautiful blonde standing next to him at one of the Craps tables as he pulled a huge wad of cash out of his back pocket. She looked like a stripper, with magnificent fake breasts in a tube-top and a skirt riding high up her thighs. Nobody would be noticing Zephyr. That was for sure.

“Snakes Eyes,” he said as he put down fifteen $10,000 chips. “All of it.”

Soarin was playing a different role, slumped over with two empty glasses in front of him, constantly rubbing his eyes like he was about to pass out. As soon as he had stepped into the casino, he’d liberated a Scotch from a passing cocktail waitress’s tray, took a sip, and then splashed some of the liquid onto his shirt. He messed up his hair, undid a few buttons, and rolled one sleeve almost to the elbow. Now, he looked like a man left behind by his friends, too drunk to hit the clubs and too stupid to quit gambling for the night. He wasn’t really drunk, but he was making his cheeks red by holding his breath when nobody was looking, throwing his chips out recklessly when he raised his bet, asking the dealer for help adding up his cards when the pit boss was watching. He hardly even seemed to look at his cards; it took Spike a second to realize Soarin was reading the numbers from the reflection on his empty drink glasses like a pro.

And if Soarin was a pro, Rainbow Dash was playing on a whole different level. Spike saw her sitting at a crowded table close to the elevators, her athletic body daintily perched on her stool, her legs crossed, hands folded neatly in her lap. A group of rich, drunk Jockeypanese businessmen surrounded her. They were giving her advice as she played, trying to impress her. She flirted back, covering her mouth when she laughed, responding in equally broken English. Even the dealer was smiling at her, helping her add her cards together.

“Blackjack, Blackjack, Blackjack, Twenty, Twenty,”

“That’s five Blackjacks in a row!” one of the men exclaimed.

“That’s crazy!” said another.

“I’ve never seen anything like that!”

Rainbow Dash clapped her hands together, jabbering loudly in broken Jockeypanese. She hugged the shoulder of the man next to her, and joined the rest of the table in a round of applause. In ten minutes, she had won sixty thousand dollars. Sassy Saddles had been over three times to offer her comps such as a free stay in one of the luxury suites, tickets to a variety of sold-out shows, and dinner passes to all the casino’s top restaurants. The only player who didn’t congratulate her was an angry little woman with streaks of grey hair and mottled skin.

Feather Bangs, who was under the guise of a prickish rich kid from a wealthy Manehattan family, stood at the Roulette wheel with three men in expensive silk suits, trying to make friends with the cocktail waitresses. He had two-thirds of the board covered (less the zero), and since the dozens played odds of two to one, he stood to win every time any number lower than 25 turned up. After seven coups he had won six times.

“My jet stream of luck is unstoppable!” he shouted.

He lost on the seventh when thirty came up. He kept off the table for the eighth throw. Zero turned up. Fluttershy, at another Blackjack table, acted like she was scared to play (which was not hard for her to do), and mentioned that her boyfriend was playing Craps. Discord, also playing Blackjack, turned his attention to the betting circles. He was already up $200. Grogar had three hundred dollars down. Tirek was betting two fifty. Sombra had five hundred dollars in front of him.

Discord placed two five-thousand-dollar chips into his circle.

“That’s how it’s done,” Grogar said, impressed.

He took a handful of cigars out of his pocket and offered them to the table. Tirek and Sombra each took one, Haakim declined, and Discord shrugged.

“Thanks,” he said, letting Grogar cut the tip for him with a cigar cutter.

“I’m doing a whole lot better at this place than I ever did with Flimflam Resort,” Grogar said. “I could get used to this.”

“When this place was still Flimflam Resort, I loved the games a lot more regardless of whether I won or lost,” Sombra shared.

“I know, right?” Tirek replied. “It’s like something’s missing.”

“Or maybe someone,” Grogar added.

“The Lucky Prince,” they all agreed.

Chrysalis pushed a seemingly random handful of chips into her betting circle. Three blacks, two purples, and six green—one thousand four hundred and fifty dollars. Let the Eyes in the Sky try and figure that one out. They’d never guess that this crazy lady knew the count. Spike saw Applejack win in Five-Card Draw with a Straight (Eight High) against a Two Pair (Kings over Nines) after exchanging three cards. He also saw Starlight Glimmer rise from another table, scooping black, purple and orange chips from the felt while Sunburst drifted around the slot machines.

“It’s only beginner’s luck,” she said.

Then Spike saw Celestia. She was the picture of perfect health. Her hair was washed and brushed. She was wearing a virginal white silk and lace dress, white pantyhose and golden shoes. Her skin was pale and her eyes were beautiful. He nodded discreetly at her as she glanced up fleetingly from a Blackjack table, toying with a handful of playing chips. He then spotted Trixie chatting with her father at the casino’s bar, and Vinyl, who was calmly sipping a sweet-looking fruity drink and watching Pinkie Pie’s stack of chips pile high.

Pinkie, who was also playing Blackjack, fumbled with a handful of folded bills as the thin, bespectacled croupier named Copper Plume counted out $30,000 and slid Pinkie a stack of 500-dollar chips, of which she bet four. He dealt Pinkie a pair of tens. His hole card face down, Copper Plume dealt himself the Eight of Clubs. Pinkie stayed and Copper Plume flipped his hole card to reveal the Ace of Spades. Pinkie beamed excitedly, but caught herself as Copper Plume dealt her the Ace of Hearts and the Queen of Diamonds—Blackjack. Copper Plume gave Pinkie a friendly nod and, stifling a smile, Pinkie rubbed the back of her neck and leaned back with an air of confidence as her cards were collected.

Spike was amazed. They had inhabited their aliases like trained actors. Everything seemed to be moving along splendidly. There had been no heat from the other pit bosses, and no sign of anyone who would give them away. He turned and a cute girl in a short, red and black saloon-style skirt above the knees, matching corset, bow tie, and tiny pillbox hat came up to him with a box-like tray slung around her neck. It was Juniper Montage and her tray was covered with an assortment of Champagne cocktails, martinis and Manehattans.

“Candy, gum, cigar, cigarette, drink?” she asked. “Dynamite?” she added in a very quiet whisper.

Spike smiled as she effortlessly slipped him eight sticks of TNT.

“On the house, sugar,” she said with a wink.

As soon as Spike safely deposited the explosives into his crocodile skin jacket, he felt someone grab his elbow, turn him around, and drag him to a spot in the casino that had been set aside as a dance floor.

“Put your arms around us,” Bon Bon/Sweetie Drops spoke over his shoulder.

“Hold us close,” Lyra added. “There are guards and cameras everywhere.”

“I think we may be in trouble, Spike,” Sweetie Drops said. “We really need your help.”

“The last time someone said they needed my help, they knocked me out and I woke up in the back of a truck,” he replied.

He moved stiffly as he twirled them around him.

“We are undercover, Spike,” Bon Bon said. “We had no choice.”

“How do I know I can trust you?” he asked.

“Dip us,” Lyra said.

“At the same time?” he thought.

That was one dance move he had never attempted before, but he did it, and he didn’t drop either of them.

“We’re asking for real this time,” Sweetie Drops said. “Will you help us?”

Spike had been snarling the entire time they danced. Then his faced softened and he smiled. That was all the assurance that they needed. He pulled them to their feet and they brushed against his face, looked into his eyes, and then walked away.

Spike’s smile was quickly extinguished as he spotted a man in a black suit striding purposely towards the casino, flanked by a team of almost identical broad-shouldered men.

“Shining Armor just walked in,” Moon Dancer said.

“Copy that, the Secret Service is in the house,” Spike replied. “If they move towards Blackjack, somebody tip Discord and Chrysalis.”

Shining Armor perched himself on a stool at the bar, looking at nothing special, seeing everything as cubes were being exchanged at the Craps tables and balls were traded at the Roulette wheels.

“New dice coming in,” Midnight Radiance said.

Spike exhaled sharply as his friends’ winning spree continued. It took him 20 minutes to find Filthy Rich’s table, which was a few feet from the gurgling miniature waterfall. The Dazzlings, dressed in qipaos, strode up to Spike as he approached. Adagio wore black while Aria wore pink and Sonata wore purple.

They whispered, “Be careful.”

Putting a hand in his pocket, Spike swept through the abnormally large crowd and continued on to Filthy Rich’s table. Filthy sat next to his wife, Spoiled, who was playing a game of Solitaire; while Abacus Cinch, Garble and Iron Will stood behind them like bodyguards. And, of course, Trouble was with them. More specifically, trouble in the form of a five-foot-three bitch with a reputation for strewing her wake with wreck and ruin.

Twilight Sparkle, the woman who had surrendered her principles, all the things she had believed in, at the feet of Impossibly Rich. She had seen Spike coming. She was prowling, like a restless animal in its lair.

“Well, well, well,” she said. “What are you doing here?”

“Same thing you are,” Spike answered. “I’m working.”

Twilight reached for him.

“Touch me and that hand will never touch anything again,” he said quietly.

Garble searched him, moving his hands from Spike’s legs to his chest. He was not gentle. His face betrayed no emotion as he reached into the crocodile skin jacket and pulled out the eight sticks of TNT Juniper Montage had given him. He handed the explosives to Twilight and Filthy Rich and Spoiled Rich stared at Spike as he sat across from them.

“Give me one reason not to bounce you out of my place,” Spoiled said.

“You and I have some unfinished business,” Spike replied.

“You bribed our High Rollers,” Spoiled said. “You stole our big players, and now you brought them here to rub it in my face. Tell you what, let them play here and I’ll give you ten percent of their losses.”

“As I have said before, I am not that easy,” Spike stated.

“Twenty percent whenever they gamble here,” she offered.

“Your mother-in-law killed my mother!”

Iron Will reached inside his jacket as Spike grabbed the steak knife from the plate of filet mignon that was in front of him. Then he grabbed Twilight with his free hand, pulled her close, and pressed the sharp blade to her side.

“Put the gun away, asshole,” Spike stated.

Spoiled Rich nodded to the big bruiser and Iron Will did as he was told.

“I suggest you give me back what’s mine,” Spike added, jabbing the knife deeper into Twilight’s side, just enough to pierce her uniform but not her skin, “or anything goes.”

Spoiled Rich set a small bag on the rotating tray between them, in the center of the round table. It brushed past a stack of money as he spun it over to Spike.

“Open it,” Spike told Twilight.

She dumped out the contents. Gold coins.

“My Mother’s Fire Ruby, Rich. I’m not going to ask again!”

Twilight set the coins and bag back on the Lazy Susan and spun them back to Spoiled Rich, who glared back at Spike. Reaching into her purse, Spoiled took out a small item wrapped in paper. She glanced at it before putting it on the Lazy Susan. The injured Garble set a glass of white wine beside it and spun the items toward Spike. Twilight unwrapped the paper to find the Fire Ruby inside; she flinched in pain as she gave it to Spike. Spike pocketed his mother’s necklace, then grabbed the glass of wine and dumped it onto the carpet, smirking as he did so.

“You think I don’t know the old poison-in-the-drink routine?” he asked them. “If you’re trying to kill me, you could at least be a little more inventive. I’m taking back this Resort... and those Gates.”

He finally put down the steak knife and, using the same hand, snapped his fingers. When he did, the Two, the Eight and the Ten Gates Cards appeared, only to disappear again with another finger snap.

“What? You have the last three?” Spoiled Rich asked. “How were you able to find those?”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie gave them to me,” he said simply.

Spike threw Twilight across the table, into Filthy and Spoiled Rich, and took off through the casino. Garble and Iron Will gave chase. His path blocked by more dark-suited bouncers, Spike turned on his heels and sprinted down an aisle between slot machines. Spoiled paused as she watched Twilight bound off after Spike while Cinch escorted Filthy out of the casino.

Pursued by the black-clad Dragon enforcers, Spike turned a corner to see more bouncers approaching. He was choked from behind by Garble as Twilight kicked him (Spike) in the jaw. Nobody but an expert in jujitsu had handled Spike with Twilight’s lack of fuss. The cold precision with which she had paid him back had been equally unhurried, even artistic.

“Now follow me,” she said. “Or I’ll let your old friend here snap your neck.”

Almost docilely, Spike walked down the passage to a private elevator. As he preceded Garble and Iron Will into the elevator, Applejack contacted the others.

“They got Spike,” she said. “We’ve been compromised. They know we’re here. Rich’s gonna run his prints.”

“Damn,” Sunset cursed.

“That’s it. Our lucky streak’s over,” Moon Dancer stated.

“Cash ‘em in, kids,” Pharynx told them.

“They’ll scoop us all up and Rich’ll have the best night of her life,” Rainbow Dash added.

“I know what to do,” Discord said. “Back of the house, fifteen minutes.”

Author's Note

Next time, Spike is put in a deadly position and his women go mano a mano with Twilight.

Shakedown

The bell pinged, the elevator doors opened, and Spike was hauled into the Eye in the Sky room by Twilight Sparkle, Garble, Iron Will and the Shadowbolt Five, the women’s high heeled shoes striding across the dark marble floor.

The number of video monitors had almost doubled. Instead of forty, it was now seventy-two. Twilight hit a key, and Spike’s face stared back at him from all of them. Spike took a step forward. There was a slight whirring sound and the images on the screens shifted imperceptibly, then resumed. His face was staring back at him in real time. Every twitch was his; every bead of sweat tracked times twenty. Smooth three hundred and sixty degrees of controlled rotation. Then they zoomed in so close that they could read the time off a wristwatch.

And it had been outfitted with a Player Tracker. It was an artificial-intelligence security system. It didn’t just think, it reasoned. It read every permutation in every wager in every seat in the entire casino hand by hand. It was wired into floor security cameras that measured pupil dilation and determined if a win was legitimate or expected. It gathered biofeedback, players’ heart rates, and body temperatures. And it measured them on a second-by-second basis whether the standard variations of gaming algorithm were holding or being manipulated. The data itself was analyzed in real time in a field of exabytes.

Simply put, it could not be hacked and it could not be beat.

These were the new high-tech toys that were designed to protect Impossibly Rich’s interests: an entire security system created by an independent surveillance company willing to install it for anyone willing to foot the substantial bill.

Spike froze at what he saw next. Sitting on a couch across the room, was Smolder, Ember, and Dragon Lord Torch, alive and well. They all looked up and stared at Spike. They all had tape around their wrists, but none of them were hurt. Filthy Rich and Diamond Tiara were also bound and sitting with them.

Shining Armor, Fancy Pants, Fleur, Zecora, Lyra and Bon Bon all stood at various points around the room, and Impossibly Rich, clad in a blue sequin gown, stood in front of the two-way mirror looking down at the casino pit, her lips curled in a tentative smirk.

“Imagine a business where people give you money, and you give them back absolutely nothing,” she said.

She turned around to face Spike. He could smell whiskey on her breath and see the glaze of triumph in her eyes.

“Now that’s the real Equestrian Dream,” she added. “Thanks to a few pieces of metal and six of the most beautiful and handsome government agents, I am back on top again. You know, it didn’t have to be like this. It’s too bad. How far you’ve fallen... Like mother, like son.”

She leaned in even closer, so close Spike could almost taste the whiskey.

“It was very kind of you to return my Gates; so very kind,” she went on as she reached into his jacket and took the last three from him. “I’ve finally trapped you, my gallant trespasser. A lamb in the lion’s den—you can’t escape!”

Despite the smile on her face, Spike could hear the anger in Impossibly Rich’s voice. She didn’t like being made to look like an idiot... especially by some kid. Spike opened his mouth, and he chose his words carefully.

“Let me ask you something, and I want the truth,” he said. “Is there any way I can date your granddaughter? Just dinner and a movie, maybe go listen to some jazz... Or invite her for a weekend to New Horseleans. Ramos gin fizzes, oysters Rockefillyer... On second thought, we’ll skip the oysters. I imagine the name Rockefillyer has left a pretty bad taste in her mouth--”

“You’re brave, I’ll give you that,” Impossibly cut him off. “I admire a man with self-confidence. However, in this case, you seem to forget that the odds are always in favor of the house. You play against me, and you’ll lose every time.”

“This game’s not over yet,” Spike told her. “In fact, it’s just getting started.”

“I worked most of my life to acquire those pieces of art your parents helped seize,” she went on. “And then in one fell swoop, it was all taken away from me.”

“They were never yours to begin with!” Spike stated.

“Well, tonight, I intend to be paid in full,” Impossibly Rich said. “I can’t win by regular methods; that would be boring. Boredom leads to stress, and stress is the sworn enemy of beauty.” She looked at Filthy Rich. “Pity that from the beginning our house has always been divided,” she said to him. “Your father walked the path of honest businessmanship. I walked the path of crooked payoffs and seduction. But tonight, I will fulfill my destiny! Five hundred years of history has brought me to this moment! I will see that Rainbow... and I will reap the rewards!”

The curvy woman turned her attention back to Spike.

“Las Pegasus has been my city for 30 years, boy,” she said. “I crawled out of the gutters of Tartarus’s Kitchenette to the top of the Las Pegasus’ underworld. Do you really think you can intimidate me here? I am its ruler, its queen, its goddess!”

“No! You stole everything in this city, including its people! You’re nothing but a coward and a thief, sitting alone on a stolen throne!!”

“You little shit! You dare talk to me like that?”

Spike glared at her, but didn’t respond.

“This is a night people will talk about as long as there’s a Las Pegasus!” she shouted. “And when they’re talking about it, they’ll either be talking about you or they won’t!!”

“She’s headed for the top floor,” Twilight interrupted.

Impossibly Rich looked at one of the monitors and saw her daughter-in-law, Spoiled Rich, riding the elevator up to the Flimflam Brothers’ old office.

“What does she think she’s doing? I tell you, it is impossible to find anyone that is trustworthy and loyal,” Impossibly said. “Wouldn’t you agree, Spike?”

She typed several keys on a nearby keyboard and all 72 security monitors zeroed in on all of Spike’s friends, and not just Discord, Chrysalis, Soarin, Sunburst, Zephyr Breeze, Feather Bangs and the girls. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Sweetie Bot, Sassy Saddles, Coco Pommel, Countess Coloratura, Big Mac, Sugar Belle, Octavia Melody, Adagio, Aria, Sonata, Dear Darling, Fond Feather, Swoon Song, Trapeze Star, Firelight, Stellar Flare, Jack Pot, Tempest Shadow, Rain Shine, and Celestia all appeared on the screens.

Impossibly Rich had seen right through all of their disguises!

Despite his confident statements, Spike knew the situation before him. It was an extremely unpleasant picture. For the first time since his capture, fear came to Spike and crawled up his spine. He hated himself for having entered the Towers, to come here amid these women and attempt to finally defeat them. His idea of aggravating Impossibly Rich with such a plan didn’t offer him comfort any longer. Now he decided that it was an ill-conceived and stupid idea from the beginning. This thought was driven home with a vengeance as Impossibly Rich shifted her attention back to him.

“You and your pets have a lot of nerve to come back here,” she went on.

“They’ve already won 30 percent of our assets,” Abacus Cinch told her.

“Regardless, you can’t possibly intend to buy this place back with those winnings,” Impossibly Rich directed at Spike. “I’m going to make sure you never show yourselves around here again.”

“Shall we call the police?” Iron Will asked.

“There’s no reason to make a fuss over a common rat,” Impossibly Rich replied. “Kill them. Kill them all.”

Spike was stunned, his sense of bravado entirely gone.

“In this town, your luck can change just that quickly. Nothing is absolute in the casino world,” Impossibly Rich told him. “Your friends have had their fun, and now they’re going to die... as will you. And now that I have all thirteen Gates, I will finally see my rainbow! At last, all my dreams will come true! Everything will finally be mine!”

She walked past Spike, grinning. When she reached the door, she looked back over her shoulder.

“Twilight,” she said. “Have fun.”

The door swung shut behind her. Twilight reached into her vest, pulled out a knife, and held the blade to Spike’s cheek, ready to cut him.

“When I’m done with you, you will be begging me to kill you,” she smiled.

“You don’t scare me,” he replied.

“Which will make killing you all the more gratifying!” she spat.

“Hit me with your best shot, bitch!”

“I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long, long time!”

Spike braced himself for the worst, but nothing could have prepared him or what came next: Shining Armor and Fancy Pants drew guns from their jackets, and Fleur, Zecora, Lyra and Bon Bon all pulled guns from the garters tucked beneath their dresses. Fancy Pants pointed a LeMat Revolver at Iron Will, Fleur pointed her small, highly polished Smith & Wesson .38 Revolver at Abacus Cinch, Zecora pointed a .357 Magnum at Garble, Lyra pointed a Colt .45 at Twilight, and Bon Bon pointed her Glock 9 at Twilight as well. But Spike was most astonished when he saw Shining Armor point his Beretta .45 at his own sister.

“Don’t move!” Shining Armor stated. “Equestria Secret Service, you’re all under arrest!”

While Twilight was distracted, Spike kicked the knife out of her hand. Then Twilight kicked Shining Armor’s gun out of his hand. Pretty soon, all the guns went flying. Spike wrestled himself away from Iron Will and Indigo Zap, Lemon Zest, Sugarcoat, Sour Sweet and Sunny Flare all latched on to Iron Will—Indigo leapt onto his back while Sugarcoat and Sunny Flare each grabbed an arm, and Sour Sweet and Lemon Zest onto his legs—and he tried to shake them off. Bon Bon, her blood singing with the battle, dived for the ground and for the gun at Twilight’s feet. She snagged her fallen Glock and Twilight tried to choke her. The two women fought like animals as they grappled for control of the gun.

Twilight kicked the Glock out of Bon Bon’s hand, and then Twilight kicked a hole into one of the cabinets above the minibar. Bon Bon kicked at Twilight, who pulled her leg free of the cabinet, and the women locked high heels with each other for three seconds. Bon Bon forced her weight down upon Twilight through her leg, but Twilight spiraled and kicked herself free again.

While all of that was going on, Shining Armor, Fancy Pants, Fleur and Zecora, helped Torch, Ember, Smolder, Filthy Rich and Diamond Tiara out of the Eye in the Sky room. Suddenly, Garble lunged forward. Spike met the drive and smashed down hard on the traitor’s shoulders as they crashed through the Eye in the Sky room’s picture windows and fell into the casino below. Spike landed hard, but he quickly got to his feet, balancing upon the balls of his feet while Garble charged him. He dodged, letting Garble use his own force to slam hard against a Roulette table.

Caramel and Lucky Clover, who had made their way over to Discord’s table, had no time to react when Discord gave a thick grunt and swung his box full of casino chips, which he was just about to cash out, hitting the two security guards in their jaws and knocking them to the floor in a shower of chips.

“I’m sorry, did that hurt?” he asked them, not feeling sorry at all. “Because it looked like it hurt.”

As he was surrounded by bouncers, Discord discarded his fake moustache, and opened his coat to reveal one hundred fireworks shaped like rockets strapped inside... and the fuses were all lit!

Then all Tartarus broke loose. Shouts filled the air, and the casino was quickly filled with the sounds of screams and cries of pain. Men began to curse violently as Discord’s rockets went flying, and Feather Bangs jumped onto the stage, cradled a microphone, and started singing “Stand My Ground” as the deadly scene played out.

Garble’s henchmen rushed Spike. Fume soared through the air with a flurry of bicycle kicks. Spike threw him to the ground and kicked Clump into a statue, which shattered. Backdraft grabbed a poleaxe from one of the statues on the stairs and leapt the railing, but Spike broke the weapon with a roundhouse kick. Spike then performed a sequence of flips, dodging more weapon blades, and kicked away two more adversaries.

Meanwhile, Applejack parried a flailing left hook with a wrist chop that must have numbed her assailant’s arm for a week, then came in under the following right and buried her own right fist deep in the man’s belly. She heard a belching groan, felt her immediate antagonist crumple and bend and turned to the next one. This one had a split of soda in his hand and as it whistled through the air at Applejack, she came in close and came up butting. Her head and the bottle swinger’s chin made resounding contact.

Charcoal swung a spiked mace at Spike, who punched him before tussling with Fizzle. As Charcoal swung again, Spike ducked and the mace lodged in Fizzle’s head! As Spike finished off more combatants, Maar lunged at him with a pair of Kama-yari fighting picks. Spike kicked her away and stopped a sword with his bare hand. Then Spike delivered a roundhouse kick, knocking Cinders into the statue she had taken the sword from. Spike looked at the hand he had used to block the blade with, but it wasn’t bleeding. There wasn’t even a scratch.

“Impossible,” Cinders said. “He’s not human.”

As Backdraft, Clump and Fume attacked Spike from different sides, he did a backflip high into the air. Landing, Spike grabbed a pair of Sais from one of the statues. He twirled them until one blade faced up, the other down. Spike quickly neutralized Backdraft, then flipped away from a trident strike from Clump. He deftly parried his enemies’ attacks with the Sais. Fume attacked him with a saber and shield, but Spike pinned him to the wall with his Sais.

As Backdraft struck from above, Spike cartwheeled over the swinging sword. Spike threw Backdraft back with an open handed hit to the chest before he grabbed a sword from another statue. Spike kicked his fat adversary, then fought sword to trident with Clump, knocking him against a wall. Without pause, Spike whirled around and reengaged Backdraft.

Soarin twisted to protect his stomach as Skyline Shores’ head hit him in the ribs and the two fists crashed into his body. His breath whistled through his teeth with the pain, but he kept his focus on Skyline’s head and, with a twist that put all his shoulder behind his hand, he whipped in a hard left, and, as Skyline’s head came up, he lashed out with his right to the chin.

The impact of the two blows straightened Skyline and rocked him back on his feet. Soarin was on him like a falcon, crowding him and raining in blows until the thug began to sag. Soarin grabbed at one weaving wrist, dove for an ankle, and yanked it away from the floor. Then he put out all his strength, made almost a full turn to gather momentum, and slung the body sideways across the room.

“Next?” Soarin asked.

Across the casino, Spike blocked a punch from Backdraft as Whip grabbed a spiked club and joined the fray. As Spike ducked, the club smashed through a column. Backdraft attacked again, his arms moving rapidly, but Spike easily blocked each attempt. Still fighting, the pair stepped onto one of the Blackjack tables. Spike leaned back as Backdraft swung, his fists narrowly missing Spike’s face. Facing each other, both men sprung into the air. As Spike blocked a kick, they landed on another gaming table. Spike ducked under a roundhouse kick, and then spun in a series of kicks, but Backdraft dodged each blow. As Backdraft grabbed Spike, Spike cartwheeled out of the hold, before slamming his palm against Backdrafts’s chest. Both men deftly blocked each other’s punches before Spike delivered a succession of quick kicks.

The screams rose, injured men fell from the fray, crashing upon tables falling to the floor, and Feather Bangs sang on; his voice carried over the crowd.

“Drop your weapon!” one of Cinch’s henchmen shouted as they surrounded Pinkie Pie.

“This weapon?” she asked, motioning to the miniature cannon that she was holding. She stomped her foot and an old fashioned Gatling gun suddenly popped out of the floor. “Or this weapon?”

Pinkie squeezed the trigger, swinging the gun from side to side, shredding through the floor to the walls, bullet casing and links raining down from the gun. She only stopped when she ran out of ammunition. The rotating barrel of the gun spun to a stop and Pinkie stared at the carnage. She got one in the leg, one in the ass, one in the crotch, and another once right over his heart, once on the left elbow (when he was on the run) and behind his left ear.

Sassy Saddles’ high good humor soared as she plunged into the battle, using a Craps stick to bat away the other dealers, with Midnight Radiance at her side. Fume speared Backdraft through the stomach and the henchman crashed through a Poker table! As he plummeted to the floor, Midnight Radiance jumped after him with a spear. Three more henchmen quickly followed and Whip cut Midnight Radiance’s spear in half. As the others attacked from either side, Midnight deflected their weapons with the two halves. Pivoting back and forth, he pummeled Clump and Fume. Fume accidently impaled Clump then got knocked out by Whip’s spiked club. Spike smacked the club into the air, kicked Whip onto his back, and caught it. Spike swung the club’s spikey end downward, killing Whip.

Sheer pandemonium gripped the casino as a gunshot came from the Eye in the Sky Room. Twilight, Lyra and Bon Bon were still fighting for control of the latter’s weapon.

Spike saw red. Somewhere in the fierce struggle, he had lost almost all sense of humanity. His temper split and flew, and he saw the red of all the blood that Impossibly Rich had shed and of the fury that threatened to blind him.

Garble locked eyes with Spike again. Spike knew a lot about Garble; none of it was good. He was big, he was crazy, and he was fast.

Then Garble did the stupidest thing he did in his life.

He tried to kick Spike martial-arts style, which is the dumbest thing anyone can do in a street fight. As soon as one foot was off the ground, Garble was off-balance and vulnerable. He came at Spike fast with his body turned sideways like some kung-fu idiot on television. His foot was way up in the air and he led with it, heel first, with his toe parallel to the ground. Spike rocked backward and caught the foot in both hands and heaved it upward. He put every ounce of strength into jerking Garble off the ground, and dropped Garble on his head.

Then Spike finished him.

He kicked Garble in the face as hard as he could and blood spurted as he rolled away. Then Spike stood up straight and turned towards a waiter passing with a cart of food. He picked up a skewer that was holding flaming pieces of meat and aimed it at Garble, who had gotten up and was reaching for a gun.

“Oh, shish,” Garble said.

Spike threw the long kabob at Garble like a spear, impaling him as Garble’s gun went off, and Garble sagged to the floor, the long flaming shish kabob buried up to its hilt in his stomach, its dripping point poking out through his back.

Spike continued to fight blindly with a bloodlust all his own, until he and Shining Armor ended up back-to-back.

“Arrest everybody in sight!” Shining shouted into his radio.

Spike punched Caramel, knocking him to the floor, before glaring at Lucky Clover. Then Caramel pulled a gun and fired at Applejack, causing Fluttershy to duck and cover her ears as AJ pulled out the Glock that Soarin had given her earlier and returned fire. Sunset Shimmer flipped a table, spilling drinks. AJ’s bullets ignited the spilled liquor, which spread to Caramel. AJ shot Caramel in the head and his burning body dropped. Chrysalis slammed Lucky Clover down to the floor and landed on top of him. Again and again she drove her fist into Lucky Clover’s face. People scattered in panic as Starlight Glimmer sprinted towards the commotion. Rainbow Dash took cover behind the bar as a bullet ripped through a small cask on the counter. She drank some of the liquor as it fell from the cask before she clubbed Cold Forecast over the head with an empty whiskey bottle.

Suddenly, Iron Will grabbed Spike from behind, causing his Fire Ruby to fly from his jacket. Then it was kicked away. Spike kicked and punched Iron Will’s belly, and the towering motivational speaker stared down at him, completely unaffected. Spike pummeled Iron Will’s face before Iron Will grabbed Spike and slammed his head onto the bar. Lucky Clover, who quickly recovered from the beating Chrysalis had given him, struck a match, spilled a bottle of liquor onto the bar, and set it on fire. The flames raced toward Spike at the other end as he looked at Rainbow Dash.

“Champagne,” he said weakly.

Dash handed Spike a bottle. He grabbed it by the neck and smashed it over Iron Will’s head, causing them to both fall back just before the fire reached them.

Spike felt like a lumberjack confronting a redwood tree without an ax or a chainsaw. Where to start? Iron Will was a lot bigger than Garble. He was big, heavy and strong, very strong. He outweighed Spike by two hundred pounds, maybe more. If he hit Spike, Spike would go down; and if Spike went down, he would never get up again.

Spike decided to kick him in the kidney. It was the kind of kick that would have sent a football out of the stadium and into the parking lot. It would have put most guys in the hospital all by itself. It had as much effect on Iron Will as a polite tap on the shoulder. No sign of reaction, he didn’t even make a noise. It was like Spike hadn’t touched him at all.

Iron Will exploded, launching his right arm around in a giant roundhouse strike. Spike side-stepped, ducked under the arm, and bounced up again and spun around. He came at Spike again, same move. Spike ducked, and then punched Iron Will. Spike evaded another attack and struck him again. Spike crashed an elbow into Iron Will’s side and he spun under the big man’s arm again. Spike dodged away again and felt the breeze as Iron Will’s giant fist passed an inch above his head. Iron Will was breathing a little heavier than Spike and Spike began to feel that he had a chance.

He was actually a very poor fighter. A lot of very big guys are. Either their sheer size is so intimidating it stops fights from ever starting, or it lets them win every one directly after their first punch lands. Either way, they didn’t get much practice and they didn’t develop much finesse. Spike put everything he had into his next attack, and his elbow crashed Iron Will’s face. He staggered back and Spike followed up with a colossal right to his jaw. Then he danced back to see what damage he’d done.

None.

Spike’s punches had been the hardest he’d ever thrown in his life and Iron Will was sporting a wide grin. That’s when Spike realized that Iron Will was going to take his sweet time. He was really going to enjoy himself. Spike raised his fists, and then kicked Iron Will, who caught the following punch, then jabbed Spike in the face, giving him a bloody lip. As Spike prepared to strike again, Iron Will punched him. Spike took another hit before repeatedly punching Iron Will’s face, giving the big guy a bloody nose and mouth.

Iron Will’s mouth was hanging open when Spike let go with an uppercut. It should have broken his neck as well as his jaw, but the blow did nothing at all. Absolutely nothing; just rocked him back an inch. He shook his head once and hit Spike in the face. Spike saw it coming and did all the right things: he whipped his head back and opened his mouth wide so that he wouldn’t lose teeth from both parts of his jaw.

Iron Will had blood on his face, but other than that he looked completely normal. His tie was still neat, he still had his suit coat on, and he was still smiling. Spike danced around Iron Will as he swung a huge left hook. Spike knocked it aside and landed a short left on the man’s broken nose. Then Spike kneed him in the groin. His head snapped forward and Spike snapped it back when he elbowed Iron Will in the throat. Then he stabbed his thumbs into Iron Will’s eyes.

Spike landed several more strikes until he finally knocked Iron Will to the floor. Then Applejack smashed a table over the big man’s head. He went down hard and the lights dimmed around him. He didn’t get back up.

Rarity chased after the Fire Ruby as it slid across the casino floor while people fled. She rushed for the necklace, trying to grab it, only for someone to kick it away again. Tirek and Grogar frantically collected their winnings from the table as Sombra grappled with the dealer. With chips stuffed into his suit jacket, Sombra scrambled to his feet and ran off. Suri Polomare aimed a gun at Rarity from the bar and Rarity flinched as a gun fired. But it wasn’t Suri’s. Then Rarity watched as blood dribbled from Suri’s mouth, and she fell dead, revealing Coco aiming a gun from behind her. Discord took a slamming punch upside the head. Disoriented, he struck out blindly and made contact with Copper Plume’s nose.

Two of Spoiled Rich’s bodyguards threw Spike onto a serving cart, which crashed into the band. Crawling on the floor, Rarity tried to grab the Fire Ruby, but a screaming woman kicked it away. Spike dove for the Fire Ruby as Rarity tried to grab it again. Sweat glistening on his face, Spike spotted several more armed bouncers enter the casino. They threw knives at Spike, which stuck into the statue behind him. Spike grabbed a drum cymbal, threw it like a Frisbee, and it hit one of the knife-throwers in the face, knocking him back into two ice buckets.

“Sweetie Bot, sharpshooter mode!” Sweetie Belle shouted.

Sweetie Bot nodded and clenched her right fist. When she unclenched it, her five fingers collapsed and transformed into gun barrels. She held out her changed hand and fired! Another riot broke out. Other customers had joined in by this time and the musicians deserted their mistreated instruments to lend Spike’s crew a hand. The air became filled with shouts, curses, the sounds of splintering wood and breaking glass. The brawl was getting sticky: everybody was jammed so closely together that it was hard to get a full swing at a target, much less defend against potshots from the flanks.

Eight more shots fired from Bon Bon’s gun and people reacted instinctively. Women screamed and everyone started stampeding for the exits, turning over blackjack tables as different-colored chips flew everywhere, piles of them strewn across the floor. Their fear was contagious, and the rest took flight with them. Some people started grabbing the chips but Shining Armor ordered them to drop them and head for the exits. He and Fancy Pants, with the help of Thorax, Pharynx, Soarin, Zephyr Breeze and Feather Bangs, quickly evacuated the building.

“I’ve got multiple shots fired at Rich Towers!” he shouted into his radio. “Get S.W.A.T. teams, fire crews and paramedics down here now!”

Twilight tore the gun from Bon Bon’s hands and shot her in the back. Then she bolted from the Eye in the Sky Room as the crowds vanished.

After what seemed like an eternity of listening to the frightened voices and screams of panic from the women, of having his body battered and tossed with each hit from another person, silence erupted like a bell in Spike’s ears.

The entire place was empty.

Amidst the diminishing crescendo of echoes, he lay in the center of the casino floor, his legs braced with the last effort and the breath rasping in his throat. Slowly, he lifted one hand and ran it through his dripping hair. Finally, when his harem helped him to his feet, he did so.

“Torch is still alive,” he said. “We have to get to the Brothers’ office.”

He ran for the elevator bank, but halfway up the carpet, the girls stopped and Spike turned to see what was holding them up.

It was Twilight. Her eyes were red and angry, and Applejack, Sunset Shimmer, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Starlight Glimmer, Trixie, Indigo Zap, Sugarcoat, Sunny Flare, Sour Sweet, Lemon Zest, Fleur de Lis, Sassy Saddles, Moon Dancer, Vinyl Scratch, Coco Pommel, Countess Coloratura, Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, Sonata Dusk, Stellar Flare, Tempest Shadow, Smolder, Ember, Rain Shine, Chrysalis, Celestia and Discord all turned to face her.

“Spike, go after Impossibly Rich, we’ve got this,” Discord said.

Spike didn’t move. He didn’t want to leave them with her.

“Don’t worry, we’ve got this!” Disocrd reassured him.

Applejack hauled Spike in for a kiss on the lips, so did Sunset, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, Rarity, Moon Dancer, Trixie, Coco, Fleur, Coloratura, Tempest, Rain Shine, Chrysalis, and finally Celestia.

“Now go,” Celestia told him.

Spike nodded, then turned and ran off toward the elevators.

He had just gotten to the floor where the Eye in the Sky Room was when the doors opened to reveal Lyra and Bon Bon. He looked at Bon Bon, who had a bloody bullet wound in her side.

“You’re bleeding!” he exclaimed.

“I’m fine!” she gritted through her teeth.

“You need help!” Spike said. He glanced down, shaking his head. “I didn’t know which side you were on,” he added in honesty.

“Well, now you do,” Bon Bon smiled in reply.

“Don’t worry,” Lyra told Spike as she helped her girlfriend to the stairs. “I’ll make sure she gets out safely.”

Meanwhile, on the casino floor, Discord and the bulk of Spike’s harem faced off against Twilight.

“We’re not going to hold back on you this time,” Rainbow Dash told her. “We are gonna kick your ass, and then we’re gonna take your ass to jail.”

Twilight balled her left hand into a fist, used it to wipe some blood away from her lips, and whipped out a pair of white ivory chopsticks. She held them menacingly before using them to carefully tie her hair back into a tight bun on top of her head. Then she cast off her jacket and took a sword from one of the statues.

Discord, Applejack and Sunset each saw a sword from three of the now broken statues that were lying on the floor by their feet. They stomped on the handles, the blades twirled into the air, and they caught them by the handles.

“Now, let’s settle this,” Discord stated.

Twilight flinched. “Why are you still getting in my way?” she demanded. “You are always doing this! Acting all high-and-mighty, like some bigshot! Taking everything that was rightfully mine!”

“Twilight!” Applejack shouted. “In a way, I get where you’re coming from; I lost to the Richs, too. And then I had to work with them. But whatever happened, I never wanted to be them... unlike you!”

“Damn you!” Twilight cursed. “Faust, damn you!!”

Then they—Applejack, Sunset Shimmer, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Starlight Glimmer, Trixie, Indigo Zap, Sugarcoat, Sunny Flare, Sour Sweet, Lemon Zest, Fleur de Lis, Sassy Saddles, Moon Dancer, Vinyl Scratch, Coco Pommel, Countess Coloratura, Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, Sonata Dusk, Stellar Flare, Tempest Shadow, Smolder, Ember, Rain Shine, Chrysalis, Celestia and Discord—all attacked her!

With one high sweep of her leg, Twilight knocked Sunset and Starlight away. Rainbow and Indigo tried to grab her from both sides and she locked her arms around theirs. As she kicked her feet up, clipping Sunny Flare and Rarity’s chins, Twilight backflipped free of Dash and Zap. She warded off blows from Ember, Smolder, Pinkie and Lemon Zest, knocking them down. As Sour Sweet attacked from behind, Twilight threw her into Sugarcoat and Vinyl. Spike’s harem kept attacking, some two at a time, but Twilight easily punched them away.

A punch from Tempest sent Twilight stumbling back into Adagio. Twilight grabbed Adagio’s hair and flipped her over. Adagio tumbled through the air and bowled over Aria and Sonata. Twilight leapt six feet straight up and kicked Sunset in the chin. Springing back into a handstand, Twilight kicked Fluttershy. As she came forward on her feet, she punched Pinkie before Rainbow and Indigo rushed her from each side. Leaping up, Twilight kicked them away and then drop-kicked Trixie. Twilight lunged at Applejack, who cut Twilight’s left cheek with her sword before throwing her across the casino and into a Blackjack felt, which crashed under her weight.

“It hurts, doesn’t it?” AJ asked. “But it’s nothing like the pain you made Spike feel! Not even close!!”

Getting to her feet, Twilight disarmed Applejack and continued to defend herself against the endless barrage of women.

“How could you do this to us?” Sunset demanded before she cut Twilight’s right elbow. “Spike trusted you and you tried to kill him!”

After grabbing her from behind, Pinkie sniffed Twilight’s neck, and said, rather genuinely, “You smell good.”

Twilight kicked Pinkie, leg over her shoulder, forcing her to let go, before Twilight decapitated one of the statues. Then Twilight did a forward handsprint, sending Coco flying into Rain Shine and Stellar Flare. Twilight kept dropping one woman after another until she charged Applejack, who had grabbed one of the platinum Roulette wheels and started using it as a shield.

A punch to the face from Chrysalis sent Twilight flying ten yards back and over another Blackjack felt. She sprung to her feet and fought off Indigo, Sour Sweet, Sunny Flare, Sugarcoat and Lemon Zest before the others rejoined the fray. As Tempest and Fleur punched Twilight simultaneously, she flipped through the air and landed her feet against a wall. Pushing off, she flew head-first into the Dazzlings. As the harem kept coming, Twilight flung herself into a series of midair somersaults and landed 40 feet away from the pack. They all converged on her!

Spinning to her feet, Twilight ran at Applejack again, kicked the Roulette wheel away from her, and AJ picked up a chair for defense. Twilight turned her body forward, back and sideways, knocking several women away with each flip. Using Rarity for leverage, Twilight fanned out her legs and kicked Starlight, Trixie, Stellar Flare, and Discord down. Pushing off of Vinyl’s chest, Twilight soared, face up, across the casino until Rainbow Dash flew through the air and tackled her to the ground.

Twilight got to her feet again and faced the swarm of women. As she leapt into the air, she kicked Indigo in the chest, swung her leg around, and kicked Sour Sweet in the face. A powerful punch from Applejack sent Twilight into a wall, which crumbled upon impact. Applejack then kicked Twilight back against a column, and Twilight ducked as AJ shattered the cement with two heavy blows. Then Tempest landed a roundhouse kick against Twilight’s face. Twilight scowled at Tempest and Applejack as she removed her glasses, one of the lenses broken. Grabbing a cue stick from one of the billiard tables, Twilight swung the wooden staff, slamming it against Starlight. The others stopped dead in their tracks.

Twilight twirled the five-foot wooden pole, and then rested it on her shoulder in a ready stance. Gritting their teeth, Spike’s harem advanced on her. Twilight held the cue stick out in front of her and spun like a top 15 feet in the air. Landing, she batted Sunset across the casino, and then slammed down on Vinyl. Twilight crouched amid a circle of women. Spinning, she wiped them out with one swipe of the staff. As more moved in, she batted Pinkie away before sending Rainbow Dash 50 feet straight up. Indigo flew at Twilight from behind, but she swatted her away. Moon Dancer charged and Twilight swung, driving her into a Blackjack felt. Sour Sweet and Lemon Zest grabbed each end of the horizontal cue stick. Twilight swung from its center, kicking Sunny Flare and Sugarcoat. She punched Sour Sweet and Lemon Zest, causing them to drop it. As Twilight warded off Rain Shine and Chrysalis, the others charged, forming a circle around her.

Twilight sprung into the air as Sassy lunged her. Pinning the pit boss to the ground with the cue stick, Twilight vaulted over it. Twilight held the pole upright and spun around it horizontally. Pumping her feet, she ran on the chests and faces of the women circling in on her. As Twilight spun the cue stick in a low circle, Spike’s harem leaned all the way back. As Tempest attacked, Twilight lost the cue stick. She continued to fight them off, and then leapt into the air and ran surefooted across their shoulders and heads. As Twilight slung Rainbow Dash off (after Dash had lunged at her again), more sprung up and toppled Twilight to the carpet. They tried to pile over her, but Twilight exploded out from under them, scattering them in every direction. Twilight held Dash across her shoulder and spun around. Taking Dash by the ankle, Twilight slung her into the pack and they fell in a heap like bowling pins. Dash coughed blood. As Twilight charged her, Celestia lifted herself on one arm and kicked Twilight in the chest. Celestia punched Twilight in the chest, then Twilight grabbed Celestia’s arms and head butted her. Celestia wedged her knee between them and freed herself. Twilight grabbed Celestia’s arm, then kicked her in the face. Celestia ran at Twilight, but Twilight dodged, landing a blow to Celestia’s chest.

Celestia looked up at Twilight, who sneered, then pushed herself to her feet. Twilight’s face dropped as Celestia swung her arms into a Kung Fu stance. She took a deep breath then waved Twilight toward her. Twilight swatted Celestia’s hand away, only for Celestia to jump into the air and kick Twilight in the head. She landed and threw a punch, but Twilight caught it inches from her chin. Celestia extended her fingers, poking Twilight in the throat. Celestia slugged Twilight in the side of the head then kicked, but Twilight grabbed her leg and threw her aside.

Twilight black flipped again before battling Discord. He slowly blocked Twilight’s attacks, staring blankly at her hands, then turned to the side and defended himself with one arm. He caught Twilight’s arm, then kicked her away. Twilight looked up, stunned. She grabbed two more swords from another statue. Using new swords from other warrior statues, Discord and Applejack reengaged Twilight and she met their charge, swinging desperately. As Twilight’s blade slashed through another one of the statues, Applejack and Discord knocked her down. She leapt at Discord and Applejack, and stabbed them in their chests.

They both screamed and fell back against a table with Applejack clutching her left breast, Discord his torso. Twilight windmill kicked a statue on top of Discord, but the double-bladed halberd in its stone hand ricocheted back and pieced Twilight through the shoulder. With blood dribbling from her mouth, Twilight dropped to her knees, staring at Discord and Applejack in disbelief. Then Sunset walked toward Twilight, considered her options, and kicked Twilight in the head, knocking her out.

“When are you ever going to learn?” she asked. “Never mess with Sunset Shimmer’s friends!”

Sunset turned to look at Discord as he lay sprawled out on the floor, his head in Fluttershy’s lap. The women all rushed to his side.

“Discord!” Fluttershy cried. “Please, wake up! Please, wake up...”

“I think I’m done for,” he said quietly. “Everything’s getting dark. Girls, will you hear my last wish?”

“What?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Fluttershy, be kind; Applejack, stay honest; Rarity, keep being generous; Rainbow Dash, never stop being loyal; Pinkie, continue to bring laughter wherever you go,” he said. “And all of you... tell Spike that I did my best... and please forgive me...”

His head drooped back and Fluttershy wept.

“Just kidding!” Discord laughed. “I’m okay! I live to die another day!”

He was faking.

“You son of a--!” Dash exclaimed.

Discord reached into his jacket and Applejack reached through the slice in her dress. Instead of their hands covered in blood, they came out with thick wads of cash. The large stacks of counterfeit bills they had pocketed from Impossibly Rich’s truck as evidence kept the swords from stabbing them.

“Thank you, Neighsay,” he told the faces on the bills. “Thank you.”

The girls helped him to his feet and Discord stood over Twilight’s body.

“We could have been great together! We could have been somebody! People were going to ship us! They were going to call us as ‘Dislight’, or ‘Tricord’!” Discord shouted. “No, definitely ‘Dislight’... But you are one crazy-ass bitch!”

The group stumbled away, grimacing, and jogged toward the elevators.

Author's Note

Stay tuned! Spike's final showdown with Impossibly Rich is about to begin!

Takedown

Taking a deep breath, Spoiled Rich took the Swiss made one hundred dollar front and back engraving plates from the wall safe in Impossibly Rich’s office (formerly Flim and Flam’s office), held them in her hands for a moment, and placed them into her black leather handbag.

“Leaving so soon?”

Spoiled jumped, startled by Impossibly Rich’s voice behind her. She hadn’t heard her mother-in-law enter the room, and she felt surprise as she watched her walk down the short flight of steps and across the room towards her.

“I love a good gamble as much as the next woman,” Spoiled Rich replied. “But I’m cutting our deal short.”

Impossibly Rich’s eyes were cold, fierce slits. “And my plates?”

“They stay with me,” Spoiled said as she opened her jacket to reveal the ivory butt of a long-barreled revolver, which protruded from a holster along her waist. “I’m sure you don’t have a problem with that.”

“You know, this reminds me of a story that an old acquaintance once told me. She used to tell it to her little boy all the time... before she died,” Impossibly Rich said. “A thousand years ago, a small, wealthy village hired a young dragon to guard their treasures in a cave. The people of the village started sneaking him extra food, hoping to make him stronger. The dragon grew so big he got stuck, and the treasure was trapped behind him for all eternity.”

She leaned in close to her daughter-in-law and asked, “Do you know the moral of that story?”

“Greed will imprison us all,” Spoiled Rich answered.

Before Spoiled could make another move, a small, jade-handled knife appeared in Impossibly Rich’s right hand, and she stabbed it up to its hilt into Spoiled’s chest. Spoiled had moved too close to her mother-in-law, the blade’s icy tip tore through her shirt and made contact with her breast, and Impossibly felt the dagger push into muscle, felt the warmth of Spoiled’s blood rushing onto her hand. The stinging sensation caused Spoiled to stiffen. Her eyes widened in mute horror as her face turned a deathly shade of white before she looked down at the blood spreading on her white top, and then back up at her mother-in-law.

“I hate that fortune cookie shit!” Impossibly Rich hissed.

She buried the dagger so deep that it caused Spoiled to let go of the bag. She crumpled at Impossibly Rich’s feet without a sound. Her last conscious thought was that she would never get the pleasure to bury that old hag.

Impossibly Rich gazed at her son’s late wife and Spike burst through the doors just in time to watch Spoiled Rich collapse to the floor... dead.

Impossibly smiled almost benignly as she turned upon the young man.

“Just like your mother. I really did try to help her, you know... to share with her, to make your life better. But she was too weak, too afraid of change,”

“It’s over,” Spike stated. “You’re finished. Give me the plates.”

“It’s not over,” Impossibly Rich replied. “There are casinos all over this country. I can make you a very wealthy man, Spike. Don’t make the same mistake your mother did.”

She glanced down at the revolver in Spoiled Rich’s holster.

“If you reach for that gun, I will kill you!” Spike warned her.

“I’m going to do what I should have done twenty years ago! Once I get rid of you, there won’t be anything or anyone standing in my way! Then I’ll be the goddess of this city!”

Impossibly Rich swung the black bag at Spike’s head, and missed. Then she made a play for the revolver, but Spike was too fast. He grabbed the gun and pushed Impossibly Rich against the wall just as his friends burst through the doors.

“Hey, Impossibly, how you doin’?” Vinyl asked.

“Nice to see you’ve got everything under control,” Discord said to Spike.

Coco saw Spoiled Rich’s lifeless body and screamed. A thin, red sash of blood began at the blade and snaked under Spoiled’s left breast and down her waist. Her eyes were wide open, but they were as still and lifeless as glass beads.

“What happened to her?” Coco asked.

“Would you like me to tell you how your mother died?” Impossibly Rich asked Spike.

Spike had the revolver’s barrel pressed to Impossibly Rich’s forehead. He forced his left forearm against her neck as he thumbed back the hammer with his right hand and the white of his eyes started to turn red.

“Such a weak weapon,” he growled. “Too light, no real range... and it’s all I’m gonna need to completely shatter your grip on this world once and for all!!”

“Spike, stop!” Applejack told him. “She ain’t worth it!”

“She’s just trying to make you angry,” Sunset added.

“Don’t do something you’ll regret,” said Fluttershy.

“Barbara never begged for her life,” Impossibly Rich told him, “or even tried to make a deal...”

“Put the gun down, Spike,” Trixie said.

“All she asked me, just seconds before I cut her throat, was that I promise not to kill you,” Impossibly Rich went on. “Oh, she was so pathetic!”

“Oh, Tartarus, no, you didn’t!” Rainbow Dash stated. “She went too far. Shoot her, Spike! Shoot HER!!”

“What are you going to do, Spike?” Impossibly Rich scoffed.

“All you have to do is pull the trigger,” Ember said.

“Are you going to spend the rest of your life hiding behind your friends like your mother did?” Impossibly Rich asked.

“Don’t let her talk about Barbara like that!” Chrysalis shouted.

“Come on, Spike,” said Pinkie. “She’s going to jail. You won, now just put the gun down.”

“Shoot her, Spike!” Smolder repeated.

“You can’t do it, can you?” Impossibly Rich mocked him.

“Tartarus, yes, you can, Spike,” Tempest went on. “There’s nobody here but us. You want to do it? Go ahead.”

“If you pull that trigger, you will be no better than her,” Rarity told him.

“Just as I thought,” Impossibly Rich hissed. “You’re a bastard! You’re nothing but a piece of trash, just like Barbara! You don’t have any real power!”

“Spike, if you’re not going to shoot her, at least pistol-whip her and knock her out!” Starlight shouted.

“Spike, it’s over,” Celestia said. “Let go.”

Spike’s finger was on the trigger -- he wanted to pull it, but he couldn’t. He wanted to empty every bullet of that gun into Impossibly Rich’s brain and then watch her bleed... but he didn’t. For a moment he looked as if he would pull the trigger. But only for a moment. Reluctantly, he lowered the revolver.

Impossibly Rich swung the bag at Spike again. This time, the printing plates inside hit him across the face, knocking him down, and knocking the revolver loose. When the shot came, the bullet shattered a priceless Ming vase. Luckily, none of Spike’s women were hurt. They all had moved out of the way just in time.

Impossibly Rich grabbed the gun, pointed it at Celestia, and was about to pull the trigger when Spike flew at her.

“NO!!” he yelled.

Spike kicked Impossibly Rich square in the chest, and she fell backward, smashing through the window. Spike tried to grab Impossibly Rich’s hand. Their fingers touched for a split second, but Impossibly Rich pulled her hand away and she plummeted all thirty-one stories to the street below... and her death. She didn’t scream as she went down and she slammed through the roof of a taxi that was parked out front. Spike and company all looked down at the street, relieved that it was finally over.

“Damn!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“Good kick, Spike,” Ember complimented.

A tear trembled at the corner of Spike’s left eye, hesitated, then rolled down his cheek.

“Spike, are you all right?” Fluttershy asked.

He was not. His world was spinning. For a moment it could have gone either way, but then things began to solidify. He hadn’t meant to kick her so hard, really he didn’t, but he had, and he had killed her.

“It was an accident,” he said.

“That’s okay,” Smolder told him as she placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “If anyone asks, we’ll just tell ‘em she tried to catch a cab.”

Still panting, Spike stood up straight, careful not to move too fast.

They all turned to the door and saw Twilight, bleeding and half-dead, slowly limping toward them, glaring at Spike with wide eyes and holding eight sticks of dynamite—the ones she had taken from Garble, who had taken them from Spike, the same ones that Juniper Montage had given him—in her hands, which she (Twilight) had crafted into a time bomb. When Twilight opened her mouth to speak, blood poured out. Then she hit the switch on the bomb’s timer and started the countdown.

Ten...

“Aw, Tartarus, no!” Rainbow Dash and Smolder stated.

“It’s all over!!” Twilight yelled. “No place left to run!!!”

Nine...

“Twilight, you put that bomb down and turn it off!” Starlight ordered.

Eight...

“See you in Tartarus, you free-loading, rubbernecking...” Twilight screamed.

“We have to jump!” Spike told them.

Seven...

“... name-calling, table-hopping...”

“Are you crazy?” Rarity shouted. “I’m not jumping!”

Six...

“... no-good, dirty-rotten...”

“Grab on to me!!” Spike hollered.

Five...

“... no-account, two-faced...”

Spike and the group ran for the open window.

Four...

“... friend-stealing, party-crashing...”

Three...

“... back-stabbing, double-dealing...”

Two...

“... corner-cutting, card-counting...”

One...

“... son of a--!!!!”

ZERO!!!!!!

Over 20 women, plus Discord, all grabbed onto Spike as he launched himself out the open picture window. Using the crocodile skin jacket as part of an improvised zip line, he threw it over a cable just as the penthouse exploded. They soared out and a huge ball of fire billowed out with them, riding their backs, its roaring flames filling the penthouse behind them. The fireball shot out as they slid down the wire, and they screamed when the wire broke and they fell hard into the dolphin pool, just short of Las Pegasus Boulevard.

A shower of red-hot fire engulfed the top half of the resort, ravaging it, as smoke bellowed out the windows in an explosive display. Spike’s harem shot to the surface of the pool, and they all looked around for Spike. They stopped when they turned to Applejack and saw that she held Spike’s limp body in her arms.

“Spike! Spike, are you all right?” she asked.

“I can’t believe I rode two thousand miles in a limo for this shit!!!!!”

The women all pumped their fists, jumped on him, and hugged him hard.

No less than half an hour later, the guests, staff, and several onlookers had gathered in front of the burning Rich Towers. Coils of black smoke and orange flames kept pouring out of the penthouse’s open windows and leapt skyward. Glowing sparks and flame drifted down like shooting stars as numerous Las Pegasus police cars, half a dozen ambulances, and a black government vehicle pulled up. Three big red fire engines arrived soon after and the firefighters quickly put out the blaze.

Spike sat on the back of one of the ambulances, where the doors opened. He held the 13 Gate Cards in his hands, which he had recovered from Impossibly Rich’s body. He was beaten and bruised, but he would live. Amid the haze, he could have sworn he saw a woman made of smoke dancing before she drifted away. Torch, Ember and Smolder were the first ones to approach him.

“I was afraid you were dead,” Spike said to his godfather.

“No such luck,” Torch replied.

“Spike, I’m sorry we weren’t completely honest about Garble,” Smolder apologized. “He was supposed to just pose as a traitor to Torch so he could have the run of Rich’s operation in hopes of finding the printing plates.”

“But when Rich found out, he took her bribes and betrayed us,” Ember explained. “Then when we found out you were in town, we knew he wouldn’t stand a chance against you.”

“Whenever you’re on the scene, things have a way of getting out of hand,” Torch smiled.

“Smolder, I’m sorry I--” Spike attempted.

“Spike, I don’t blame you for having to stop Garble,” she said. “You know as well as I do that it was self-defense. In the Dragon Mafia, it’s either kill or be killed. I would have done the same thing. You don’t have to apologize to me.”

Spike embraced his two old loves. Then Shining Armor approached.

“Spike, are you all right?” he asked.

Spike had expected Shining Armor to be angry. In fact, he was almost counting on the man to unleash his full rage on Spike for what happened to his sister. But he had not counted on this—a focused, disciplined calm that led to him to comfort Spike and ask if he was the one who was okay.

Impossibly Rich’s treachery was without direction. It knew no limits and had no scruples. She gained as much as she could from the poor Dragons she paid in exchange for control of them. But Twilight was different.

Spike didn’t want Twilight to die. He wanted to save her. He wanted to beg her forgiveness and ask if they might have a chance to start all over again. If he could bring her back to life, that’s what he would do.

“I’m fine, but Twilight... I’m sorry, Shining Armor. I could have saved her. I should have tried to save her... but I didn’t... I couldn’t save her,”

Shining placed a brotherly hand on Spike’s shoulder.

“I don’t think she wanted to be saved, Spike,” he said. “You can’t blame yourself for what happened to her... because I don’t blame you. I feared that it would be you I would have to fight one day, not her. Vengeance blackens the soul. We all walk the edge of that abyss every day. But you didn’t fall in, and I thank Faust for that.”

Shining got down on one knee to look Spike in the eye.

“But look at me. Twilight fell into that pit years ago. She never believed in fair play. She made her choices and I don’t think anyone, not even I, could have pulled her back. Those who seek to destroy others because of jealousy and greed only destroy themselves,”

Spike bowed his head sadly, but when it was all said and done, there had been no tears, no words of blame. If Shining sorrowed over Twilight he never showed Spike that he did. He may not have blamed him, but Spike still blamed himself. It was like a part of himself had died in that fire. He stood and walked to the water fountain, his soul full of grief. As he held all thirteen Gates in his hands, they started to glow.

“What’s happening?” Fluttershy asked. “What’s going on?”

“The Gates contain lost technology of ancient civilizations forgotten by time,” Moon Dancer explained. “They’re called OOPArts.”

“What’re those?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“No one in the world knows why they were made, or understands them completely,” Moon Dancer replied. “However, it is theorized, and even believed, that they are the ancient predecessors of tarot and playing cards alike.”

“It is said if a dealer is able to collect all thirteen Gates a rainbow will appear before them,” Trixie added.

“The Gates deem them worthy, and they are awaiting the birth of their new owner,” Discord concluded.

Suddenly, the fountain spewed water high into the sky and bright rays of light shot out from the pool.

“Is that...?” Chrysalis began.

“The Rainbow Gate,” Discord confirmed. “It opens when the Gates are united with the MVCD. Those who pass through are allowed to go beyond human measure... and for a moment gain the power to grant all wishes. In other words, they can use the Ultimate Roll Ruler!”

“It can grant any wish Spike chooses?” Dash asked.

“Go, Spike,” Discord told him. “You’ve more than earned it.”

Spike nodded.

The brilliant illumination washed over his body as he stepped forward. Its intensity grew, enveloping him. Suddenly, everything went white. Then the light receded and Spike found himself in a pure white room that seemed to go on forever. It was the world manifested by Spike’s Roll Ruler.

And that’s where he saw her.

“Hello, Spike,” she said.

“Twilight... I’m sorry,” he said. “I said so many hurtful things...”

“I love you, Spike,” she cut him off.

Spike looked at her.

“I do love you,” she said again. “But the things you did, I can’t forgive.”

She stared at him. Then she turned when she noticed something in the corner of her eye. Someone—several people—were coming toward them.

“Shining Armor?” Twilight breathed.

“As a member of the Equestria Secret Service, and an executive officer of the Casino Guild, it’s my duty to protect everyone,” he said. “I have to root out the evil myself. I have to stop the radical members. I know you’ll be sad, but please look after Mom and Dad. I love you so much, Twily.”

“And Mother... Father...” she said.

“We’ll be lonely without him, but please try not to blame your brother,” Night Light said.

“It’s not his fault. You can think of Spike as your brother for now,” Twilight Velvet added.

And that’s when Twilight finally understood. It wasn’t their fault. She knew her parents, her brother, and Spike were not to blame.

“It was my actions and decisions that led to this,” she said to Spike. “I pushed you away. I closed myself off and put you in that awful situation where I made you feel like you didn’t matter to me. It was all my fault.”

Then Twilight saw a small child, a little girl in a purple top and matching skirt. Her younger self.

“But still, you couldn’t live without winning, could you?” she shouted. “You dreamt of the day you would surpass Barbara and Spike and become the MVCD... and then you’d watch the world that hurt you fall at your feet. That’s what’s been keeping you going! Why do you and Spike keep fighting?”

Finally, Celestia appeared.

“Why, Twilight?” she asked again. “Why do you keep fighting him?”

“We’re both trying to reclaim what we love, all that we’ve lost,” Spike answered. “I want my friend back.” He held out his hand to Twilight. “We’ve both made mistakes, but those are done. We can’t change the past, but we can try to make a better future. Please... Take my hand...”

Twilight smiled. “So, you finally gave it your best. You finally came at me with all you’ve got...”

As soon as their fingers touched, Spike and Twilight rose up and a powerful surge of white light surrounded them and covered the Earth. In every city in every nation, good things were happening. Not only were jackpots going off on slot machines in casinos across the planet, but it started pouring in Califoalnia and the uncontrollable forest fires were put out by the rain. Car crashes involving trucks full of food drew several lost pets out into the open, allowing them to be found by their owners. Long-lost lovers were reunited, with many of them starting over and getting married; fishermen across the oceans were landing the biggest catches they had ever seen, the Neigh York Stock Exchange was going up like crazy, showing huge profits in the markets; people were getting promotions at work, men and women whose hair had been thinning was growing back beautifully, and many eggs that were cracked had double yolks! But probably the biggest miracle of all—besides multitudes of people that had been comatose for years finally waking up—was in the kingdom of Griffonstone where, after three decades of civil war between King Grover and King Guto, the nation was declared to be at peace!

Basically, Spike was able to seize control of the Ultimate Roll Ruler and create a well-spring of good luck. From there, that luck was transferred to others, where it spread and amplified, eventually surging into a wave of simultaneous good fortune that encompassed the entire world!

When Spike opened his eyes again, he was standing knee deep in the water of the fountain with Twilight in his arms. He gazed tenderly at her.

“Welcome back,” he said.

“Spike...” she sobbed. “Forgive me... Impossibly Rich used me... I tried to fight her... Please forgive me...”

Spike’s eyes softened as he held her close.

“It’s all right, Twilight,” he said. “You were just a pawn. But can you ever forgive me?”

Twilight nodded tearfully and the crowd stared slack jawed at the couple as they slowly pulled apart.

“I guess that makes us even,” Spike said.

Twilight smiled softly.

“That’s what you wished for?” Dash shouted. “You. Are. So. Awesome!!”

“Everyone, today you have witnessed history!” Discord proclaimed. “A new MVCD has been born! And his name is Spike Drake!”

The people hailed and cheered. The nightmare was finally over. It was now impossible for Filthy Rich’s power and immense wealth to protect him—or to help him beat the charges that Shining Armor listed off.

Fancy Pants pulled out a pair of handcuffs as he approached Abacus Cinch and listed hers: “Destruction of private property, destruction of public property, vandalism, three counts of criminal trespassing, assault, and attempted murder.”

“Oh, I’m finished,” Cinch said as he cuffed her. “I am so finished.”

Shining Armor was about to cuff Filthy Rich when Spike said, “Impossibly Rich forced him to do it. If he hadn’t, she would have killed him and his daughter. So, in your report--”

“I’ll be delicate in saying he was an unwilling participant to the whole thing,” Shining replied.

“So no charges should be filed against him,” Spike added.

“No charges?” Shining asked. “Well, I guess I owe you that much.”

“Thank you,” Filthy Rich told Spike.

“I didn’t do it for you, okay?” Spike replied. “I did it so that your daughter wouldn’t spend the next few decades talking to you through a prison phone.”

“I owe you everything,” Filthy said.

“Only your friendship,”

“Thank you, Spike,” Diamond Tiara said. “Now, close your eyes.”

“What?” he asked.

“Just do it,” she told him.

He did. And she kissed him on the lips.

“A token of my gratitude,” she said.

“I think this belongs to you,” Rarity said to Spike as she opened her hands to reveal Spike’s Fire Ruby.

Spike put it to his heart and a tear fell from his eye.

“Twenty years,” he sobbed. “I have been trapped for almost twenty years! And now... I’m finally free. Thank you. Thank you all.”

Spike’s friends and harem crowded and hugged him.

“We knew you would do the right thing,” Fluttershy said. “I had faith in you. I have faith in you. I always have, and I always will. And I know you’ll always save me, because you’re my hero! I believe in Spike Drake!”

“The casino is here for all to enjoy!” Zecora told them. “The radical members of the International Casino Dealers Guild planned to use the Most Valuable Casino Dealer’s power for their own gain: to take control of the entire world! That’s why Impossibly Rich kept pitting Spike and Twilight against each other! They facilitated the birth of the MVCD so they could kidnap and bend them to their whim!”

The woman with the trademark Mohawk reached down the front of her dress, pulled out a badge from between her breasts, and held it out to them.

“Like Shining Armor, Lyra Heartstrings, Sweetie Drops, Fleur de Lis and Fancy Pants, I am a proud member of the Equestria Secret Service and of the ICDG Police Force!” she shouted to the masses. “We have seen the darkness in your hearts with our own eyes! We have seen the evil you have committed, and we will not stand for it! Go home and tell your friends to abandon their schemes and atone for their selfish ways! The Casino Guild will always protect the righteous dealers! If you mess with us again, we will expose the truth about your whole corrupt operation!”

Slowly, the crowds broke apart and went their separate ways. Spike approached Fleur, who was ushering Sour Sweet, Sunny Flare, Sugarcoat, Lemon Zest, Indigo Zap and several other former Rich employees into the paddy wagon.

“Spike, there’s something...” Indigo began. “The way I betrayed you... it... is unforgivable...”

Spike placed a hand on her shoulder.

“I understand,” he said. “The power of deceit runs deep. Even the kindest, most generous heart can be tainted by greed. And don’t worry, I’ll tell them what you did for me. I’m sure they’ll go easy on you. All of you.”

“Well, we were very bad girls,” Sour Sweet admitted.

“But you have to admit, we were very, very good at it,” Sunny Flare added.

Spike gave them a reassuring smile as they entered the truck one by one and the door was closed on them. They would be okay, Spike knew.

Back by the fountain, Firelight spoke to his daughter.

“Starlight, you really showed your colors today,” he said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, shining object. “I think you’ve earned this back.”

It was her penthouse key. After everything she had done to get it back, she finally succeeded.

“Thanks, Dad,” Starlight replied, “but I think I’m going to stick it out with the staff for the rest of the summer... if that’s all right.”

“Pumpkin, you’ve really impressed me. I’m proud of you,”

And they hugged each other deeply.

A few minutes later, a group of agents from the city’s banks arrived with a few pieces of paper and boxes upon boxes of currency; a total of twelve point five trillion dollars. And Spike divided it between Filthy Rich and Discord.

“I’m afraid you’ve broken the bank,” Discord said meekly.

“That’s right,” Spike replied. “Ever since I started work, I’ve been systematically spending the money I won from gambling to buy stock and become the majority shareholder. In other words, I now own this place, lock, stock and barrel. And I’m keeping you on as the general manager. Consider it a done deal.”

Nosey News and Inky Quill, the same two reporters that had covered the Las Pegasus Poker Tournament weeks ago, stood before a series of camera crews.

“Breaking News: the Casino Guild is holding an impromptu ceremony in honor of the exciting showdown that just took place between Impossibly Rich and Spike Drake. Drake has just claimed ownership of the property lost to Rich last week--wait, this just in! Flim Skim and Flam Scam, Spike’s former employers and prior owners of the Flimflam Resort, Filthy Rich, current owner of Rich Enterprises Incorporated, and Spike ‘the Lucky Prince’ Drake have all signed the document. I repeat, the contract has been signed!”

And just like that, with a few signatures and a few more handshakes between Spike, Filthy Rich, Discord, Flim and Flam, Spike was the city’s newest, and youngest, casino tycoon.

“This marks the start of a new chapter in our friendship!” Spike proclaimed. “Today will be our true beginning!”

“I love this fella!” Bushel exclaimed. “He’s got style! Let me buy your drinks for the rest of your life!”

“Just continue to enjoy the games,” Spike told him. “And don’t let ‘em change the dice on ya.”

“You got it!” Bushel replied.

Once again, the masses hailed and cheered.

The next morning, Spike, wearing a black trench coat over a black button down shirt and slacks, stood at the newsstand in the Las Pegasus International Airport. The Las Pegasus Journal had led with ROLL RULER BUSTS COUNTERFEIT RING. The Neigh York Post was more succinct. It helped that there were file photos from Spike’s modeling days where he looked not just handsome but smoking hot. They had unearthed the photo of him shirtless and riding the white horse bareback. Next to the handsome man was a shot of Impossibly Rich that was undoubtedly doctored to the point it made her look like an old crone, a witch that ate children. The two pictures made a great contrast. The headline: GAMBIT HERO! The Manehattan Journal disagreed, saying that “hero” was too small to describe him. They called him a legend in his own time. Under the headlines, was written a pretty accurate account of what happened the previous night. The smell of last night’s fire still lingered on the wind and Spike had gotten all the newspaper coverage he wanted. He gave no interviews.

After swiftly reading through them, Spike looked at Shining Armor, Twilight Sparkle, Fancy Pants, Fleur, Zecora, Lyra and Bon Bon, the latter with her left arm in a sling. They all had pleased looks on their faces. They were obviously proud of him.

Two private jets, laid on by the Equestrian Secret Service, were waiting to fly them back to Canterlot and Manehattan, Neigh York and out of his life.

“Thank you,” Twilight said as she and Spike shared a hug.

“I’m indebted to you,” Shining Armor added. “I’ll see you onboard,” he told his fellow agents.

“Good show,” Fancy Pants said as he and Spike shook hands.

“Thanks for everything, Spike,” Bon Bon said.

“We found you to be a worthy adversary between our sheets,” Lyra added.

“I’m happy to have been the alley to your oop,” he replied.

Spike hugged them goodbye and they both kissed him on the lips. Fleur and Zecora did the same. Then they were gone. Gone to face whatever their futures held for them.

Spike returned to his group of friends, who were all smiling proudly at him.

“I saw that, you sly dog!” Zephyr Breeze said.

“And I like how you played it cool, walking away, not looking back!” Rainbow Dash added. “That was awesome.”

“Where’re they headed?” Soarin asked.

“Canterlot and Neigh York,” Spike said. “That’s your gate down there?”

“Yep,” Dash replied.

“So, I guess this is goodbye,” Spike said.

“I guess so,” Soarin answered.

“Thanks for everything,” Spike told them.

Rainbow Dash hugged Spike tightly and said, “Take care of yourself, Dragon Man. Don’t do anything stupid.”

“It was nice working with you,” Spike replied. “You’ll come back for New Year’s Eve, right?”

“Of course we will!” Soarin said.

“We wouldn’t miss it for the world!” Dash added.

Spike was a little uncomfortable being hugged by Tree Hugger, but he firmly shook Zephyr’s hand.

“I’ve got something for you,” Spike told them.

He reached into his pockets, pulled out four black plastic cards with digits on them, and gave one to each of them.

“What are these?” Zeph asked, like he didn’t know.

“They’re debit cards for bank accounts, each with ten billion dollars in them; your cuts,” Spike answered. “And the PIN numbers are on the back. I’m still hot.”

“Spike, we can’t take these,” Soarin replied.

“Don’t worry, the money is all real. Take them, treat yourselves with them,” Spike said. “There’s got to be something you’ve always wanted.”

“Well, I could use a vacation,” Zephyr said.

“Another one?” Spike asked.

“I always wanted to go to Madisoat Mare Garden in Neigh York City,” he elaborated. “See Hock Fetlock hit a grand slam out of the stadium.”

“First Class flight, the honeymoon suite at the Plaza Hotel in Manehattan... maybe a little moo shu?” Spike inquired.

“You know it, brother!” Zeph stated.

“I think you’ve earned it,” Spike said.

Finally, Spike and Zeph hugged and Zeph, Tree Hugger, Soarin and Rainbow Dash bid their final farewells as they boarded their planes. The sky was still blue and the breeze was cool as Spike and his lady friends exited the airport. One minute later, they were back in the parking lot.

The first row was lined with fifteen shiny new cars. They were parked head-in like animals at the trough. There was a purple 2011 Mustang GT, a blue 2012 Dodge Challenger SRT-8 392, a green 1969 Camaro RS, a yellow 2010 Camaro SS, a red 1960 Chevrolet Impala, a black 1967 Impala Sedan, an orange 1969 Charger R/T Hemi, three Lamborghinis—a yellow Gallardo LP 570-4 Superleggera, a purple Aventador LP 700-4, and a blue Murciélago LP640—a white 2013 Chrysler 200 SRT-8, a black H1 Alpha Hummer, a white ZR1 Corvette, a red 2010 Viper SRT-10 Coupe, and a cherry red 2015 LaFerrari.

And they were all Spike’s.

“Where did they come from, Spike?” Celestia asked.

“Fifteen slot machines and I won fifteen cars,” he explained. “I put a quarter in, I got a car. I put a quarter in, I got a car. I put a quarter in, I got a car...”

He fished around in his pockets for the keys.

“Okay, AJ gets the Hemi, Sunset, you drive the red Viper; Rarity, you take the white Chrysler; Pinkie and Starlight, the RS; Vinyl and Octavia, the SS Camaro; Moon Dancer and Trixie, the Impala; Tempest, the Sedan; Sassy and Coco, the Convertible; Ember and Smolder, the Challenger; Chrysalis, the Ferrari; Celestia, the shiny Corvette; Adagio, Aria and Sonata, the Lamborghinis; I’m keeping the Mustang, and Discord, you can take that big black thing,” he said.

Spike slid into the driver’s seat of the Mustang while Fluttershy slid in next to him. He started the engine, took his foot off the brake, looped around the parking lot, put on a pair of sunglasses and led his harem back to the city. With a small smile, he raised his face to the sky. As he looked at the city ahead, Twilight Sparkle was the last thing on his mind. Several years later, she was little more to Spike than a scar and a memory.

Author's Note

Don’t think it’s over yet. There’s still one more chapter to go!

P.S.: A photo of Spike in his crocodile skin suit.

Happy New Year

Las Pegasus, New Year’s Eve. One hour to midnight. The full moon was perfectly balanced above the desert and bathed it in a pearly glow.

Spike Drake, in black slacks and a white tuxedo jacket, a red rose in his lapel, stood wistfully on the balcony outside his office, of his penthouse, on the top floor of his new resort, smiling and happy, the smoke of his cigarette hanging around him in a lazy swirl. It was the one place where he truly felt at peace. He peered out over the gleaming cityscape. He could see the entire Strip, from the radioactive green stallion at the base of the MGM Grand to the glowing spire of the Stratosphere. Spike soaked up the sights of the glowing signs, including the ones for “Casino Royale,” “Circus Circus,” “The Palace”, “Sahara”, “Desert Inn”, “Sands”, “Riviera,” and “Flamingo”, the latter five reopened and restored with the help of Firelight and the Las Pegasus Historical and Preservation Societies. The logjam street traffic just added to the effect: thousands of headlights blinking in a glowing spine snaked down the center of the city.

The Dragon’s Hoard was full of life that night.

All of the hotel’s eras were together, all but this current one, the Drake Era. And this would be together with “the very best of the rest” very soon. Spike heard the ring of the silver-plated bell on the registration desk, commanded by Miss Coco Pommel, summoning Bulk Biceps and the other bellboys to the front as men in the fashionable flannels of the ’20’s checked out while men in ’40’s double-breasted pinstripe suits checked in.

Breakfast was being served all around the clock as Pinkie Pie and Rarity scheduled each little party, wedding, anniversary, get-together and soirée. Midnight Radiance rang up the price of a Manehattan, a sloe gin fizz, and a zombie in the Dragon’s Den (formerly the Midnight Lounge); and the Sweet Snacks Café’s jukebox, pouring out its customers’ melodies, each one overlapping the other in perfect harmony. There were a dozen trucks in the loading bay out back, dropping off crates of beef, pork, chicken, shrimp, lamb, lobster, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, apples, oranges, bananas, strawberries, carrots, corn, squash, asparagus, Naan, hummus, caviar, chocolate, licorice, brandy, and Champagne.

The atmosphere had changed dramatically since the Richs’ grip on Las Pegasus was broken. With Impossibly and Spoiled gone, the city as a whole started treating people a bit better than before. Spike heard it all: the music, the laughter, and the love. Inside, Moon Dancer was sitting at the desk in the far corner.

“Three-thousand forty-one, three-thousand forty-two,” she counted out loud. “Fourteen-thousand five hundred and forty-two... Fifteen-thousand five hundred and forty-two... Forty-two thousand dollars... Not bad, all things considered.”

Spike nodded. It wasn’t bad at all.

Even after buying the burnt out building, it had been a little difficult to get money to repair and refurnish it, but he had managed to do it. Ever since they officially opened doors, reservations had been pouring in. Three months later, business had blossomed. Now, all of the rooms were occupied—most of them by beautiful single women—a literal full house.

The first snow of winter had fallen in the early hours of December 17, and though the day had been cold, it was a beautiful one. Then a week before Hearth’s Warming Eve, Spike won the deed to a thousand acres of land in South Equestria from a Poker game—a Royal Flush of Hearts against a Full House of Sixes full of Aces. It was a gold mine! Better than a gold mine; an oil company wanted to take the land off Spike’s hands... for a trillion bucks. One trillion, net, after taxes! It was a firm offer, no ifs or maybes. Spike signed the papers and the property started pumping out crude within a matter of days.

Spike existed in a world far beyond the norm. He lived a life where nothing was beyond him. What other men only fantasized, he did. For all of his wealth, his charm, his charisma, his expensive toys... he was a driven, unflinching machine. He took what he wanted, when he wanted. He had never dreamed of owning his own place one day, much less his own casino resort. But now he could come and go as he pleased, say whatever popped into his mind, and kick his feet onto the tables. All while making money off other people’s weaknesses without revealing any of his own. Life was good. It was the kind of life he had always wanted. And then there were his friends. Spike couldn’t have hoped for any more loyal, more honest, kind, or generous.

Spike was (figuratively) shaken from his happy thoughts by Pinkie Pie, who had barged in without knocking, which Spike didn’t mind. It was normal by now.

“Hey, Boss!” she said. “You gonna come downstairs? I got a customer asking for ya.”

“Pinkie, you know I don’t like to mingle with the clientele,” Spike replied.

“Well, you may wanna mingle with this one,” she said before she went back out. “She looks, and sounds, like your type.”

Spike took one last puff from his cigarette, came in out of the cool night air and padded across the room toward the bar on which rested two fifths of Fireball, a bottle of Wild Dragon, a bucket of half-melted ice, a pitcher of water, and a bottle of ginger ale. He snuffed the smoke out in the ashtray before shooting a glance at his silver wristwatch.

“I guess I can spare a few minutes,” he thought aloud.

Spike poured himself a Scotch and took a swig before straightening his black bowtie and smoothing out a few imaginary wrinkles in his jacket. He downed the drink as Moon Dancer shut her laptop and stood up, straightening her skirt to try and cover a few more inches of thigh. They walked out of his office, past the hot tub and the door that exited out onto to the helicopter pad, down the hall, into the elevator, and down to the lobby several stories below. Moon Dancer looked over at Spike; he had been quiet and sad since that day at the airport. He tried to smile at her.

The elevator doors opened on the ground floor of The Dragon’s Hoard. A single, large crystal chandelier hung high over the foyer. Spike took two steps into the lobby and was met by greetings that came at him from every side. From the barbers in the shop they passed, to the manicure girls, the men’s store clerks near the entrance to his place, the guards at the casino cages, the porters emptying ash trays, and the guests at the arcades and the coffee shop... men and women, boys and girls. “Hi, Mister Drake!” the world said with admiration. “Hi, Spike!” the world said with respectful envy.

And Spike ate it up—but who wouldn’t? Was there ever a man born who wouldn’t like it? Let those who greeted him salute not only his good looks, his clothes, his money, his reputation for being a high-roller; still, to men like Spike Drake these hellos were, this recognition was, as necessary as breathing.

He and Moon Dancer walked through the lobby to the front desk as Rat Pack music (Flank Sinatra and Dean Maretin among others) coursed from the hidden amplifiers in the ceiling while the gorgeous Bunny Girls in their tight black teddies and dark stockings greeted him. All tall and well-endowed, the women of the Dragon’s Hoard were the best on the Strip. Some of them had graced the pages of Playboy and Penthouse, and some were headliners at the expensive clubs in Manehattan, Neigh York, Applewood, Malibuck and points in between. Others were models who had, for whatever reason, given up runway careers and gotten breast jobs. Most were under the age of twenty-five, a few as young as eighteen. All were exquisite physical specimens as well as skilled dancers—without a doubt, the cream of the crop.

They reached the front desk finally, after Spike all but brushed off half a dozen attempts to stop him in conversation, made by men who were all too closely-shaven and too well dressed. Pinkie and Rarity were delighted that the Lucky Prince had decided to come down from his tower.

“We miss you down here,” Rarity said fondly.

“Fancy Pants come in yet?” Spike asked.

“Yeah, he’s down in the casino,” Pinkie replied, “probably enjoying his new lucky streak; the one you gave him when you first dealt cards to him.”

Spike smiled at the memory of that day.

“How’s the flow tonight?” he directed at Rarity.

“We’re hopping tonight, darling,” she answered.

“How’s Berryshine?”

“Drunk as a fish,” Rarity said, “with two of Bulk’s best bellboys playing up to her, the lucky harlot.”

Spike left Moon Dancer with them and walked past the Sweet Snacks Café. He saw several men feasting on bowls of thick soups, loaded baked potatoes, piles of spaghetti, and decedent steaks so large that they fell over the sides of the plates. They were overflowing with cuts big enough to feed three or four people. Midnight Radiance, dressed up in a black tuxedo with a blue bowtie, shirt and vest starched and pressed like new, and a white carnation in his lapel, polished a glass as Spike entered the elegant and luxurious Dragon’s Den and approached the bar.

“Good evening, Mister Drake,” Midnight Radiance said, genuinely pleased. “It’s good to see you.”

“It’s good to be back, Midnight,” Spike replied.

“What will it be?”

“Marillo de Oro,” he said with great pleasure.

A very fine liqueur filled with solid gold flakes. As Midnight Radiance poured the drink, Spike turned to face the room. Every table and booth was occupied. Some of the fellows wore Armani, but they had the swagger of military. Even in the Dragon’s Den, Spike could hear the crackle of the Roulette balls, the curses and the cries of the lucky from the casino. Thankfully, they weren’t loud enough to drown out the music.

Midnight finished wiping down the bar and tossed the dirty rag into the sink as Spike took a bill out of his wallet.

“No charge to you, Spike,” Midnight Radiance said, putting the drink down on Spike’s twenty. “Your money is no good here—orders from Discord.”

Spike smiled at Midnight Radiance then thanked him.

“Always a pleasure to serve you, Mister Drake,” Midnight said.

Spike moved toward the stage where Coloratura sat at the grand piano. She was wearing a sheer blue dress with soft white slippers and her hair was tied in a pony tail with a black ribbon holding it. She looked younger and lovelier than ever.

Coloratura finished the number she was playing. “I’ve Got You Under My Skin.” Light. Clever lyrics. They don’t write songs like that anymore. Then she struck a whole new chord.

She played softly, simply, with no polytonality, no atonality, no flatted fifths, passing notes or passing chords. She played trite, sweet ballads exactly as the composers had written them down, little tunes that would have no place in any music she played for pay.

Ever since she dropped Svengallop, she chose numbers that demanded the work of her fingers, as well as her voice. When Spike drew nearer, she injected something into the music that insidiously underscored the sweetness with a whisper of cheerful enthusiasm.

“What’s that you’re playing?” Spike asked.

“Oh, just a little love song for a special guy,” she flirted.

“Sing a little bit for me,” he flirted back.

“With pleasure,” she said devotedly.

Spike smiled as she sang. Her left hand was taking over more boldly. The right hand kept on bravely, and the syrup-sweet melody was fast becoming a piping hot tribute. Spike had his own piano bar, and he ruled it like a king. He sang to the ladies like each one was the only woman in his life and they loved it. He and Rara kept their shows small and intimate; they brought back the closeness of knowing most of the customers (as people and as individuals), and they never lost sight of that. When the shows were over, Spike would invite the whole company to have dinner with him afterwards. And he spoke with everyone; he spoke to each person and made them feel loved, like they were family, and they felt like family.

When Rara finished, Spike kissed her affectionately on the cheek and let her get back to practicing. He returned his glass to Midnight Radiance at the bar, and then made his way to the casino in silence, broken only by the occasional pleasantry exchanged with the celebrities that passed by, including Wayne Neighton, Flank Sinatra III, and Sprigfield and Roar Horn.

“Spike Drake’s the name and every table’s my game!” he told them. “Have a martini. Grab a chair, pull a lever... Gamble away!”

The platinum Roulette wheels spun, the cards snapped, the slots chimed, Champagne fizzed, and the 60 blackjack tables were all full with nouveau rich high rollers from Manehattan, Neigh York, and Fillydelphia.

“Ah, my bread and butter: thrill-seeking rich kids with a poor grasp of statistics and probability,” he thought. “Not to mention more money than brains.”

“Rock Star” by Nickelbuck was being played from the loud speakers overhead followed by “Mr. Pinstripe Suit” as Tempest Shadow, the chief of Spike’s new cyber security force, and her squadron—Indigo Zap, Sour Sweet, Sunny Flare, Sugarcoat and Lemon Zest—all released from jail and on parole (with time off for good behavior), walked up to him. And leading them was Chrysalis, sexy as always, in a white blouse and green knee length skirt, black heels, and round glasses on the tip of her nose.

“There’s someone who wants to meet you,” Chrysalis smiled as she pointed out a beautiful young woman.

She was tall, curvaceous, with long hair, full lips, and a heart-shaped face. She was dressed in a blue suit jacket, a lighter blue skirt that barely reached her knees and golden heels, and holding a half-empty glass of white wine. She must have been the one that Pinkie mentioned earlier.

“Another drink?” he asked, slightly startling her.

“No, thank you,”

She sounded surprised and alarmed. Newcomers to Las Pegasus were all alike: afraid of their every step and word, as if fearing that something terrible was about to happen at any minute.

Spike’s trained eyes caught sight of Shining Armor, Big McIntosh, and Sugar Belle, who strolled up to them. It had only been a few months, but to Shining, Spike stood straighter, taller. His gaze had a tired sadness to it, but there was still a light in those emerald eyes, a hint of a shimmer, a glimmer, of hope, and he still retained his charisma.

“Spike, I see you’ve met my fiancée,” Shining Armor said.

“What?” Spike asked.

“Spike Drake, Cadence Amore,” Shining introduced them.

Spike extended a hand to her and he remembered her as Celestia’s adopted niece and former apprentice.

“Spike, I’m glad that you agreed to meet us,” Shining began, “because there’s something we want to talk to you about.”

“Shining and Big Mac have spoken very highly of you,” Sugar Belle said. “And they and I know how much good you’ve done for everyone here.”

“And that is why we were hoping that you would agree to be the best man at our double wedding,” Cadence finished.

“You both want me to be your best man?” Spike asked.

“Eeyup,” Big Mac stated.

Spike put a hand to his heart. “I would be honored.”

They were soon joined by five of the most handsome and beautiful couples Spike had ever seen; and they were being led by Applejack. Looking at AJ, Spike believed that she had done pretty well for herself since they first met. She had worked her way up from security guard, to blackjack dealer, to pit boss, to shift manager and ended up as Casino Manager (CM).

AJ introduced the pairs as Bright Mac and Buttercup, Bow Hothoof and Windy Whistles, Mr. and Mrs. Shy, Igneous Rock and Cloudy Quartz Pie, and Hondo Flanks and Cookie Crumbles. Spike recognized all of their names almost instantly, that’s when he realized that he was meeting the parents of five of his main girlfriends. And they all smiled approvingly at him.

Then Applejack reached into her purse, brought out her walkie-talkie, and spoke into it briefly. The music suddenly cut out and “My Way” started playing. Reflexively, Spike bowed to the crowds, who gathered around him as a spotlight shined down on him. They stared with open mouths and wide eyes as he sang, moving both the men and the women to tears as he fought back his own. They applauded Spike’s display and when the music changed to swing, Spike and Applejack danced together until he dropped to one knee and held out his arms.

“SPIIIKE!” a little blonde girl named Luster Dawn screamed.

Spike heard the perfect note of rapture in her voice. She ran forward, pink skirt swirling around her tiny knees. First the people swarmed him. Then they knocked him over, hugging and laughing. Young women kissed his cheeks repeatedly, shouting his name as they did. Chrysalis, Tempest, and their enforcer moved the fans back and Shining and Applejack helped Spike up before they could crush him with their love.

Three minutes to midnight, the waiters passed out glasses of Champagne for the adults and Sarsaparilla for the few kids, and Spike caught a woman who was already a little tipsy; Berryshine, aka Berry Punch. She was cute and the pale mulberry dress she wore made her look prettier than she really was. There had been a man with her earlier, but he had soon gone to enjoy the opportunities the casino offered.

“I thought he said it was a-a lady’s drink,” she slurred. “I think he meant a lady horse. I’m lucky I can hold my liquor, it’s very fortunate. I’m so drunk I don’t think I could lie down without holding on.”

“Happy New Year to you,” Spike told her.

“It so happens that I do not know who you are, my good fellow,” she said.

“Now, who do I have to be to wish you a Happy New Year?” he asked.

“Is it New Year’s yet? Hey, give me a little kiss, how about it?”

“Sounds constructive,”

“You wait right there and I’ll be there in a minute,”

“I’ll wait for you,”

And she wrapped her arms around Spike’s shoulders and dipped him.

“You know something?” she asked. “I think I kiss better when I’m drunk than I do when I’m sober.”

Spike kissed her hand and bid her good night.

Less than a minute to midnight and Spike stood in the heart of the resort, surrounded by his many allies and admirers.

“Ladies and gentlemen, friends and guests, I’d just like to say even though this may not have been the best year, or the one we wanted, and things may not have gone the way we expected, we made it through,” he said. “We’re all here, celebrating together, and I can’t think of a better way to ring in the New Year.”

The people may not have applauded, but they smiled and nodded.

“Hey, it’s almost time!” Pinkie announced. “So get ready to pucker up!”

Then they led the crowd in tolling off the countdown from 20 seconds to go.

“Twenty... Nineteen... Eighteen... Seventeen... Sixteen... Fifteen... Fourteen... Thirteen... Twelve... Eleven... Ten... Nine... Eight... Seven... Six... Five... Four... Three... Two... One!”

They all cheered, “Happy New Year!” as balloons and confetti rained down from the ceiling. There was the usual blast of horn blowing and yells at the magic moment while the band played and the crowds sang, “Should Old Acquaintance Be Forgot.” People embraced each other and kisses were exchanged, and beneath their shrieks of jubilation, men and women told themselves that this was going to be the year. This was going to be the year when everybody was going to really accomplish something, not let three hundred and sixty-five days go down the drain like the year before and the year before that, without half the things that had been planned ever realized.

Ten minutes later, Spike and his friends and their families gathered in the grand ballroom. The girls were all dressed in flimsy dresses that were barely held up by slim strings and loose knots. They were so sleek and scandalous that they looked like they could drop at any second. The Dazzlings each wheeled in a cart with bottles of Champagne in buckets of ice and over five dozen crystal glasses.

“To the New Year,” Spike toasted. “And to all of you, my friends!”

Celestia’s sister, Luna, swirled the wine in her mouth, and said, “Well, I hope you all have learned something about the dangers of gambling.”

“No, Auntie, don’t blame gambling,” Spike told her. “Gambling is what made Equestria great. When the Pillars risked their lives for their friends and the people they loved, that was a gamble. Rockhoof, Somnambula, Mage Meadowbrook, Flash Magnus, Mistmane, Starswirl the Bearded, they were all gamblers. And let me tell you something else: when a beautiful, young woman named Celestia Soleil took a chance on adopting a little boy named Spike Drake... she was taking a gamble, too.”

Celestia, tears of joy in her eyes, smiled at Spike before taking him into her arms and kissed him. Discord gave Spike a cigar and the women all leaned in to light it as Midnight Radiance opened the second round of Champagne.

Another ten minutes later, Spike was back in the Dragon’s Den, alone, and sipping another glass of Marillo de Oro. Physically he felt a bit tired, having not slept in over thirty-six hours. He felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket and he saw that he had a voicemail from Celestia.

“Spike,” it began, “remember that thing you always hoped would happen with all of us? Well, it might actually happen if we can find you. Get here as fast as you can...”

Her sultry words, coupled with the thought of all of those beautiful bodies, chased away Spike’s exhaustion. Even now, he could hear the cries of ecstasy.

“Orgy?” he murmured aloud. “Orgy.”

Indeed, this night would be a memorable experience for his harem. Spike’s loins tightened and bulged anew.

“I need my check,” he told Midnight Radiance.

“Sure, just a sec,” Midnight replied.

“No, I need it right now. The girls are waiting in my penthouse,”

“Go! It’s covered!”

“Thanks!”

“Clear the way!” Midnight Radiance yelled. “He’s got an orgy to get to!”

“Orgy comin’ through!” Spike sang out and rushed forward.

The crowd parted to let him through, giving him high-fives with both hands as he went. Discord, Soarin, Fancy Pants, Haakim, Amira, Sunburst, Feather Bangs, Zephyr Breeze, Tree Hugger, Thorax, Pharynx, Double Diamond, Party Favor, Forest Fall, Autumn Afternoon, Pumpkin Smoke, Big Mac, Sugar Belle, Rainbow Blitz, Shining Armor and Cadence all cheered Spike on. Bright Mac, Bow Hothoof, Mr. Shy, Hondo Flanks and Firelight all firmly shook Spike’s hand, one-by-one, and looked at him proudly, as if to say, “Go get ‘em, Son!” while Buttercup, Windy Whistles, Posey Shy and Cookie Crumbles all flushed a little, just a tiny bit jealous of their daughters, but also happy that their daughters had found a man. They were even happier that that man was Spike Drake. Even Pinkie’s mom and dad, the stone-faced Igneous Rock and Cloudy Quartz, nodded and cracked a smile.

Spike wished the elevator could go faster as he rode it back to his penthouse. To say that it was going to be a long night would have been a tremendous understatement. Spike had pleasured, and been pleasured by, these women many times before. He had known since the afternoon what would be in store for him, but as he entered his castle there was a certain level of nervousness. Well, that nervousness was quickly washed away when he entered his bedroom. He was hard the instant his eyes fell upon the cornucopia of voluptuous beauties lying on and around his larger-than-king-sized bed, their hair fanning across their shoulders.

There they were, practically every woman he’d encountered since he came back to Las Pegasus all those months ago, and several of them even brought a few friends of their own—Applejack, Sunset Shimmer, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Trixie, Moon Dancer, Starlight Glimmer, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Sweetie Bot, Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, Octavia Melody, Vinyl Scratch, Coco Pommel, Ember, Smolder, Fleur de Lis, Tempest Shadow, Sassy Saddles, Zecora, Lyra Heartstrings, Sweetie Drops/Bon Bon, Dear Darling, Fond Feather, Swoon Song, Silver Waves, Photo Finish, Soigné Folio, High Style, Powder Rouge, Pixel Pizzazz, Violet Blurr, Daring Do, Night Glider, Countess Coloratura, Ocellus, Aloe, Lotus Blossom, Vera, Trapeze Star, Redheart, Snowheart, Tenderheart, Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, Sonata Dusk, Fern Flare, Spring Glow, Winter Flame, Sparkling Brook, Maple Brown, Shimmy Shake, Lighthoof, Indigo Zap, Sugarcoat, Sunny Flare, Sour Sweet, Lemon Zest, Stellar Flare, Cream Heart, Milky Way, Hoofer Steps, Rain Shine, Chrysalis, Luna and Celestia—70 women total, all nude except for sashes that bore the New Year’s numerals. They had all ditched their scanty dresses, which now lay scattered around the room. Even Vinyl Scratch and Photo Finish had taken off their sunglasses so that Spike could see their beautiful eyes. It was then that Spike was thankful that his boudoir took up half of the suite’s floor space. Seeing them all in such a display inflamed his passion further. They were clearing enjoying the fruits of their labor; Pinkie was literally rolling around in a pile of money that was bigger than she had ever dreamed.

“I’ve never seen so much dough in my life!” she said as she tossed a bundle of cash into the air.

Celestia curled her finger at Spike, the universal sign for “come over here”, and he did.

“You are so handsome,” she said in a lustful tone as she slowly unbuttoned his shirt.

Luna, Chrysalis and Rain Shine were the first ones to crowd the couple, and almost started a catfight in order to determine which of them should get to take off his clothes, but Spike gently pushed them away and undressed himself. Then, with a little concentration and a few hand gestures, all the dust in the penthouse gathered and materialized into one hundred and nineteen Spike clones. Each man picked his female target(s) and began to kiss their breasts.

One clone did Double Cowgirl with Applejack and Apple Bloom: the clone laid on his back on the bed with a pillow propped under his head. Apple Bloom straddled his waist, facing him, and slowly lowered herself down onto him while Applejack knelt over the clone’s face, facing her sister, and he ate AJ out while the Apple sisters made out and fondled each other’s breasts. That was before five more clones joined them and started pleasing the two sisters, three clones for each of them. Pinkie felt like she had forced herself onto a fire hydrant with her pair of clones, who repeatedly gushed hard into her, while three clones jack-hammered Moon Dancer.

One clone did Photo Finish from behind, while she made out with Vinyl Scratch and Octavia Melody, and Photo Finish’s five-woman entourage—Soigné Folio, High Style, Powder Rouge, Pixel Pizzazz, Violet Blurr (who were a little nervous about jumping in right away)—all masturbated one other another as they watched their boss get fucked. As the five women got more and more excited from watching their employer being pleasured, Vinyl and Octavia reached out and started to touch and finger each of them.

One clone performed a Double Dip on Starlight Glimmer and Trixie: Trixie laid down on top of Starlight, missionary position, and the clone crouched behind her, between their legs, and alternated between penetrating each of them. And the girl he wasn’t penetrating, he fingered her pussy and anus. One clone performed a Doggy Train with Cream Heart and Milky Way: both women got down on their hands and knees, Milky Way in front of Cream Heart. Cream Heart licked Milky Way’s pussy while fingering her anus and the clone fucked Cream Heart from behind, doggy style. Ember and Smolder tag-teamed another clone. Ember laid on her back at the end of the bed, with her legs hanging over the edge, while the clone stood between her legs. And while he fucked Ember, Smolder sat on Ember’s face and Ember ate Smolder out, while fingering Smolder’s anus. One clone performed a 69+1 on Sunset Shimmer and Stellar Flare: Sunset laid on her back while her mother got on top, so that each woman’s head was between the other woman’s legs (the standard 69 position). Then the clone penetrated Stellar from behind.

Four clones did Double Doggy with Coco Pommel, Fluttershy, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon: all four women got on their hands and knees—Coco and Fluttershy were side-by-side while D.T. and S.S. faced each other—with the clones kneeling behind them. The pair that fucked Fluttershy and Coco swapped out their female partners (and their female partners’ holes) while the two that did Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon alternated between vaginal and anal while the two girls kissed and made out with each other.

Rarity and Sweetie Bot started a Doggy Deluxe with one clone: the clone had sex doggy style with Sweetie Bot, with Sweetie Bot down on her forearms, while Rarity laid on her back on the carpet in front of Sweetie Bot. Sweetie Bot, while being penetrated, orally pleasured Rarity, while fingering Rarity’s anus. Then Sweetie Belle sat on Rarity’s face and played her with breasts as Rarity ate Sweetie Belle out while fingered her little sister’s anus. And, as if that wasn’t enough for that group, Sweetie Bot could control the heat of her robotic vagina... plus it vibrated, which further enhanced the clone’s pleasure as he penetrated her. The three women took turns being the ones fucked by the clone, while she (the first woman) ate the second girl out as the second ate out the third.

Shimmy Shake and Lighthoof performed an Oral Train with two clones: one clone laid on his back while Lighthoof sucked him off, and while she was doing that, Shimmy Shake got on all fours so that she was hovering over the clone’s face. That clone ate her out while the second clone knelt in front of Shimmy Shake so that she could give him a blowjob. Two three-girl foursomes—the Bimbos (Dear Darling, Fond Feather, and Swoon Song) and the Dazzlings (Adagio, Aria and Sonata)—tried to outdo each other, competing to see which trio could better please their single clone... until each got their own clone to pleasure and pleasure them.

Indigo Zap, Sugarcoat, Sunny Flare, Sour Sweet, Lemon Zest were all Triple Penetrated (one for their mouths, one for their pussies, and one for their butts) by three clones each... as were Fern Flare, Spring Glow, Winter Flame, Sparkling Brook and Maple Brown. One clone fucked Silver Waves doggy style on the edge of the bed while another clone fucked Hoofer Steps while she was in her ballerina pose. Another clone did Trapeze Star acrobat-style, one clone did Coloratura in “Cello Position”, one did Reverse Cowgirl with Zecora, and another did Ocellus in Butterfly Position. Aloe, Lotus Blossom and Vera each had their own clone so that they could have their own little lotus flowers deflowered, as did Redheart, Snowheart, and Tenderheart, who quickly upgraded to two-man threesomes. Lyra and Bon Bon scissored each other when they weren’t being fucked by their Spike clones, which wasn’t very frequent (the scissoring, not the M/F stuff); the Spike clones delighted the bisexual lovers.

Six clones drew their lips over Luna’s throat and shoulders as more fondled her breasts and teased her with their lips and tongues before suckling hard. Four clones fisted Rainbow Dash, Daring Do, Night Glider and Scootaloo (one for each) as another two fucked Tempest Shadow and Sassy Saddles while standing up (Tempest stood with her back to her clone while Sassy faced hers and wrapped her arms around his neck). Two clones spit-roasted Fleur, but the one behind her penetrated her anus instead of vagina while he pulled hard on her hair; two clones performed Double Penetration (vaginal and anal) on Rain Shine while she gave a third clone a hand job; and two clones performed Double Anal on Chrysalis, who jealously gazed over at Celestia and her twelve clones (well, eleven clones plus the original Spike—I’ll let you all decide which one was the real deal): one for both of her hands (hand job), three for her mouth (blowjob), one that rode her chest (giving himself a boob job) three for her vagina, AND three for her ass.

Spike and the Spike clones all kissed and caressed every woman until the women whimpered, softly at first, then cried out in longing and desire while the clones ravaged them with hunger.

And the night burst into splendor.

The orgy lasted well into the early hours of the morning and only came to an end when every last participant had dropped unconscious from sheer exhaustion. Spike’s clones returned to dust bunnies one after another, and the women turned on each other. Some kissed while others licked each other’s pussies and some were sucking on one another’s breasts, but all of them were moaning and sighing. Nothing had ever been like this—their beauty, their loveliness. If Spike was dreaming, he would gladly die dreaming, for he had never known any of them so impassioned. They soared to a summit together and plummeted softly back to earth in the shadow of each other’s arms, and still the fire from the fireplace burned softly, and the warmth cloaked them, and it was real. They were together.

Spike, naked, stepped out into the living room, his massive bedroom filled with naked women who had pushed themselves beyond every mental and physical limitation imaginable. The carpeted floor was littered with empty dessert plates, ashtrays, and the skeletal remains of a vast celebratory feast as he looked at the grandfather clock. It was after 1:00 A.M. on that warm Saturday; most of the guests had already gone to bed. But Spike had reason to celebrate. He had come in fifty-thousand dollars under budget in the renovating of the former Rich Towers—formerly the Flimflam Brothers’ Resort, formerly Gladmane’s Resort, formerly Discord’s Realm—into the Dragon’s Hoard, and both sides of the gaming tables were about even, proving that his resort was viable, profitable, and effective. There had been no signs of heat from the authorities, no potential barring situations, and most important of all, no sign of anyone associated with the Rich crime family.

“Let the corporations run their ‘factory casinos’,” was what he said.

The Dragon’s Hoard was sleek, streamlined and manageable.

Spike walked through the curtains and onto the balcony to look at the Strip. The traffic was light and the sidewalks were barren save for only a few people coming and going from New Year’s parties and celebrations. As he stood on his balcony, he thought about the many other people that had come and gone during his time in Las Pegasus.

Flim and Flam left the hotel business and retired comfortably on the money Spike had given them. Filthy Rich, now a widower, also retired and he took his daughter, Diamond Tiara, on a cross-country trip around Equestria in their new RV. As soon as she turned 18, she and Silver Spoon begged Filthy to return to Las Pegasus so that they could see Spike. They were able to walk away with only a few bad memories and their lives. Their next stop would be the Petrified Forest.

Discord continued to run the Dragon’s Hoard as Spike’s general manager; he was the one who suggested putting in the helicopter pad and that Spike buy his own helicopter (which Spike did). As for the former employees, Spike never saw or spoke to Twilight Sparkle again. He saw Soarin on occasion (who, instead of being discharged for his connection to the Impossibly Rich incident, was given a medal and permanently stationed in Albuckuerque, New Mexicolt, along with Rainbow Dash so they could visit Spike whenever they could) and they always considered each other friends. Zephyr Breeze proposed to Tree Hugger at Madisoat Mare Garden... just before Hock Fetlock hit a grand slam out of the stadium. They were married six months later. Both stayed on speaking terms with Spike, but there was a certain tension between Zeph and Spike, like the annoying slacker Spike knew had been replaced by a responsible young man and an overprotective brother. They were now living in Manehattan, where he runs his own hair salon and she works in a bakery that specializes in “special brownies”, which they sell to only some of their clientele.

As for Spike, he had it all: wealth, fame, fans, the respect of his peers... not to mention a villa in Monacolt, a mansion in Applewood, a fleet of fast cars (including a collection of Rolls Royces) and helicopters, a submarine with its own ZIP code, a harem of dozens of beautiful women, and all the money he could count. He had everything he ever wanted.

“What more could a man want?” he asked himself.

A soft hand snaked around his chest, bringing him back to reality.

“Oh, that feels nice,” he said.

He turned and was nose to nose with Celestia.

They smiled as they looked into each other’s eyes, knowing that they were in love and that they belonged together.

Spike had asked the girls if they had made any resolutions. They all made the same one: to give Spike a wakeup blowjob to start every morning of that year. A different woman each morning and he (without peeking) would have to guess which one based on her technique. All I have to say about that is: over five dozen women... use your imagination!

Spike and Celestia kissed again before she softly kissed his chest and guided his hand to fondle her breast. And one by one, his harem came out to join them.

“Tell me the story,” he said.

Celestia looked up at him sighed.

“Once upon a time, a brave knight married a beautiful princess...” she began.

“Who wanted a son,” said Spike.

Applejack took over the narration.

“Well, on the fifth day of a golden summer, the knight and his bride were strolling through the woods when they came across a small purple egg,” she said.

Then Sunset took over. “And out of the egg hatched...”

“The kindest, luckiest, handsomest little prince they had ever seen,” Ember added.

“They raised him as their son, and for years they were happy,” said Trixie.

“Unfortunately, the noble knight and his beautiful bride passed away, leaving their little prince in the care of the mighty Dragon Lord,” said Smolder.

“Until one day,” Chrysalis put in, “when another princess...”

“Who was just as beautiful as the prince’s mother,” Pinkie added chipperly.

Celestia blushed.

“... paid a visit to the Dragon Lord,” said Rarity.

“This princess wanted a child, but sadly, she couldn’t have any children of her own,” said Luna.

“The Dragon Lord took pity on the young princess and gave the prince to her,” Tempest continued.

“And the princess and the kind, lucky, handsome, little prince were happy,” Moon Dancer said.

“So the princess took you home with her and every night at bedtime, she would tuck you in and say: ‘Who’s the luckiest, kindest, handsomest prince?’” Rainbow Dash went on. “And you would say...”

“‘I am,’” Spike replied.

“And she would ask, ‘How did you ever get so lucky and handsome?’” Fleur joined in. “And you’d say...”

“‘I was born that way,’” Spike answered.

“Then she would ask, ‘How did you ever get to be so kind?’” asked Fluttershy. “And you would say...”

“I had a good teacher,” Spike said.

“And she would say, ‘Tell me your name, little prince,’” Lyra and Bon Bon both said. “And you would say...”

“‘Prince August Comte Louis Francis Maurice Frederick Beauregard Drake. But you can call me Spike,’”

“And she would say, ‘Can I call you Spikey?’” Stellar Flare took over. “And you would say...”

“‘No. Just Spike. Unless we’re dating, then you may call me Spikey,’”

“I love that story,” Spike smiled.

“And we love you, our Lucky Prince,” the seventy women all said.

They encompassed him in probably the biggest, softest, and warmest group hug known to man. And as he smiled once more, Spike thought that no matter what happened, these women, these very special women, would always be with him.

“Happy New Year, Spike,” he thought to himself.

And Spike ended up with more than he could have ever dreamed, running his resort, and spending a lot of time with his many girlfriends.

Author's Note

Well, there you have it. That is the end of "Spike's Gambit." And while this may be the end of this story, I assure you I am far from done writing. I have plenty more ideas cooking, but nothing sold and/or ready for publishing. For now, I would like to thank the following people (in no particular order):

Midnight Radiance, who was kind enough to allow me to give his OC a few cameos.

Universal nebula, He23t, tx-300, and MLPMekarm for not only reading my story, but seeing it through to the end. That means a lot to me.

Alterend, alphasteel, Danville Bengal, Linkonpark100, Luminous Skies, Nightflight406, Nick Terakidan, TheLunarDragon, Starblade, and Sentinel105 for all of your positive comments and feedback.

But most of all, I thank Wildcard25 (the man who not only issued the story challenge in the first place, and a great writer in his own right, but also an awesome friend) for your unwavering support and friendship.

Thank you all!

Bonus: Spike's Gambit Soundtrack

Author's Note

All songs and original soundtracks are the property of their respective artists and albums.

Bonus: Spike's Gambit Soundtrack

"Under Our Spell" - The Dazzlings (Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk)
"Rotten to the Core" (Single version) - The Dazzlings
"Viva Las Pegasus!" - Spike and His Ladies
"Another One Bites the Dust" - Spike Drake
"Rock This Town" - Spike (with Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Sugar Belle, and Starlight Glimmer)
"The Lady Loves Me" - Feather Bangs (with Rarity)
"Sweet Little Lies" - The Dazzlings
"Trust In Me" - Apple Jewel
"Footloose" - Spike (with Trapeze Star, featuring multiple female swimsuit and lingerie models)
"Here I Come, Vegas" - The Great and Powerful Trixie
"Magic Man" - Trixie Lulamoon
"No One Like You" - Spike and Trixie
"Just What I Needed" - Cornicle
"Rock'n Me" - Spike and The Changelings (Thorax, Pharynx, Cornicle and Ocellus)
"Somebody to Love" - Spike and The Changelings (with Fluttershy)
"Take Me Home Tonight" - Spike and Fluttershy (featuring The Changelings)
"ABC" - Spike Drake
"Dirt On My Boots" - Spike and Applejack
"Holding Out For A Hero" - Sunset Shimmer (with The Dazzlings)
"I'm Cute" - Fluttershy (with Discord)
"Rock You Like a Hurricane" - Rainbow Dash
"Addicted to Love" - Spike and Moon Dancer
"The Spectacle" - Countess Coloratura
"Who's Afraid Of The Big Bad Wolf?" - Iron Will (with the Dazzlings)
"Yodel Adle Eedle Idle Oo" - Discord (with the Dazzlings)
"I Hate Myself For Loving You" - Twilight Sparkle
"You Give Love A Bad Name" - Spike and the Hive Four
"The Magic Inside" - Coloratura (with Spike Drake)
"Sweet Dreams (Are Made of These)" - Celestia Soleil
"Ain't That A Kick In The Head" - Discord
"Sharp Dressed Man" - Spike and The L'Oranges
"Gambler's Waltz" - Instrumental
"Find The Magic" - The Dazzlings
"Won't Back Down" - Feather Bangs
"I've Got You Under My Skin" - Flank Sinatra
"Betcha Never" - Coloratura
"Rock Star" - Nickelbuck
"Mr. Pinstripe Suit" - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
"My Way" - Spike Drake
Bonus: "Deal With The Devil" - Spike VS Twilight

Initiation

Five A.M.

In the ballroom, two figures, ballet dancers, glided across the dance floor—Fluttershy in a fluffy white skirt and stockings, Spike in a black unitard and ballet slippers. She held her hands in an arch over her head like Spike had taught her, as he flipped her into the air. He brought her back down, they came together and their arms came down around each other.

“Thanks for helping me with the tour jeté, Spike,” Fluttershy said after they were done. “Sorry it took me so long to get it.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” he replied. “That last attempt was beautiful, for a girl who used to be such a rookie.”

“I guess I am still a newb, huh?”

“Just a little,”

Fluttershy let out a yawn as Spike escorted her back to her room. It was early, but she was glad that he had agreed to help her with ballet. She was even gladder when he told her that he had outfits for them to practice in. She didn’t think that Spike would be wild about the idea, but he had surprised her and she gained a new respect for him, as well as a fascination.

They were so happy that they didn’t even notice several members of the senior staff (Rarity, Sunset Shimmer and the Dazzlings) hanging by one of the indoor pools as they walked by them. They really thought the worst was over, but they would soon discover that the aforementioned ladies had a surprise for them.

“Come on, girls,” Adagio told them. “It’s almost six; time to haze some fresh butts.”

“Right, the grand tradition of staff initiation,” Sunset replied.

They had been waiting all week for this.

Every year, the returning staff got one day to haze the new staff, and that meant being able to force them to do the worst conceivable things, from eating nasty food to cleaning up horrible messes.

“So, how many are we going to let through this year?” Sunset asked.

“For a chance to deal for the high rollers?” Aria asked. “I vote none.”

“I second,” Sonata added.

“We were new once, too,” Rarity reminded them. “And our seniors let us through.”

“Maybe,” Aria said. “But more of them means fewer chances to deal for the rest of us.”

“I don’t care either way,” Adagio admitted. “I just want to give them a hard time.”

“We still get to mess with them, right?” Sonata asked.

“Oh, by all means, humiliate away,” Rarity said.

Multiple alarm clocks blared throughout the staff quarters at 6:00 A.M.

Rainbow Dash screamed and rolled off the couch, hitting the floor with a loud thud; while Fluttershy bolted upright in bed, and Starlight groaned and pulled her blanket over her head to block out the noise.

Minutes later, they assembled in the sitting room off the elevator bank.

“Listen up, newbs!” Aria began. “You are about to embark on a journey that every new employee at the Flimflam Brothers’ Resort must face—staff initiation.”

“Until six o’clock tonight, you are ours,” Adagio added. “If you run, we’ll find you. If you resist, you’ll just make it worse. You will do anything any of us tells you to do today. We say jump, you say...”

“How high?” Fluttershy answered.

“If one of us tells you to bark,” Adagio went on, “you say...”

“Woof!” Pinkie replied.

“Good girl,” Sonata said, and she threw Pinkie a dog biscuit, which Pinkie caught in her mouth and ate.

“Not bad,” Pinkie said after she’d swallowed. “Not bad at all.”

“And what if we don’t do what you say?” Rainbow Dash challenged them. “You gonna fire us?”

“No,” Adagio replied.

“Give us a strike?” Dash asked.

“No,” Adagio repeated.

“Then that’s all I need to hear,” Dash replied. “I’m going back to bed.”

“But if you make it through, we’ll let you deal in the High Rollers’ Lounge,” Sunset added.

Fluttershy and Starlight both gasped.

“Did you just say the High Rollers’ Lounge?” Dash asked.

Spike recalled having seen the doors leading to the high-stakes room. It was in a raised section of the main casino, at least a dozen tables, most with minimum bets of one hundred and maximums of five thousand, separated from the main tables by a flight of steps and a velvet rope.

“Only those who pass initiation get to deal for the high rollers,” Aria said. “It won’t be easy, and it will be gross! If you want to back out, now is your first and only chance.”

“I’m in!” Fluttershy shrieked.

“I’ve got an older brother, bring it on!” Dash added excitedly.

“I’m up for a little torture,” Soarin said.

“Pass,” Spike stated.

He was the only one who said no while everyone else said yes... even Zephyr Breeze.

“Initiation starts now and runs until the end of the day,” Adagio said as she, Aria, Sonata, Sunset and Rarity disappeared into their rooms to get ready for work. “Consider yourselves warned.”

“I wonder what they’re going to do us,” Fluttershy said.

“I heard last year was pretty rough,” Zephyr told her. “Saw some guys running naked down the Strip.”

“Well, I’m not doing it,” Spike said.

“Did you not hear them?” Dash asked. “The High Rollers’ Lounge!”

“Yeah, and I am not going to degrade myself for something I don’t care about,” he replied as he entered the elevator. “If I do end up dealing cards for a bunch of stuck-up snobs, I’m going to earn it on my own terms, not theirs!”

Spike returned to his suite while the rest of them got dressed and went their separate ways.

The Resort’s head chef, Gustave le Grand, was a tall man with gray hair, golden eyes, a snooty accent, and a detestable personality. He was also quite thin for someone who spent their time in the kitchen. Other than that, he conformed to the arrogant hotel kitchen personage stereotype. Right down to the long, thin, pencil-line moustache of an old silent movie villain.

He kept the kitchen sparkling clean; every surface coaxed to a high gloss. And not only was it big, it was intimidating. There was a breadboard as big as a table, an array of stainless steel pots and pans hung from floor to ceiling, and three stoves, the smallest of which had a dozen burners, two ovens, a Dutch oven, a heated well on top in which one could simmer sauces and bake beans, a broiler, and a warmer—plus all the dials and temperature gauges to go with it.

He turned on one of the burners, red flames popped up, and he turned them down to a faint blue glow. He melted butter in a frying pan before he went to one of the refrigerators and got the eggs and cheese.

One of the deals the Brothers made with their employees was which shifts they wanted to work (mornings, afternoons, and nights). Some would work the morning and afternoon shifts so that they didn’t have to work at night, others took the afternoons off and served breakfast and dinner instead of lunch, and those who weren’t early risers could sleep in and work the afternoon and night shifts.

That morning, Fluttershy had volunteered to help Pinkie Pie and Sunset Shimmer serve breakfast before bussing drinks as a Bunny Girl in the casino that afternoon. She walked through the big, wide, portholed, swinging double doors that opened on to the Sweet Snacks Café, and Sunset deliberately spilled a plate of scrambled eggs on the front of Fluttershy’s waitress uniform.

“Okay, after you clean yourself up, you’ll be helping Pinkie serve Table One through Table Four,” Sunset told her. “They’re the Flimflam Brothers’ table, Celestia’s table, the Saddle Arabians’ table, and Fancy Pants’ table... in that order.”

“But it’s only my second day!” Fluttershy gasped. “And I’ve been egged!”

“I know,” Sunset replied. “Don’t screw up.”

Soarin and Zephyr Breeze sat at a table near the center of the Café, Soarin glancing at the menu while Zephyr flirted with Pinkie Pie.

“So, have you made up your mind?” she asked them.

“Yes, I have. You are the prettiest waitress here,” Zephyr told her. “And that’s a nice perfume. What is it?”

“It’s French fries and cheeseburgers,” she quipped.

“That’s hot. I wouldn’t mind taking that to go,”

Spike and Celestia entered the Café and saw Applejack, wearing a red one piece swimsuit with the word “lifeguard” written across the chest in white letters, matching red shorts and black flip-flops; seated alone at the table that had been reserved for them with a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon, another plate of hash browns, another with biscuits and gravy, another with a stack of four pancakes drowning in maple syrup, and a large bowl of grapes with sliced pears and apples.

“Hey,” Spike acknowledged her.

“Hey,” Applejack echoed.

“Oh, is somebody eating with you?” Celestia asked.

“No, just me,” Applejack answered.

“Sorry, it just seems like an obscene amount of food for one person,” Celestia said.

“It’s my metabolism,” Applejack replied.

“Mind if we join you?” Spike asked.

“It’s a free country,” Applejack said before she shoveled a forkful of eggs into her mouth.

As Spike and Celestia took their seats (Celestia next to Applejack and Spike across from Celestia), Applejack apologized for sitting at their table and explained that she was hoping to be done before they came down to eat. Celestia didn’t mind, and neither did Spike.

Pinkie Pie roller-skated over, notepad and pencil in hand.

“Good morning, Pinkie,” Spike said. “And I apologize for everything Zephyr Breeze has said to you so far.”

“No, he’s been sweet,” she replied. “So, can I get you something to drink?”

“Pineapple daiquiri, please,” Celestia said.

“Great choice,” Pinkie replied. “You should try that,” she told Spike.

“As much as I’d love to, I can’t,” he said to her. “I’m allergic to pineapple. My head swells up like a bounce house.”

That was all Spike shared about his “simple allergy”, but he and his mother knew that it was much more than that. It was severe. And not only was it severe, it was life-threatening.

Spike learned he was allergic to pineapple when he was eight-years-old and Celestia wanted a pineapple upside down cake for her birthday. Spike had a slice and (even though it was delicious) red, itchy rashes formed on his face and skin, and he went into anaphylaxis. Thankfully, Celestia was able to get Spike to the hospital before he stopped breathing.

Now, if Spike ate a bit of pineapple he would break out in hives. If he so much as licked a piece of pineapple, his tongue would swell up and he would be unable to speak.

“Well, in that case, we have tea--” Pinkie began.

“I don’t drink tea,” Spike replied.

“What do you drink?” Pinkie asked.

“Not tea,” Spike stated.

Pinkie skated away, her hips swaying nicely beneath the short skirt of her baby blue uniform. She returned with Celestia’s pineapple daiquiri and a glass of milk for Spike.

“There you go,” she said as she placed it in front of him.

Then she asked if they were ready to order.

“A cheese omelet with pancakes,” Celestia told her.

“A ham and cheese omelet, sausage links, waffles, pancakes, and a slice of apple pie,” Spike said.

“Apple pie for breakfast?” Applejack asked.

“Why, you wonder,” Spike stated the obvious, “because nobody would have said anything if I’d ordered the Danish, which is literally nothing but flat pie.”

“And waffles and pancakes?” Pinkie asked. “Can’t make up your mind?”

“No, I want to compare which is better so that I know what to get in the future. It’s not just a matter of taste. It’s the whole eating experience. On the one hand: waffles. There’s the fun of filling each little hole with an ‘equal amount’ of syrup like some failed attempt at socialism because they will never be exactly the same no matter how many times you try; and cut it the right way and you can practice Sudoku, thinking about the numbers while focusing on the grid.”

The three women stared at Spike as he spoke, like he was a sculptor gently carving a masterpiece (but with words instead of stone).

“On the other hand, pancakes are beautiful golden mini-sunshines covered in shimmering sweetness,” he continued, almost poetically. “But all the pancakes in the world would mean nothing without friends to share them with.”

Pinkie smiled as she said, “I had no idea you were so... deep.”

“Breakfast is a very serious thing,” he told her.

“I will get those in for you,” she said, and she roller-skated away.

“Damn, she’s hot in that uniform!” Spike thought as he watched her again. “Then again, so is Applejack. Like Storm Weatherly in Baewatch.”

“Wait, I didn’t even order!” Zephyr called after her. He turned to Spike and said, “What the Tartarus, dude?”

“What?” Spike replied indifferently.

“I had something going and you come in and stomp on me?”

“Can I help it if I have to talk to people?” Spike replied.

“You don’t even try!”

“Well, I didn’t earn the title of Flirtmaster General for nothing,”

Pinkie Pie returned to Soarin and Zephyr’s table after she gave Spike and Celestia’s orders to Chef le Grand.

“Those pies do look good,” Soarin admitted, still reading the menu.

“They taste even better!” Pinkie said. “And they’re made fresh daily.”

“Are they made by our own Chef le Grand?” he asked.

“Yes,” Pinkie replied. “Have you tried any of his desserts?”

“No, actually, I haven’t had the chance,” Soarin admitted.

“Well then, you’re in for a treat! I highly recommend the blueberry,”

“Then I’ll have a slice of that, please,” Soarin said.

“Coming right up,” Pinkie said as she wrote it on her notepad.

“Hey, Pinkie,” Zephyr interjected, “I’m thinking about getting some pie myself. What’s your favorite?”

“Feel free to lie to him,” Spike told her. “He loves that in women.”

“Oh, and what do you like in a woman?” Pinkie asked as she leaned over, offering Spike a generous view of her cleavage.

“Well, any woman who brings me pie is pretty much at the top of my list,”

“Well, I’ll get that pie then,”

And she winked and disappeared again.

Fluttershy helped serve coffee, never once taking her eyes off Spike. This caused several nasty spills, but none of the guests seemed to notice or mind. She just couldn’t get over how unbearably cute Spike was. No one had ever taken the time to work so closely with her, even if it was just dancing.

“He’s such a sweet guy,” she thought.

In the kitchen, Gustave grated a bowl of cheese from the block, added it to Spike’s omelet, and flipped it. Then he decorated Celestia’s pancakes with strawberries, blueberries, and whipped cream. When Spike’s omelet had puffed slightly, he slid it off onto one of the plates and covered it.

Spike asked Applejack about her bathing suit and she told him it was part of her job. On the days she wasn’t working security she had lifeguard duty, at both the indoor and outdoor pools, especially on the larger outside one where the waterslides ended.

“Lucky drowning victims,” he thought with a smile.

As they talked, Pinkie Pie balanced plates on her arms and hands as she skated around the restaurant while Fluttershy helped her.

“Here you go,” they said. “Enjoy.”

“That was fast,” Soarin thought.

“Oh. Oh, my. Oh!” Celestia moaned between bites.

“Mom, you’re doing it again,” Spike said.

Spike hated to admit this to anyone, but he didn’t always enjoy eating with his mother. The main reason was that, when she ate, she seemed to derive more than just culinary pleasure from the experience. For Celestia, food (good food) was orgasmically delicious. So much, in fact, that it sometimes overwhelmed her, and the sounds she let out bordered on blissful rapture.

“Can I help it if I have to verbally express myself through food?” she replied. “This is wonderful. Absolutely divine, my compliments to the chef!”

Spike stabbed one of his sausage links with his fork when someone asked, “May I join you?”

Spike looked up and saw Fleur standing by their table.

“I hate dining alone,” she added.

“No, please, sit,” Celestia offered.

“Oh, merci,” Fleur said. “Omelet, waffles, and pancakes?” She observed Spike’s food. “Hungry little man, aren’t you? May I have a bite of your... sausage?” she added huskily.

The link was still on the fork. Spike hadn’t even taken a bite out of it yet when Fleur started to run her tongue up and down the length of the meat before gently kissing the tip.

“Quel est le problème, ma chérie?” she asked him.

“Tu m’embarrasses,” he replied.

Shortly after, Firelight, Stellar Flare and Sunburst entered the Café and sat at a table for four. Sunset Shimmer and Starlight walked (and Pinkie roller-staked) over to greet them.

“Good morning, Mr. Glimmer. Mrs. Flare, Sunburst,” Sunset said warmly. “Where are the Flimflam Brothers?”

“In a conference call with Impossibly Rich,” Firelight answered. He looked up from the newspaper he was reading and gave Sunset a smile. “Ah, Miss Shimmer, Miss Pie, I see you’ve met your newest coworker,” he added, looking at his daughter.

“Yes, sir,” Sunset and Pinkie replied.

“If she gives you any trouble, here’s my private number,” Firelight said as he gave Sunset his business card. “And Miss Glimmer,” he addressed Starlight, “if I get so much as a text message from your manager, you can kiss your trip to the Crystal Empire goodbye.”

Starlight pulled her notepad and pen out of her apron and frigidly asked, “What can I get you?”

Sunburst went first.

“A Western omelet, a Belgian waffle, and a cup of coffee, please,” he said.

“And for you?” she asked Stellar Flare.

“I will have an egg-white omelet with coffee,” she replied. “And make it snappy! We’re leaving for Vanhoover today.”

Vanhoover—Starlight knew what that meant. Every time Stellar Flare wanted to go to Vanhoover it was to take Sunburst shopping with her. Starlight didn’t even ask her father what he wanted.

He just told her, “Coffee and keep it coming.”

“I should feel bad for you,” Sunset told Starlight as they and Pinkie returned to the kitchen, “but I don’t.”

“Dad’s just trying to make a point,” Starlight replied coolly. “He’s not even really mad. He just wants me to learn some responsibility. Now, if you’re not too busy minding other people’s business, Mrs. Flare wants an egg-white omelet with coffee, now.”

Gustave nodded and poured more beaten eggs into the pan.

“And while he’s cooking,” Sunset added, “you can clean the grease pans in the back. Then, when you’re done, serve your father his breakfast. It is going to be so much fun having you work for me.”

Sunset returned to the dining area, but not before speaking to Pinkie Pie.

“Keep at least one eye on her, especially when I can’t!” she said, pointing to Starlight.

Pinkie made a comically serious face.

“You can count on me, mon Capitaine!” she replied with a salute.

“If I somehow end up owning this place, I’m going to have you both fired!” Starlight said under her breath.

And she got to work, scraping the hard-to-get spots in the pots with a knife.

Sunset walked over to Spike and Celestia’s table just as Fluttershy was replacing Spike’s milk.

“Now, get down on one knee and ask Spike to marry you,” Sunset told her.

“What?!” she gasped.

“You don’t have to do that,” Spike said.

Fluttershy froze, rooted to the spot where she was standing. A part of her didn’t think she could do it while another part of her was reminding her that if she didn’t she would never see the High Rollers’ Lounge. But if she did, not only would she get a little respect, she would also be able to rub it in Sunset’s face.

“No,” Fluttershy stated. “I’ll do it!” She straightened the skirt of her uniform, dropped to one knee, and said, “Will you marry me?”

Celestia raised a hand to her mouth to cover up a chuckle and Spike kicked her leg under the table.

“Ask me again in about five to ten years,” he replied with a kind smile.

Then Fluttershy ran back to the kitchen.

“That was the most embarrassing moment of my life!” she thought.

“Well, I am going to wander a bit,” Spike told Celestia rather abruptly. “Why don’t you have another daiquiri on me?”

He paid for his meal (adding a generous tip for the girls) and headed off to the shopping wing, feeling rotten for kicking his mother.

After his swim the other day, Spike noticed that the color of his swimsuit was starting to fade, so he decided to look for a new one. He was trying on a pair of purple board shorts with green flames patterned across the legs, admiring himself in a mirror, when the Dazzlings (clad in bikinis and sunglasses) walked in.

Aria grabbed Spike by one arm while Sonata grabbed the other, like he was a perp being escorted by a couple of cops. Adagio paid for the shorts, and they hauled him to the parking lot behind the resort.

“Hey, what gives?” he demanded.

Once they were outside, Aria and Sonata threw him against the hood of a yellow Lamborghini Gallardo LP 570-4 Superleggera while Adagio threw him a sponge and a towel. Spike assumed that the car belonged to them (or at least one of them). Then he saw two similar Lamborghinis, a purple Aventador LP 700-4 and a bluish-white Murciélago LP640, parked on either side of it.

He was also quick to notice the buckets of soapy water by the driver side front wheels, as well as three pool chaises under big umbrellas and a cooler that had been set up a few yards away. They wanted him to wash their cars—by hand—and they were going to watch him do it. Plunging the sponge into the soapy water of the first bucket, Spike got to work on Adagio’s trunk.

The Dazzlings reclined on the chaises, adjusted their bikinis for maximum comfort, and started sipping fruity drinks while they enjoyed the view of Spike scrubbing Adagio’s doors.

Shaking his head as he finished cleaning the hubcaps, getting all the dirt out from between the angled chrome, Spike squeezed the water out of the sponge and dried Adagio’s wheels off with the towel. Adagio took a long drag through the straw of her drink, her eyes following Spike’s butt as he moved across her hood.

As he looked down at his wet, rippling pectorals, Spike decided to have a little fun with the Dazzlings. He rung the sponge out over his head and he let the water drip into his hair and down his chest.

The suds slid off his body as he started to climb onto the hood of Aria’s car, the purple Aventador. The three women never took their eyes off him. He winked at Aria, blew a kiss at Sonata, quickly getting them all hot and bothered. Adagio was practically drooling by the time Spike began soaping up Sonata’s Murciélago, and he started to get a little too into it. Sonata had left her key in the ignition and Spike turned it so that the engine was still off but the radio played music, and he started moving to it.

The Dazzlings watched Spike’s half-naked body as he took full advantage of every opportunity to splash himself with more water. His strong, muscled back, well-built legs and tight, firm buttocks filled their imaginations.

They didn’t even notice Applejack standing behind them.

“Hey, lover boy, put a shirt on!” she hollered. “Nobody’s paying you to flash your muscles!”

And she tossed him a plain white T-shirt, which he caught.

“You missed a spot on my hood!” Adagio shouted, shaken out of her trance by AJ’s interference. “Come on! It isn’t going to clean itself!”

“This is so not over,” Spike groaned through a smile.

“Damn, that was hot!” Applejack thought as she walked away, fighting off a blush.

While Spike was washing the Dazzlings’ Lamborghinis, Zephyr Breeze was at the front desk, bribing Twilight and Rarity.

“So, you don’t have to do any of the degrading things on this list and we get thirty percent off at your mom’s flower shop?” Rarity asked.

“Plus, she will make you her famous cucumber sandwiches and earl gray tea,” Zephyr added.

“Deal,” Twilight said. “Just... keep it quiet. If the other girls find out we cut you some slack, we’re toast.”

“Trust me -- I’ll keep it on the down low,” Zephyr replied.

He ducked into the men’s room when he saw Adagio coming their way.

“How’s it going?” Rarity asked.

“Your car is being washed and waxed as we speak,” Adagio said. “Where’s Zephyr Breeze?”

“Oh, he is not going to want to continue living after today,” Rarity replied.

“Nice,” Adagio said.

“So, what else do you have planned?” Twilight asked.

“We just came up with the perfect idea for Zeph: the suit,”

Adagio opened a closet door behind the front desk, pulled a large pink pony costume out from it, and slammed it onto the counter.

“Ugh! That thing reeks!” Rarity exclaimed.

“You know someone puked in there last week?” Twilight asked. “I don’t think anyone’s cleaned it out.”

“Exactly,” Adagio stated. “This is where we separate the men from the boys. I better go check on Spike.”

Zephyr had stood just inside the door to the men’s room, listening closely, and he heard every word that was said.

“No, no, I’m not wearing that!” he told them.

“We don’t have a choice,” Twilight replied. “We have to make you wear it.”

“Do it and I’ll tell Spike about your small but powerful crush on him,” he pointed a finger at her.

Twilight stuffed the costume back into the closet and forced the door shut.

“I suddenly can’t find the suit,” she said.

“That’s my girl!” Zeph grinned.

Upstairs, Rainbow Dash found a note pinned to the door of Room 804.

“Enjoy. -- The Dazzlings”

Dash unlocked the door with her master key and it slowly creaked open. When she turned on the light, she screamed.

The most she expected was half a dozen rolls of toilet paper scattered all over the floor and dirty clothes piled everywhere.

What she saw was toilet paper on the floor and in the bed, banana peels, apple cores and watermelon rinds in every corner, bags of potato chips and half-empty takeout containers strewn about everywhere else, and the TV screen was shattered. Not cracked, but shattered!

She almost threw up. And (as if that weren’t enough) there was a pig, three chickens, a raccoon, a snake and a full size grizzly bear in the room.

Dash quickly slammed the door shut and panted in fear.

“Even my brother’s not that messy!” she thought.

She didn’t even know how to get started.

That was when she got a text... from Adagio.

“How’s Room 804, Crash,” it said, “messy enough for you?”

Rainbow Dash scowled, pulled on a pair of yellow rubber gloves, donned a gas mask, and wielded a plunger in one hand and a can of air freshener in the other.

“I’m going in!” she stated.

By the time Spike had all three Lamborghinis (and Rarity’s snow white Chrystaller 200 SRT-8) washed, rinsed and towel dried, it was ten minutes past noon, but he decided to skip lunch and work right through the next thing the Dazzlings had in mind for him. And that was reorganizing the closets in their suites and the wardrobes in their dressing rooms.

“Wow. I don’t know how you find anything in here,” he told them. “Oh, before I go nuts, if there are any specific personal items, you may want to relocate them prior to...”

“Oh! Of course,” Sonata said.

She dug through one of the piles and took out a handful of unmentionables, including a pair of dental floss underwear. Spike rolled his eyes and started sorting. Each individual Dazzling had 16 purses, but he didn’t stop until after he counted 38 black shoes.

“Why do you have 19 pairs in the same color?” he asked.

“You stupid—” Aria said. “Those are strap-backs, Stilettos, Cobbie Cuddlers, espadrilles, flats, pumps, patent leathers, Spectators...”

“Wow. I might as well be listening to Rarity,” he thought.

“You wouldn’t understand, Spike,” Sonata told him absentmindedly. “It’s called style.”

He stopped listening to them talk and went back to work. By the time he was finished, he had taken off the T-shirt Applejack had “given” him and toweled himself off with it.

“And everything is in rainbow order,” he said proudly.

He stretched the ache out of his arms and legs, and left them with a smile.

“Nothing we do is stopping him!” Aria exclaimed.

“You’ve got to hand it to him,” Adagio said. “He’s pretty hardcore.”

Sonata quickly agreed.

“We have to think of something he will never, ever do!” Aria told them.

“I’ve got an idea,” Sonata put in.

“And I’m desperate enough to hear it!” Aria replied.

Starlight Glimmer, Pinkie Pie, Soarin, and Fluttershy returned to the staff lounge on the third floor at five o’clock that evening.

“I’ve got grease in my hair,” Starlight sobbed. “And Sunset’s just waiting for me to screw up! I’m not going to make it through the summer!”

“Don’t worry,” Pinkie told her. “I’ve got your back. If you stick with me, you’ll be okay.”

As Starlight looked at Pinkie, she couldn’t help but notice the sincerity in her voice and on her face.

“Thanks,” she said.

Pinkie smiled as Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Zephyr Breeze joined them.

“What is that smell?” Zephyr asked.

“They covered my hair with expired mayonnaise,” Starlight said.

“That’s nothing!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she plopped onto the couch. “After I finally got all the animals out of the room, I had to clean seaweed and jello out of the bathtub! Seaweed and jello! And there were shrimp in the air conditioner! That... was brutal.”

“Come on!” Soarin replied. “It could not have been that bad.”

Dash showed him pictures she had taken with her phone and he shrieked.

Fluttershy gasped, Applejack gagged, and Starlight asked, “Did they even bother to flush?”

“No,” Dash replied. “When I lifted the lid, I saw something wink at me.”

“Oh! Seriously?! That is so gross!!” Pinkie shouted. “Heinous and grody to the max!!! I mean, that is capital A-to-the-B-to-the-C-to-the-twiddle-dee-double-D-I-S-GUSTING!!!!”

“I had puke pickup duty,” Soarin told them. “I also had to clean out the hot tub filters... again. And I thought the crud in there was nasty.”

“What have they done to you?” Fluttershy asked her brother.

“You don’t want to know,” Zephyr said. “Twilight and Rarity are mean!”

“But... you’re not even dirty,” Dash observed.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened to reveal Spike, still clad in only his purple board shorts. He walked stiffly toward them and planted himself on the couch next to Rainbow Dash. He looked like he had been traumatized.

It wasn’t until after Dash gently poked his arm that he finally spoke.

“They made me give them full body massages!” he shouted. “I had to rub them up and down, from head to toe!”

Sonata’s idea (which her sisters were desperate enough to hear) was to make Spike massage them with oil. All three of the Dazzlings lay out on massage tables they had set up in the center of the ballroom (which they locked from all sides to prevent interruptions), completely naked. Their skin shined in the bright lights above their bodies.

Spike had never been part of a foursome, and as he gazed upon them he started to imagine what it would be like. The very concept of trying to please three women at the same time was challenge enough to wrap his mind around. And the more he thought about it, the more arousing it became.

He cracked his knuckles and started on Sonata. His hands slowly worked down her frame, beginning at a tight ache in her neck, to her shoulders; and she sighed happily at the relief his hands brought her.

“Oh yes...” she said.

He poured some of the massage oil onto her back and down her hips. Then he grazed her rear before he went to work on her legs. After he was done with her feet, she rolled over, onto her back. Then he started kneading her breasts.

“When I get a regular massage, they don’t rub my tatas like this,” she said.

Spike didn’t reply; he just kept rubbing her down.

Sonata couldn’t remember when she had received such treatment. This was the first time that she was the center of attention, instead of Adagio or Aria. She felt completely adored... and she loved it.

“That’s all really good, it feels great, but I really need more work done on my ass,” she said as she rolled over again. “I have a lot of tension in my glutes and my thighs. Don’t be afraid to really dig in there.”

Spike began to rub her buttocks, squeezing lightly yet thoroughly.

“Mmmm... Oh, yes, that’s nice,” she moaned. “Don’t stop.”

Sonata swung her legs open and Spike pulled his hands back and stared at her for a moment, trying to figure out whether she had done it on purpose or not.

“My inner thighs are really tense,” she breathed. “M-massage my pussy.”

She looked almost embarrassed to say it.

“She actually does seem to be carrying a lot of stress between her legs,” he thought as he carefully circled his hands around a bit. “This will take some work to relieve.”

“O-oh yes... That feels sooo good...” she continued to moan as he rubbed her. “Mmmnh...”

Then Spike’s thumb slipped into her anus.

“Oh!” she squeaked. “Mmmm...”

“Wow! A lot of tension here!” he thought as his thumb popped out.

“Y-yes, that needs to be worked on bad...” Sonata said, as if she had been reading his thoughts.

Spike rubbed her pussy again and her juices dripped onto the table. Sonata’s eyes rolled up and her mouth hung open as Spike’s fingers slipped into her.

“Oh Spikey!” she squealed. “Y-yes... Mmmnh...”

More spilled out as he continued to finger her.

“Unh! Unnh! Your touch feels so good, Spikey!” she exclaimed.

Her body started to tremble and Spike could feel her begin to tighten around his fingers.

“Really need to loosen this up,” he thought as he slipped in and out of her more quickly.

“Y-yes, that’s it... M-more! Please!” Sonata begged as drool started to run down the corner of her mouth and she stared off in bliss. “Just a bit... Mnh, I-I can’t take much more, Spike!”

Her legs shook but Spike didn’t let up. He felt her tighten even more.

“S-SPIKKEEE!” she cried out.

Spike pulled his fingers out of Sonata as she quivered and splashed onto the massage table.

“O-oh y-yeah...” she slurred. “Y-You’re done with me already?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll come back to you,” he whispered huskily.

He worked on Aria next. He started with her back, like he had with Sonata, but she didn’t enjoy it as much as her sister had.

“Is that all you got?” she asked. “Come on, dude.”

She didn’t roll onto her back, and Spike started groping her rear.

“She’s got a nice ass,” he thought, “very firm as well.”

“That’s better,” she told him.

He slowly raised a hand. Then he spanked her.

“Unh, I like that,” Aria bit her lip as she let out a moan.

Then he slipped his fingers into her pussy.

“Mmrrfph! Y-yes! T-that feels sooo...” Suddenly, Spike drove a finger into her anus. “Mmlah!”

He pulled his finger out and slipped it back into her pussy.

“O-oh... y-your touch is amazing...” she let out as Spike continued to pleasure her. “Mmmmm! I-I can’t take much more. It’s too good... U-unh!”

Spike felt Aria constrict around his fingers as he continued to drive them in and out of her. She squealed and she trembled.

“Oh yes!” she howled as she squirted all over Spike’s hand.

Finally, he massaged Adagio. Spike repeated the same sequence as before. He squeezed her buns (allowing himself a brief moment to toy with her), drawing them apart so he spied her tiny, clenched hole.

“Can you go any harder?” Adagio scolded him.

It was clear that she, like Aria, didn’t like Spike’s soft touches.

“All right,” he said.

He spanked her before pulling her by her legs, towards him, palmed the fullness of her backside, kneading the flesh like it was dough... and shoved his thumb into her tight asshole.

Adagio made a quick, high pitched sound that surprised even her. Her mouth opened in an attempt to speak, but it seemed to take effort. Spike had definitely discovered something.

“You think I’m afraid of you?” she asked. “You couldn’t handle that ass.”

She spread her legs wider and Spike took it as an acceptance of his exploration.

“Show me what you can really do,” she dared him.

And he rapidly alternated between spanking and fingering her.

“That’s more like it,” she said. “Oh!”

After a few more minutes, he started placing tiny kisses on both of her cheeks, which turned into long, slow licks up her smooth skin, then he started biting her ass.

“Oh, yes!” she moaned.

Spike eventually dropped his board shorts and stood in front of Adagio’s face. Every time he brought himself close to her mouth, he would pull away.

She started panting like a bitch in heat; he was going to make her beg for it.

“Bark little bitch!” Spike commanded. “Come on, bark for me!”

“Arf! Arf!” Adagio cried.

When she started whining like a puppy, Spike walked around the table again and mounted her backside. Unwilling to release her, Spike was forced to curl against Adagio and hold her down as she bucked and twisted beneath him. She was babbling incoherently now, a mixture of begging, cries of arousal, and professions of love.

“Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!” she cried.

Not wanting to be left out, Aria and Sonata joined them. Spike’s right hand fondled one of Aria’s breasts as his left hand trailed between Sonata’s legs. He groaned as Adagio freed herself, swapped positions, and engulfed the head of his shaft.

“He tastes so good!” she thought as she swirled her tongue over it.

While Adagio continued to suck him off, Spike took one nipple from both Aria and Sonata into his mouth and suckled them feverishly. Adagio took as much of Spike into her mouth as she could before he hit the back of her throat, and she still had half of him out of her. She bobbed her head up and down on what was in her mouth and Aria and Sonata stroked what couldn’t fit. Adagio slid her free hand down her belly and she began to finger herself.

The four of them were in total rapture. Feeling a combined climax fast approaching, Adagio took Spike’s entire length into her mouth. She knew that they needed just one more push to reach the feeling they all so craved. She swallowed, making her throat convulse around Spike’s cock.

The feeling of being in Adagio’s throat had Spike on the brink. Then he felt her quiver. The vibrations from his moan on Aria and Sonata’s nipples sent them over the edge and they came onto his fingers. Adagio pulled back and opened her mouth just as the first spurt came and landed in her waiting maw. She caught most of it in her mouth, but the rest splashed onto her breasts. She savored the taste and feeling of his nectar for a minute before making a show of swallowing it.

“You didn’t leave any for us!” Sonata pouted in disappointment.

Aria smiled deviously as she looked down at Adagio.

“I see some left,” she said as she crawled over to her sister and began to suck and lick her breasts.

Adagio moaned even louder when Sonata joined in. The sight of the three girls pleasuring each other got Spike hard again. He crawled behind Sonata, stuck out his tongue and began to lick between her legs while he used a hand to tease Aria, and they both moaned onto Adagio’s nipples.

It wasn’t long before Sonata cried out, and she came hard into Spike’s mouth while Aria came onto his hand, once again coating it in her juices. Adagio smiled wickedly as she forced Spike onto his back. She lined her wet pussy up with his shaft, her own juices dripped onto him, lubricating him. Then she plunged down hard, crying out in a mix of pain and pleasure. The feeling of him buried inside her did hurt, but also brought her great joy. Spike clenched his teeth to keep himself from crying out. He could smell that Adagio was untouched by any other man, but he had encountered little resistance when he entered her.

Adagio began to ferociously bounce on his shaft as Aria placed herself over his mouth, and Spike shoved his tongue into her folds. He felt even more pressure on his body as Sonata squeezed herself between her sisters and started making out with Adagio.

The ballroom became filled with sounds of ecstasy as Spike bucked his hips up and shot into Adagio. Her fluids poured out and onto his pelvis while Aria’s flowed into his mouth and Spike greedily drank them, and Sonata screamed as she spilled over Spike’s abs. One by one, the Dazzlings began to come back to their senses. They stood on wobbly legs.

“Mmmnh! You were amazing!” Sonata told Spike. “I feel so much more relaxed now.”

“I think we might need regular therapy,” Adagio said. “If you’re interested.”

“We’ll see,” Spike replied. “You’ll have to keep being good girls.”

“Oh, we’ll be good,” Adagio said.

“Very good,” Aria added.

“Very, very good!” Sonata finished.

“Excellent,” Spike thought.

“We’ll figure out some future sessions for you later,” he told them.

Adagio winked at Spike as she, Aria and Sonata collected their clothes and he watched them go. He eventually headed off to the staff quarters, fantasizing about them in every position from reverse cowgirl to doggy style.

Spike didn’t tell Soarin, Zephyr Breeze, or the other girls any of the details of the “massages”, and even if he had they wouldn’t have had the energy to listen. The only other thing he did share was the fact that he had worked through lunch. He had eaten an enormous breakfast, but that was hours ago, and now he was starving. And they told him that they were going to throw in the towel.

“You guys are quitting now?” Spike asked. “After everything we’ve been put through?”

“Yeah,” Soarin said.

“Yeah,” Fluttershy repeated.

“Yeah, I’m done,” Rainbow Dash stated.

“We have a chance to be treated like gods at legendary tables -- tables that have been played on by only a select few people ever. Quiet, sophisticated games in an uncrowded room, and we get to deal in it! Are you really going to let a few tramps get between you and the best bets in the country? Because I’m not!”

“Me neither!” Dash exclaimed.

“I’m in!” Soarin added.

“What the Tartarus,” Starlight said. “Anyone who loves winning that much deserves to see the High Rollers’ Lounge. Plus, it will totally tick them off when we pass initiation!”

Just then, Sunset and Rarity exited one of the elevators while the Dazzlings exited another. Sonata wheeled a food cart in, filled with covered dishes.

“Congratulations,” Sunset said. “I am pleased to report that you have all passed staff initiation. Hope you’re hungry.”

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Rainbow Dash whispered to Soarin.

Sunset and Sonata served while Adagio and Aria handed out silverware.

“Soarin and Starlight, you get the Lobster Tails for two,” Rarity began.

“A BLT on white for Zephyr Breeze,” Adagio continued.

“Fettucini Alfredo with chicken for Rainbow Dash,” Aria went on.

“For Fluttershy, a personal pineapple pizza,” said Sonata.

“You didn’t have to,” Fluttershy told her.

“Oh, it was nothing,” Sunset replied. “And for Mister Dragon Spice, a Manehattan strip, rare, with truffle butter. Enjoy.” She leaned in close to Spike and added in a whisper, “There’s an extra special ingredient just for you.”

“Well, I’m hungry,” Zephyr Breeze said, licking his chops. “Let’s dig in.”

Suddenly, Spike clamped a hand around one of Zephyr’s wrists in a vice-like grip, forcing Zeph to drop his sandwich.

“Wait!” Spike said quietly.

He looked at the clock on the wall. It was only 5:43 P.M.

“There’s still seventeen minutes left until the official end of initiation!” he added, still quiet. “That’s more than enough time for one last test.”

They all eyed their food warily.

“Is everything okay?” Sunset asked them.

Fluttershy was the first to get what Spike was saying.

“I’m not eating!” she stated.

“Me neither,” Rainbow Dash quickly added.

“If they don’t eat, I don’t eat,” Zephyr said.

“I’m not hungry,” Soarin lied, even though his stomach growled.

“I’m on a diet!” Starlight fibbed.

“I only eat steak that’s well done,” Spike concluded.

And they all pushed their plates away.

“At least try it,” Sonata told them, feeling a little hurt. “We went through a lot of trouble for you guys.”

“Have a bite,” Adagio added.

Spike didn’t remember exactly what happened next, but he knew this much: tempers were about to run hot, and he was not convinced that the initiation was over. And if it was, he wanted to be sure.

Looking at the food was giving him an idea.

If one is deathly allergic to something, it is best to not put that thing in their mouth, but Spike decided to take drastic action: he grabbed Fluttershy’s personal pineapple pizza and tore a big bite out of it. As soon as he swallowed it, he immediately broke out into hives and his tongue and head started to swell up. When Applejack saw this, her mouth fell open in terror.

She reached out and seized him in a vast embrace, and carried him bridal-style to the stairwell. Everything after was a blur to Spike, but he remembered Applejack sweeping him up into her arms and looking at him with her big green eyes, saying, “Don’t you die on me!”

When Spike awoke, he was lying in a hospital bed surrounded by multiple women and a man in a white coat. He knew he wasn’t dead, because he could vaguely recall the pain of his stomach being pumped. The same thing he felt the last time he ingested pineapple. Applejack, Sunset, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, Adagio, Aria and Sonata were all standing by his bed, watching him, hoping he would wake up. Celestia soon joined them.

“Spike, are you all right?” she asked.

“Tell her what happened, Doc,” Applejack said.

“Your son had a major allergic reaction to the pineapple he ate,”

“I can’t believe you did that!” Applejack exclaimed.

“It was the only thing I could think of,” Spike replied.

“You could have died!”

“Worth it,” he stated.

“Well, we’re glad you’re all right,” said Sunset. “And since it is well past six, you have all officially passed initiation.”

“Thank you,” Spike replied. “Now, please, let me rest.”

The doctor shooed everyone out.

“Sunset, a moment,” Spike said.

She nodded and stayed behind.

“I’m sorry for deliberately triggering my allergy just to see if you were lying or not,” he apologized.

“I guess I owe you for that,” she said.

“I have a thought on how you might repay me,” he replied.

He beckoned her closer and she leaned over him. He asked her to hold out her hand and he gave her a small, cylindrical device with a needle inside.

“What’s this?” she asked.

“It’s a medicine autoinjector,” he said. “If this ever happens again, I want you to be the one to give it to me.”

Sunset was shocked.

“You’re asking me to--?”

“Be the one to save me from dying, yes,” he said.

She promised.

“Also, let the others deal in the High Rollers’ Lounge, and keep the Dazzlings away from me,”

“Spike, Rarity and I helped them get their job at the resort,” Sunset replied. “They consider me their best friend.”

“Well, congratulations, you beat out no less than one nation of horny teenage boys and a lifetime of Taco Tuesdays,” Spike retorted.

Sunset sighed. “No promises on that one, but I will try.”

“Thank you,” he said.

And then he fell asleep.

There were only a handful of players spread across the fifteen tables of the High Rollers’ Lounge the following night. They were all well-dressed, middle-aged men. There were leather couches and armchairs spread throughout the room. The air was filled with the faint, almost nonexistent, scents of alcohol and cigar smoke, and they melded with the smog from expensive perfume.

Soarin bartended while Sunset, Zephyr Breeze and Fluttershy served drinks and the Dazzlings dealt cards.

“Don’t worry about Spike,” Celestia told Sunset. “I just checked up on him. He’s doing all right.”

“Thank you,” Sunset replied.

“Well, I’m glad that initation’s over,” Fluttershy said.

“And it wasn’t even that bad,” Zephyr added.

“Oh, come on!” Dash exclaimed. “Twilight and Rarity went easy on you! Where are they, anyway?”

“Oh, they’re paying for letting Zephyr off,” Sonata said.

Just then, Twilight and Rarity entered the High Rollers’ Lounge. They had been forced to wear giant unicorn suits—Twilight in purple, Rarity in white.

Meanwhile, up in the Brothers’ office, Flam was having a difficult time letting Hoofer Steps go. She had turned in a letter of resignation, given them her two-weeks’ notice, and now she was about to leave them. But she couldn’t leave until they had found a worthy replacement.

“I can’t find anybody,” Flam said.

“Well, then just pick someone,” Flim replied.

“No, brother of mine, we can’t ‘just pick someone’,” Flam said. “We need someone real, someone pure.”

“Someone so good, they don’t care they’re good,” said Hoofer Steps, “someone who dances for the love of dancing and nothing else.”

“Exactly,” Flam replied. “Do you know anyone like that?”

“Well, what about Spike Drake?” she asked.

“Spike?” the Brothers replied.

“He’s perfect,” she told them. “He was my best student, and he can keep dancing fresh for the next generation.”

The Brothers leaned forward in interest.

Author's Note

Next time, Spike bonds with the girls and faces off against the infamous “King Killer” in a not-so-friendly game of Poker.

It's Magic, Part Two

Spike, who had been transported backstage, ran and shoved Trixie out of the way as the 500 pound motorcycle came crashing to the floor and the masked magician disappeared in a puff of smoke.

“What was that?” Trixie asked.

“It looked like Jack Pot,” Spike said, “or his ghost.”

“You really think it was my father’s ghost?” Trixie asked.

“I don’t know,” he replied.

“Well, thank you,” she said. “You saved my... life...”

“It’s been a long time, Trixie,” he said at last.

“It can’t be! Spike!? Is that you?”

“You remember me?”

“Remember? How could I forget?”

Trixie was convinced that it was Spike, but she performed a test to be sure: she reached into his ear and pulled out an egg. Everyone gasped at the display. Then they applauded when she cracked the egg and a white dove flew out of it.

“It is you!” she cried, throwing her arms around him in a tight embrace. “It really is you! I have never been able to do that trick with anyone else!”

“Oh, Trixie, it’s so good to see you!” Spike told her.

“I can’t believe you’re really here!” she replied.

“Trixie, you know this guy?” one of the street magicians asked.

“This handsome man is my former assistant, Spike Drake!” she replied.

“Drake?” another illusionist asked. “The same kid who turned a Bentley into a Lamborghini?”

“The guy who survived walking through the spinning blades of a giant industrial turbo fan?”

“The man that caught a bullet... with his teeth?”

“None other,” Trixie replied.

“I don’t believe it!” many of them shouted.

“Trixie, hand me that bottle of wine and that spool of thread,” Spike said.

“Spike, you don’t mean...” she began.

“Mm-hmm,” he said with a nod. “We are going to convert these nonbelievers!”

Trixie handed Spike the spool of red thread and he pulled out a sewing needle that had been stuck through it. He dropped the needle into a nearby wine glass and he topped it off with a little vino. He wiped the glass on the napkin and offered the glass to Trixie.

She took the glass, drank from it, and swallowed the wine. Then, Spike picked up the spool and unraveled a length of it. He broke it off and proceeded to gather it into a small wad before handing it to Trixie. She balled it up with her fingertips and placed it into her mouth, teasing it with her tongue.

Then, with a clap and a wave of his hands, Spike got Trixie to open her jacket and expose a little flesh. The needle was embedded in her breast! A few careful tugs with her fingertips and the others watched her pull it out along with the length of thread—a trick with a high level of shock value that required a very brave assistant.

“Still not convinced?” Spike asked them.

Before they even had a chance to answer, Spike grabbed the edge of a tablecloth and pulled it out from under all of the utensils that littered the table. He pulled the tablecloth out and everything that was on top of it still stood in one piece. Spike and Trixie took position on both sides of the string quartet. Then they covered the quartet with the tablecloth and quickly removed it. Everyone could still hear the music but the quartet had vanished. Spike and Trixie lifted the tablecloth again and when they brought it back down, the quartet reappeared, still playing.

Everyone gasped and then cheered.

They had made the entire quartet disappear and reappear.

As the applause died down, Discord ran in.

“What happened?” he asked. “I heard a crash from outside.”

“Sorry,” Trixie apologized. “I’ll try to keep it down the next time someone tries to kill me!”

“She’s not lying,” one of the illusionists said. “We all saw it. It was the ghost of her old man, Jack Pot! Maybe it would be a lot safer if one of us headlined in her place. At least until this blows over.”

“Nice try, Prance,” Trixie said. “But I’m not giving up my show in Las Pegasus because of some ghost.”

“There’s not going to be a show!” Discord stated. “I’m cancelling until I find out who, or what, is responsible for this damage!”

And then he stormed out.

“Wait!” Rarity exclaimed. “Where’s Fluttershy?”

“Sis?” Zephyr Breeze called out. “Sis!”

Fluttershy had fled backstage and was hiding under one of the tables in the Green Room (a little place that served as a waiting room for performers when they weren’t onstage). When she finally decided that it was safe to come out, the scary magician that had shot fireballs in the theater appeared between her and the exit.

“Pick a card,” he said. “Every card!”

The masked magician threw several razor-sharp playing cards at her as she took cover behind one of the sofas.

“Impressive,” said a sweet, feminine voice from behind him.

The masked magician turned and saw Pinkie, Spike and Applejack standing right behind him.

“I can barely shuffle,” Pinkie added.

“Our turn to deal,” Applejack said.

She reached for her lasso, but before she could grab it, it seemed to come to life. It slithered like a snake before it wrapped around her legs, then her wrists, hogtying her, and stuffing an apple from a nearby basket of fruit into her mouth for good measure. Pinkie tried to tackle the ghost, but it pulled its arms up in front of its face, and when it did, two cables snagged Pinkie and coiled around her. The ghost of Jack Pot continued to throw more cards at Spike, and Spike ducked behind the same sofa Fluttershy was hiding behind.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

Fluttershy shook her head and buried her face into his chest, wishing that the chaos would end. And it did. The ghost of Jack Pot disappeared in an explosion of fire just as the rest of the girls entered the Green Room.

“What happened?” Twilight asked.

“The ghost brought these cables to life!” Pinkie replied as Twilight helped her get free.

Twilight took a closer look at the cables that had attacked Pinkie and noticed that they were leaking water.

“That’s odd,” she said.

“The ghost was hovering over there, by the costume rack,” Pinkie told them.

Spike and Fluttershy came out from behind the sofa and tried to free Applejack from her lasso, but Appleack was still stuck to the floor.

“The ghost’s got AJ!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“No, the floor does,” Fluttershy said. “Her belt buckle is stuck.”

“It’s like the floor is magnetized,” Twilight added. “And the cables that attacked Pinkie are hydraulic. When water is forced through them, they move. Discord said that this theater was designed for Jack Pot, remember? These elaborate illusions are probably built right in.”

“Uh, Spike...” Rarity attempted.

“What?” he asked.

Rarity was pointing and staring at Spike’s midsection. Spike looked down at himself and saw that one of the ghost’s playing cards had pierced and sank deeply into one of the buttons of his vest. Any deeper and it would have pierced the skin. Sunset helped him remove it.

“Hey guys, look what I found!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

They all turned and saw that she was holding something in her hand.

“The mask the ghost was wearing!” Sunset stated.

“Whoever was wearing it probably ditched it so they could slip out of the theater unnoticed,” Dash said.

“That, or blend in with the people inside,” Twilight added.

“Like a couple of certain magicians who want to steal the top spot from Trixie,” said Zephyr Breeze.

“You mean Prance and Teller?” Soarin asked. “Maybe, but what about Discord? He seemed to take his sweet time getting to the theater after the motorcycle hit the stage.”

“Why would he want to sabotage his own resort?” Zeph asked.

“Well, Discord doesn’t own the place,” Trixie explained. “He’s just the general manager. He was losing his shirt and he sold to a big conglomerate, who then sold it to Gladmane, who ran it before Flim and Flam.”

“So, maybe Discord wants to ruin the hotel out of spite,” Rarity suggested.

“There’s only one way to find out,” Soarin said. “Zeph and I will keep an eye on Discord.”

“Well, then you better hurry because he’ll be heading for the sauna,” Trixie told them. “He always goes there whenever something like this happens.”

“Great! We’ll check out the other illusionists,” said Sunset.

“And Spike and Trixie can have lunch and catch up with each other,” Pinkie added quickly.

The gang nodded and went their separate ways.

Twilight pulled Sunset aside and asked, “Why did you say we would check out the other magicians?”

Sunset held up the card that had penetrated the button on Spike’s vest.

“Like casino dealers, and you, a lot of magicians use personalized decks,” Sunset explained. “The patterns on the back are like fingerprints. All we have to do is match it to the magician. We find a match, we’ll have our culprit.”

Soarin and Zephyr Breeze kept their distance from Discord as they followed him to the spa. Once he was inside, he went into the steam room just like Trixie said he would. Soarin and Zephyr disrobed, wrapped towels around their waists, and followed him in.

“Who’s there?” Discord asked.

Soarin and Zeph saw that he had a towel wrapped around his head as well as the one around his waist.

“He can’t see us,” Soarin whispered. “Maybe if I disguise my voice, I can pump him for a little info.”

Hanging out with Rainbow Dash, who was capable of creating almost perfect duplications of the voices of all of her closest friends, had allowed Soarin to learn how to do impersonations of just about anyone.

He sat down, cleared his throat and said, “Thank ya! Thank ya very much!”

“Tex?” Discord asked.

“Uh... yeah,” Soarin replied.

“I tell you, Tex, Las Pegasus has changed,” Discord said. “I gotta sneak off just to take my steam bath.”

“I know what’cha mean, boss,” Soarin replied. “Viva Las Pegasus, kickin’ it ol’ school, T.C.B., takin’ care of ‘bidness’!”

“You said it, Tex!”

“Say boss, ya know anythin’ about this ghost ‘bidness’ with that magician fella?” Soarin asked.

“That’s no ghost!” Discord stated. “First of all, Jack Pot would have to be dead in order to be a ghost.”

“What?” Zephyr Breeze asked. “He’s not dead?”

“Who’s that?!”

Discord removed the towel from his face and scowled at Soarin and Zephyr.

“Get out of here!” he shouted as he chased them out of the sauna. “And your Tex impression stinks!”

Spike and Trixie had lunch in the theater with the other magicians after a cleaning crew removed the motorcycle from the stage. They were served pelee island caviar, followed by a lovely lobster tail, and for the main course, ever-so-gently seared Kobe beef medallions. Trixie couldn’t even begin to express just how happy she was to see Spike again. As she sat across from him, she thought that Spike had not aged one day from the time when he was her stage assistant. And he was still the nice guy she knew. There were so few nice guys left in the world. Spike told her that he missed her every day and he apologized that he never wrote. He also shared that he had started playing guitar and piano again (even though he hadn’t played either since he was a little kid).

Spike held up the spoon he had been using to stir his cocoa and he proceeded to bend it with his mind. Trixie watched the spoon as it bent right before her eyes.

“How did you do--?” she began.

“A little something I picked up while I was in the Orient,” he replied. “The trick is to not focus on the spoon. In fact, tell yourself ‘there is no spoon.’”

Then, still using his mind powers, he proceeded to bend it back, and it became straight as it was before.

“I have to say, I’m surprised,” Trixie said. “I never expected you to become a card dealer. Had I had known you were in Las Pegasus we could have met up sooner... Same old Spike. You haven’t changed at all, have you? No. You’ve gotten even cooler. I had no idea you were a Gate Holder.”

“How do you--?”

“The International Casino Dealers’ Guild only issued thirteen of those cards, and you already have two. You really do remind me of your mother. She alone achieved the dream that every dealer strives for: to collect every Gate and become the strongest—Double R, Role Ruler.”

“That means a lot to me. If I could be even half as good as she was...”

“You can do it!” she told him. “I know you can.”

“I really am sorry that I left,” he apologized. “I never meant to hurt you.”

“Spike, you have nothing to be sorry for,” Trixie said. “If anything, I should be the one apologizing. I never meant to drive you away... not to Jockeypan... Just answer an old friend one question.”

“Shoot,”

“What happened that made you come back?”

“A painful memory... And a promise,”

“I’d say you’re keeping that promise pretty well. And for what it’s worth, Dad would have been proud of you,”

“You too,”

“Now, I want to know all about Horseolulu,” she said, changing the subject. “I’m thinking of touring there in the future.”

“Oh, great sunsets,” he replied. “Only one a day, but they’re working on it.”

“Weather really good?” she inquired.

“Sometimes it rains, sometimes the Sun’s out,” he answered. “A little more picturesque than most, but there are some mighty pretty places.”

“How about the native people? Are they as glamorous as the travel posters make them out to be?”

“Sometimes it rains, sometimes the Sun’s out,” he repeated as he took a swig of his cocoa.

Trixie sighed. “Why can’t we be besties again, like we used to?”

“Besties? We’re not kids anymore,”

“You’re right. You’re not that little boy I used to know,” she said as she placed her hand over his. “But I’ve loved that little boy since he and I were kids. He never gave up on me... You never gave up on me... I love you, Spike. I loved you then, I love you now... and I always will love you. I always will.”

“There you are!” said a voice.

Spike whirled around and saw Fleur standing next to him.

“Playing hard to get,” she said. “I like that in a man.”

“Do you mind?” Trixie asked.

“I heard about your little act this morning,” Fleur told her. “How dare you perforate my pin cushion of love! En garde!”

Fleur grabbed a scimitar that had been laying on one of the other magicians’ tables as Trixie reached for her wand.

“Ladies, don’t fight over me!” Spike shouted.

Fleur put down the sword and Trixie pocketed her wand just as Soarin, Zephyr Breeze and the other girls entered the theater and approached them.

“Well, what did you all find out?” Spike asked them.

“We followed Discord into the sauna at the spa,” Soarin reported, “and he said that Jack Pot’s not dead.”

“What?” Spike and the girls asked.

“I don’t believe it myself,” Zephyr added.

“Well, there goes the ghost theory,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Ghost theory?” Twilight asked. “Wait until you hear what we found out. But first...”

Twilight pulled out her personal deck of cards and started shuffling. She was going to try to impress Spike by performing a trick that street magicians used to mystify their (unsuspecting) victims into believing they had freakish powers.

“Pick a card,” she said after she shuffled the deck, “any card.”

Spike, remembering the events that had transpired in the Green Room not even a few hours before (almost being stabbed by a razor-sharp card), didn’t want to. But then he decided to upstage her again, hoping she might take the hint.

“Your card is... the Three of Clubs!”

“No,”

“I mean, the Five of Spades,”

“No,”

“The Jack of Hearts?”

“No,”

“The Seven of Clubs, the Eight of Clubs, the Six of Spades, Nine of Diamonds, Ten of Diamonds, any Diamonds, is it a red card?”

“No, no, no, no, no, no, and NO!”

“I give up,” Twilight said. “What’s the card?”

“‘This deck is guaranteed by the manufacturer to be free from defects,’”

Twilight scowled Spike.

“He drew that one on purpose!” she thought.

She then tried a close-up trick that was another favorite among street magicians. She pulled out a crisp one-dollar bill. Then, she folded the bill in half, then in half again. One more fold and after grasping it in her fingertips, she began to unfold it, miraculously transformed into a fifty-dollar bill.

“You must have performed at a lot of kiddie parties,” Spike commented.

“If you think you can do better, then please, be my guest,” she told him.

Spike took Trixie’s top hat and placed it, open end up, in the center of the table. Then Spike swiped Twilight’s deck from her hands and dropped into the hat.

He looked at her and echoed, “Name a card... any card.”

“Seven of Spades,” she said.

Spike stood up from his chair and looked down at the top hat full of cards. With a wave of his left hand, the cards shot out of the hat like water from a geyser. Then, using his right hand, Spike pulled a pocketknife from his back pants pocket and stabbed a card in midair, right through the middle, and held it up to Twilight’s face. Twilight gasped. It was the Seven of Spades, just as she had requested—a classic card trick with a dangerous twist.

“I know. I’m just that good,” he said, pulling the card from his knife and sitting down again. “Now, what did you find out?” he directed at Sunset.

“We didn’t find a match to the cards that your attacker used,” she replied. “So, unless he’s using a different deck, we have no leads on his identity.”

Spike took his seat again as the next act was about to come onstage. There was still one more lead to follow—someone Trixie knew from when her father was still alive; someone who had worked with Jack when Trixie was a child.

“There she is!” Trixie whispered. “Dad’s former assistant, Obscurity.”

Obscurity was a platinum blonde with blue eyes, red lips, and dressed in a black leather corset, matching bottoms, and black nylons.

“Please welcome the comedy-slash-magic style of Flipside,” she announced.

Wearing a yellow suit jacket, polka-dot pants with a matching bowtie, big red shoes, and with thinning orange hair, Flipside looked more like an ex-circus clown than a magician. And when he spoke, he sounded like the duck from all those insurance commercials mixed with the most annoying parrot on the planet.

“Thank you, ladies and gentlemen!” he said rather loudly. “I’ll have you know, I learned everything I know about magic from my ex-wife. She made my bank account, my car, and my house, disappear! Now, I’ll need a volunteer...”

He selected a girl from the audience, and she looked like she knew what was expected of her. The illusion he was about to perform was one of the classics of magic. It was a trick they had all seen before and one that dated back over one hundred years: The Multi-Cube Box.

First, Flipside walked around the curiously constructed cabinet. Then, he opened the four doors on the front of it to show the audience that there was no place to hide inside. As he opened the doors, the audience could see that cabinet was actually made of four separate boxes that had just been stacked on top of one another. And each one was a different color: blue on the bottom, green and orange in the middle, and red on top. Now, as we all know, magicians are known to put their assistants in danger for the sake of entertainment. And Flipside was no exception. As soon as his volunteer stepped into the box, he closed and locked the doors behind her.

“She’s pretty well put together,” he told the audience, “but that doesn’t mean I won’t tamper with perfection.”

Flipside opened the top panel to show that the girl was still inside. She was, and she did not look happy. In fact, she looked like she knew what was coming. He closed the door in front of her face, relocked it and opened the door just below, which showed the audience her bust. He closed it and opened the third one, showing her hips; and finally the bottom, her feet. Flipside called for Obscurity and she handed him three solid surgical stainless steel blades designed to separate each section of the box.

Then, he began to insert the blades into the box... and the girl inside. He inserted the first blade into the cabinet at neck-height, separating the girl’s head from the rest of her body. Then he slid the second blade through her torso (with a bit of a struggle) and the third blade just below her knees.

Once the blades were in position, Flipside slid the two middle sections of the box to opposite sides, away from the top and bottom portions, dividing up her assets (as if the girl in the box hadn’t had enough abuse). Then he pushed the two center sections back into place. Even with her chest and hips back where they belonged, the girl was still divided by the steel blades. Then, Flipside proceeded to take the whole box apart, one piece at a time.

He lifted the top box (the red one), removing the girls’ head and shoulders, once again dividing her into four separate (but equal) sections. He placed it on the floor until he decided what he was going to do with it. Then he followed suit with the other three sections.

“Now, I will attempt to reassemble my volunteer,” he said. “Unfortunately, I seem to have forgotten which box goes where. Oh, well! I’ll give it a try, anyway!”

He started by placing the blue box on the bottom. Then he placed the red box on top of the blue box, the green box on top of the red box, and the orange box on top of the green box.

“Now, let’s see if she’s still inside,” Flipside said. “And what condition her condition is in.”

He opened the bottom box. There were her feet; where they should be. He opened the one second from the top (her chest), so far so good; then the top box.

“Uh-oh,” Flipside said. “What are her thighs doing up there?” he asked. “And what is her head doing down below?” he added, opening the final panel.

He had deliberately put them back in the wrong order.

“Time for another try,” he said casually.

He closed the doors and took the box apart again. This time, he put the green box on bottom. Then the orange box on top of that, the blue one after that, and the red box on top of the blue one.

He opened the doors and his volunteer was in even worse shape than before. But she was still breathing (as impossible as that seemed).

“Seriously, I just got this trick,” Flipside told the audience. “Like, help me out here!” he gritted through his teeth at Obscurity.

“He’s not the only one who needs help,” Spike whispered to Trixie.

Learning from her boss’s mistakes, Obscurity began to reassemble the box: blue on the bottom, green, orange, and red on top. One by one, she removed the blades—first the one at the top, then the middle, and the bottom.

“I hope she’s got it right,” Zephyr Breeze said. “It’d be a shame to mess up a perfectly good body like that.”

Obscurity unlocked the doors and the girl stepped out, still alive, her body in one magnificent piece. For someone who had seemingly gone to pieces, she appeared unharmed, but she was clearly not thrilled.

Obscurity’s dressing room was furnished with two sofas, a glass top coffee table, and a bed against the back wall big enough for four. A long countertop stretched along the wall to the right, with a mirror hanging above it, and directly across from it was a long closet, with several partitions dividing it. There were three stools spread out, evenly spaced, in front of the counter, and a door, just beyond the bed, in the back that most likely led to the bathroom.

After the show, Spike, Soarin, Zephyr, Trixie and the girls went backstage to find her. Trixie knocked on the door, and Obscurity told them to enter. Once inside, Pinkie told her how impressed she was by the show.

“Wondering how it was done?” Obscurity asked.

“Mirrors and cleverly disguised mannequin parts,” Spike spoiled it. “As soon the trick began, and we saw the girl from the audience step into the cabinet before Flipside locked the doors behind her, she was simply getting comfortable. When he slid the center sections of the box to opposite sides, we were not looking through the cabinet, we were looking at mirrors. I’m going to guess you had screens set up to the right and left sides of the box that were identical to the wall behind it. The mirrors created an image that filled in the center sections so that what we saw an exact duplicate of what we thought was behind it. So from the front, it appeared that we were looking through the box to the back wall. And when it appeared that her chest and hips were being dragged off to the side, they were actually staying in place, right behind the mirror. And the ‘solid steel’ blades are really flexible sheet metal. When Flipside inserted the blades, the girl inside simply bent them down, away from her body with her hands and legs. And the cabinet had secret compartments hidden inside that gave her access to the whole box. That’s how the middle portions of her body appeared to move to opposite sides.”

Obscurity was speechless.

“After the boxes were slid back into place, your ‘volunteer’ concealed herself by simply curling up inside the bottom box, just before the top section was taken down,” Spike went on. “One by one, the levels were removed. And the reason the boxes were all a different color was to help Flipside correctly reassemble them, which would help if he wasn’t colorblind! He also turned the boxes around while reassembling them so that the mannequin parts were in front while the volunteer hid in the back. The first door that reopened, those were the mannequin legs, as were the torso and thighs. The only reason her head popped into the box second from the bottom was so that she could give Flipside that confused look.”

“But there were blades between the boxes,” Rarity interjected. “How did her head manage to appear in the box second to the bottom?”

Rainbow Dash thought for a moment, and then came up with the answer.

“Secret panel in the bottom blade,” she said. “It easily folded out of the way so that she could reveal her head above the bottom box. As soon as the doors closed again, she closed the panel and hid again. With the red box in place, the illusion was made believable and we were convinced that her head had been inside the whole time.”

Spike nodded. He knew that there was a secret compartment at the bottom of the box. And below it was a trapdoor containing two mannequin feet identical to the volunteer’s.

“You put the boxes back into their original positions, seemingly ‘reassembling’ her,” Applejack added. “But before opening the door, you gave her enough time to stand back up, completing the trick that she had been divided up and put back together.”

“And the girl from the audience was a shill,” Spike concluded, “all to make the illusion seem convincing. And it was... for a brief moment. But maybe next time, you might think about picking someone who can at least look excited while they’re being cut into fourths.”

“Who are you?” Obscurity asked, almost indignantly.

“Spike Drake, the Defier of Death, stage assistant to the late, Great Jack Pot and his daughter, the Great and Powerful Trixie!” Spike boasted. “I’m sure you’ve at least heard of, if not seen, some of my better-known stunts: walking through solid steel and concrete walls, turning a Bentley into a Lamborghini, surviving underwater without drowning, making gorgeous women materialize, levitate, disappear and reappear in the blink of an eye, and survive being sliced, diced and taken for a ride.”

Obscurity didn’t believe him, and Spike didn’t care if she did. But he was still going to prove he was who he claimed to be, if nothing else, to get back in her good graces. After all, they still needed her help if they were going to find out the truth about what happened to Jack Pot.

He was going to attempt to impress Obscurity with a very dangerous game of Russian roulette. But instead of a loaded gun, Spike was going to use the blade of his deadly sharp pocketknife. Spike knew the facts he was presenting to Obscurity weren’t going to be enough to convince her, but he knew it would be enough to start. The girls could all see just how perilous the trick was that Spike was about to perform. And he hadn’t even gotten to the threatening part yet.

Even though Spike was a trained professional in the use of knives, there was still a serious risk of disastrous results.

He placed the blade of the knife point up in a circular base on the coffee table. He asked Trixie to place ordinary Styrofoam cups over the base with the blade in it as well as three more identical bases, to hide them from view. Then he asked her to mix up the cups, like in a shell game, so that the knife would be impossible to detect. Spike even turned his back to Trixie, to prove that he wasn’t cheating. She lined them up, and then mixed them. Once Trixie was sure that she had them good and mixed, she turned Spike around.

He was going to find the knife, eliminating cups one at a time, by crushing them with his bare hand. He crushed one cup, and the knife wasn’t there. He crushed the second cup, and the knife wasn’t under that one either. He was down to two cups, a 50/50 chance. Fluttershy and Rarity couldn’t bear to watch while the rest of the girls couldn’t look away. One, two, three...

Spike had managed to keep his hand intact.

“How did you--?” Obscurity asked.

“How did I find the razor-sharp blade without impaling my open palm on it?” Spike asked. “Look at the base holding the blade.”

She did. Then she looked at the other three. All of them were identical. Except she noticed something stuck to the bottom of the base with the blade.

“What is that?” she asked.

“Fishing line,” Spike told her. “That’s how I could tell it apart from the others, even after the cup covered it.”

Even when Obscurity knew it was there, the line was very difficult to see. Spike had added a dramatic pause to heighten the tension, but he knew where the knife was.

“Now you know the secret,” Spike said. “And you can use it in your next show if you want, if you tell us about Jack Pot.”

“I don’t know what you expect me to tell you that I’m sure you already know,” she replied.

Spike told her about Trixie’s performance earlier that day and the appearance of her father’s “ghost”. Then Spike put forth a theory that he had recently thought of.

“Faked his death?” Obscurity asked. “No. Jack couldn’t walk away from the spotlight. He loved magic too much. He wouldn’t have left me to scrape out this excuse for a living with a hack like Flipside.”

“Hey! I resemble that remark!” Flipside shouted as he passed by the open door to the room. “And what is this? Oh, more kooks who think that Jack Pot is still alive? Well...”

He blew a big raspberry at them and stormed off.

“Oh, don’t pay any attention to him. He’s just jealous,” Obscurity told them. “Once gentlemen like Jack Pot came onto the scene, guys like Flipside went out of fashion pretty quickly. Look, Jack isn’t coming back. Here, if you don’t believe me, this ought to convince you. It’s the footage from his last stunt.”

Applejack’s office, the Eye in the Sky room, had forty monitors piled on top of one another in rows five across, and they showed almost every inch of the resort. Everything that happened in the casino and the hotel was taped and beamed to this command post. Spike and the girls went there to watch the tape that Obscurity had given them. It was a recording of what was originally an exclusive, live nationwide news report.

“From making everything from groups of chorus girls to national landmarks disappear to being encased in a giant block of ice for a week, Jack Pot has made magic crazy-fresh for a new generation,”

It is without a doubt that Harry Hoofdini was the greatest escape artist who ever lived. In fact, one of his many titles was “the Handcuff King.” Since then, thousands of magicians have repeated his death-defying escapes. This was one such trick. First, Jack was put into a straightjacket. A real straightjacket (just like the ones found at any “good” asylum/mental hospital), virtually impossible for almost anyone to get out of without some kind of help. The straps were securely fastened and then Jack was bound to a large spinning wheel. First his feet were shackled, then his waist, and finally his neck.

“Now, strapped to this giant Roulette wheel by his lovely assistant Obscurity, he’ll attempt a daring escape from inside this historic Las Pegasus hotel as it’s demolished by a ten-ton wrecking ball and two tons of dynamite!”

Obscurity spun the wheel, sending Jack Pot into a spin, and she and the reporter and her cameraman fled the building just as the crane with the wrecking ball started up. The wrecking ball knocked a hole into the side of the hotel as the Roulette wheel stopped spinning. The wrecking ball was already demolishing the building and it was rigged with explosives. Jack had less than a minute to get out. After the wrecking ball had done its job, the timers on the explosives were activated. The tension was mounting. Jack had only a few seconds left to escape. As Jack struggled with the straightjacket, the building began to crumble.

Then it collapsed in a cloud of smoke.

“Jack Pot is still inside!” the reporter screamed. “This is horrible! Stop the camera! Stop the camera!”

Soarin, Zephyr, and the girls stared in complete silence as Spike looked at Trixie, half expecting her to throw herself into his arms and cry into his chest.

“I hate to say it, but Obscurity was right,” Soarin said at last. “There’s no way Jack could have gotten out of there.”

After witnessing that, almost everyone was convinced. But not Spike.

“Applejack, rewind to the beginning,” he said.

She rewound the tape, and then played it to the point when the building began to come down.

“Now pause!” he said.

She stopped the tape and a little white line appeared at the top of the pile of rubble in the video.

“What’s that?” Pinkie asked.

“It’s a line around computer-generated effects,” Spike explained. “Sometimes you see it in music videos.”

“What are you saying? That’s not real concrete falling down on Jack?” Rarity asked.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Spike stated.

“Well, if it is layered over the original image, I should be able to strip it away,” Applejack said.

She typed a few commands into the computer and the concrete disappeared.

It was a digital image!

Once the concrete was removed, Spike studied Jack’s movements in the video more intently. The first thing he noticed was that while Jack was being buckled into the straightjacket he kept his arms stiff and away from his body, giving him enough slack to eventually escape. But Spike knew that, even using that technique, getting out of the straightjacket would not be easy. That part of the trick required lots and lots of practice.

And practice was something that Jack Pot had a lot of.

Once the Roulette wheel stopped, Jack made use of that extra slack. He not only escaped the straightjacket and his shackles, but he went down through a trapdoor in the floor. Then the video cut out.

“This must have been prerecorded before the building actually came down,” Spike said, “and then spliced into the broadcast to make it look like it was happening live.”

“So what do we do now?” Fluttershy asked.

“We have to find Jack Pot,” Spike told them.

It was a long shot, but Spike decided to follow one last hunch: a dark and spooky tunnel beneath the theater’s stage that led to Jack Pot’s old storage room.

It was a large chamber filled with a collection of old magic stuff: saw horses, suits of armor, a bed of spikes, an old player piano, solid steel rods, massive chains, a guillotine, an old milk can, a giant Chinese lantern, a cannon, two thrones, a pair of oak wine barrels, Hoofdini’s old steamer trunk, disappearing cabinets, the Box of Pain, “The Assistant’s Revenge” restraining rack, and other medieval torture devices as well as wooden stockades and iron cages. And on a nearby table were an ornate candelabrum, an antique lamp, a tambourine, and heavy leather straps with chrome buckles.

“Kinky,” Spike thought.

Twilight saw an egg-shaped apparatus made of forged bands of iron and secured by hardened steel pins. Looking at it, she couldn’t help but think that there was barely enough room to make the tight squeeze.

She reached out to touch it when a deep, sophisticated voice said, “See with your eyes, not your hands. Those antiques are priceless.”

The gang looked into a dark corner of the room and a tall, thin man with light gray hair, moderate violet eyes, and dressed in a purple suit and a yellow cloak emerged from the shadows with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

“Agh! It’s the ghost of Jack Pot!” Fluttershy screamed.

She dove, head first, into the open steamer trunk and the lid slammed shut on top of her. The man removed his cloak, held it in front of his body, and slowly raised it up. He lowered it to show that he was still there. Then he raised his cloak again, and when he lowered it, he was not alone. Right beside him, was Fluttershy. He had teleported her from Hoofdini’s trunk.

“It is Jack Pot!” Spike shouted.

“Father!” Trixie cried.

She catapulted into his arms and they shared a warm embrace.

“I thought you were dead,” she said.

“I’m sorry I disappeared on you like that,” he apologized as he released her. “But I’ve been watching you perform. I’m so proud of you.”

“You mean you’re not trying to keep her from performing in your theater?” Rarity asked.

“My theater?” Jack replied. “Oh, you mean that celebrity funhouse upstairs? No, I’m not all about all that. That’s why I left; to get back to street magic. I’ve got some amazing new tricks in the works.”

As Jack spoke, he reached into a nearby trashcan and pulled out a crumpled soda can. With a wave of his hand and a shake of the can (to prove that it was empty), the dents began to disappear. Another gesture and Jack pulled the tab and broke the hermetic seal. And then he poured himself a drink. The gang could have sworn that the can was empty and discarded. But it wasn’t.

Jack had grabbed what appeared to be a discarded soda can. But upon closer inspection, Spike could see how it was secretly prepared. A tiny puncture near the top of the can released just enough soda to create an air pocket inside of the can. And before all of the liquid escaped, the hole had been sealed with a tiny piece of waterproof tape.

As for the pop top of the can, it had been covered by a small circle of black paper. From a distance, the paper created the illusion that they were looking into an old, empty can when in reality the top was still factory sealed. As for the dents, they had been bent in, creating the impression that it had been crushed and discarded into a pile of garbage.

When Jack shook the can, the movement caused the gas bubbles inside to build up pressure. As the pressure increased, the air inside the can expanded and caused the dents to pop back out. Then Jack discreetly removed the piece of black paper, revealing the untouched seal. Finally, he flipped up the tab, broke the seal, and poured out the remaining soda.

It was a common trick among street magicians, using a seemingly ordinary, everyday object and the power of science.

“Well, if you’re the real Jack Pot, then who’s that?” Rainbow Dash asked as she pointed to the ceiling... and at the ghost that was masquerading as Jack.

The ghost threw a fireball at them as they ran out of the chamber. The ghost flew after them, but Jack snapped his fingers and a whole flock of doves flew from his hands. The gang pursued the ghost as it flew back down the tunnel and through the door that led back to the resort. Then it started chasing them again. It chased Pinkie, Fluttershy, Soarin, Zephyr Breeze and Rainbow Dash through the restaurants’ buffet lines, it chased Jack, Rarity, Starlight and Twilight through the casino, between the rows of slot machines; and then it chased Spike, Trixie, Sunset and Applejack into the “Big Dive” skydiving simulator.

The crew eventually escaped Jack Pot’s “ghost” and returned to the theater to find Flipside performing again. This time, they watched his show from backstage, out of sight.

“Obscurity’s working for Flipside?” Jack asked. “That jerk was after my secrets for years.”

“With Obscurity by his side, he may finally have them,” Trixie said.

“But he sure doesn’t seem to use them,” Sunset added.

“Unless he’s saving them for a surprise performance,” Applejack put in.

As Spike watched Obscurity and Flipside, he suddenly had an epiphany.

“Oh my Faust... That’s it!” he said. “I am such an idiot!”

“What?” Trixie asked.

“I can’t believe I didn’t see it before!” Spike tried to contain his voice. “How could I have been so stupid?!”

“What?” they all asked.

“Did any of you know that Jack Pot is right-handed?” Spike asked them. “When all the other magicians did their tricks, they all used their right hands,” he recalled. “But the masked magician that attacked us, the one pretending to be Jack’s ghost, threw cards and fireballs with his left hand. That can only mean one thing: the ghost couldn’t have been any of these guys because none of them are left-handed. There’s no way you can trick someone with such a stupid cheat. Still, that’s not enough to explain how the ghost was able to recreate several of Jack’s tricks. We need to draw the imposter out into the open. And I know exactly how we’re going to do it! You up for it, Jack?”

“A chance to save Obscurity from Flipside? Definitely count me in!”

Later that day, Spike asked Flim and Flam to make a public announcement on the resort’s personal TV channel.

“Jack Pot, the magician the world watched perish three years ago will return tonight, seemingly from the dead. Is this for real? We don’t know. But we do know, we reported it first,”

That evening, Spike changed into his old black magician’s suit from his days working with Jack and Trixie. He was surprised that they had kept it all these years. He was even more surprised that it still fit! Several of the other girls were getting dressed too, to help with the act. Sunset, in particular, wore a costume that was little more than a black leather bikini with fishnet stockings and knee-high, patent leather boots. Looking at her, Spike see could almost everything!

“Can I be your assistant?” Pinkie asked.

“I’m sorry,” he politely refused. “But I’ve got something bigger in mind for you. Right now, I need you,” he told Sunset.

“How do I look?” Trixie asked Spike.

“With that outfit and those heels, the other girls don’t stand a chance,” he said quietly. “Applejack, you ready?”

“I’m not coming out!” she replied.

Sunset reached behind the changing panel and pulled Applejack out by the wrist. She was wearing the same outfit as Sunset, but with a black cowboy hat and cowboy boots.

Spike took her hand in his and said, “Just follow my lead and you’ll be fine.”

Jack Pot took his position behind the curtain as Soarin introduced him.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome back the master of magic, the ambassador of illusions, the grandmaster of hypnotism, the king of the impossible, the one, the only Jack Pot!”

The curtain went up, and Jack was met with a booing audience.

“I don’t blame you for doubting it’s me,” he told them. “But I intend to prove it the only way I know how: by astounding you... Using an empty wine glass, a simple deck of cards and my bare hands! But first, I shall require the assistance of at least one lovely young lady.”

The women in the audience started crawling over each other, trying to get onstage. Jack chose Fleur, and no, she was not in on the trick. Jack rifled through the deck to show her that the cards were of the standard playing variety. He fanned out the cards and asked Fleur to pick two at random and show them to the audience. Once she had selected them, he turned his back and covered his eyes with one of his hands. Fleur showed the audience her cards: the Ten of Spades and the Ten of Diamonds. Jack asked her to place her cards back into the deck anywhere she’d like. Fleur complied and Jack shuffled the deck to be sure that her chosen cards would not be easy to find. Then he dropped the deck into a clear glass wine goblet. A few magical gestures with his fingers, a jiggle of the glass, and the Ten of Spades began to rise, then the Ten of Diamonds, and the audience applauded as Fleur returned to her seat.

“Next, I will make the first of my assistants appear, seemingly from nowhere,” Jack said.

He walked around a large open-sided cabinet on top of a large, wide pedestal that had been set up onstage. Nothing above, behind or below it, and it was empty. Then, to further prove that it was empty, Jack walked up the steps and onto the platform. After stepping down, Jack grabbed a cord that was hanging from the top of the cabinet. He pulled the shades down, one after another.

And when he raised the shades, Spike appeared, standing inside the cabinet.

Spike stepped down as Jack untied his cloak and held it out to Spike, who took a corner and they raised it in front of the pedestal. They lowered the cloak and there was Trixie, standing on top of the platform. Jack helped his daughter down from the pedestal and asked her to help Spike raise the cloak again.

A few magical gestures from Jack and Spike and Trixie lowered the cloak. When they did, Applejack appeared standing on the pedestal. She stepped down and the cloak went up a third time. A few more gestures from Jack and when the cloak was lowered again Sunset appeared alongside them. Jack had conjured up a parade of beautiful women from out of the blue; a giant version of a classic trick.

Then Jack allowed Spike and Trixie to take over. Spike was going to make Trixie disappear while she was in midair. First, Spike cast a spell over Trixie (or so it appeared). Then, he removed his cloak while she took a seat on the bench behind him. She laid herself across the length of the bench and Spike covered her with his cloak. Then, she began to rise, floating off of the bench. Trixie floated higher and higher into the air. Then she stopped. Below, Spike waved his arm under her to prove that there was nothing supporting her. Then, he reached up, grabbed the cloak, pulled it down, and Trixie was gone.

Spike had done it! He had successfully levitated Trixie and made her vanish while she was in midair! The audience cheered!

“For my next trick, I’ll turn two of my assistants into tigers!” Jack declared.

Sunset and Applejack stepped into a large cage that had been set up and Jack locked the door behind them. Then, he and Spike covered the cage with Jack’s black cloak. Then, Jack began to levitate the cage into the air, making it impossible for anything (or anyone) to get in or out. The curtain fell and two white tigers appeared in the cage... but Sunset and Applejack were nowhere to be seen. The cage levitated back down and Spike let the tigers out of the cage, and he walked them to Fluttershy backstage.

“And now for our grand finale...” Jack Pot said.

Using Jack’s cape once more, he and Spike folded it out, over and over and over, until it was over two stories tall. Spike waved his hands and motioned to Trixie (who had been up in the rafters since her disappearance) to drop the now enormous cloak, revealing a full grown female giraffe.

The crowd roared, demanding an encore, as the giraffe was escorted backstage. That’s when the ghost appeared in an explosion of smoke and fire.

“Impostor!” it shouted.

From up in the sound booth, Zephyr Breeze shined the spotlight right into the ghost’s face, temporarily blinding it.

“And for our next trick,” said Spike, “we’re taking you down!”

“Well, enjoy mine first,” the masked magician replied, “because it’ll be the last you ever see! Or, should I say, never see?”

Spike briefly recalled a fight he’d had with another street magician. Their fighting styles were relatively similar: very little, if any, hand-to-hand combat, with heavy reliance on their tricks. Illusion and misdirection were their weapons of choice, and so Spike had to counter them with his own magic... and tricking himself into seeing more than just what was in front of his eyes.

“I’m gonna make you disappear!” the imposter said. “Permanently!”

The ghost started to float when Pinkie, who was backstage with Fluttershy, saw a big metal switch on the wall marked “Caution: Magnetic Polarity” in big red letters. She flipped the lever down and the ghost of Jack Pot quickly descended.

“Ha! The ghost is grounded!” Rainbow Dash proclaimed.

“Thanks to magnets in its shoes,” Twilight told them. “The same magnets it used to levitate.”

Spike looked up to the rafters when he heard Trixie scream. She lost her balance and fell over the side. He held out his arms and he caught her bridal style.

“I knew you’d fall for me,” he smiled, “sooner or later.”

He set her down as a squad of Las Pegasus police officers stormed the theater with Discord leading the pack.

“Ah, Discord,” Spike said. “You’re just in time to meet the real culprit. I think it’s time we pulled the curtain down on this fraud!”

Spike pulled off the magician’s mask to reveal... Obscurity!

“Jack’s former assistant?” Soarin asked.

“So that’s how the ghost knew all of Jack’s tricks!” Sunset said.

“All the other magicians seemed like obvious suspects, but without their assistants, some of them, like Flipside, couldn’t perform even the simplest tricks,” Spike explained. “The biggest clue was the ghost’s body language: having mastered Jack’s walk and movements, it passed itself off as an almost perfect double... except for one major detail: Jack’s not left-handed. That meant the ghost had to have been someone who was close to Jack: hence, Obscurity.”

“But why?” Jack asked her.

“Because after you ‘disappeared’, I was supposed to step into the spotlight!” Obscurity replied. “I knew all your tricks! I would have made millions! But Discord wouldn’t hear it!”

Spike and Trixie scowled at her. In the world of magic, stealing tricks was the most unforgivable crime.

“So you wanted to ruin Discord,” Fluttershy said.

“That’s right!” Obscurity replied as the officers cuffed her. “And I would have succeeded if it hadn’t been for you!”

“Well, you’ll have plenty of time to develop a new act where you’re going,” Spike told her. “Just so long as you don’t try any escape tricks!”

Realizing the theater was still packed, Jack, Spike, Trixie and the gang all turned to face the audience.

Spike shouted, “Thank you, Las Pegasus! You’ve been a wonderful audience! Good night!”

The crowd applauded one more time as the curtain fell and Discord pulled everyone aside.

“I want to personally thank you all for everything you’ve done,” he said. “Especially you, Spike, for luring Jack out of retirement. He’s agreed to perform at the resort a few times a year.”

“On my terms,” Jack reminded him.

Later that night, in the ballroom, Spike impressed Trixie with another of his personal favorite tricks—a trick that had been amazing kids at birthday parties for years. He picked up a small metal pan (that was solid on the bottom and all the way around). Then, with a single match, he lit a small fire inside the pan and quickly covered it with a metal lid, smothering the blaze. He removed the lid to reveal a fully cooked lobster dinner for two.

Dinner was served.

It was a trick that Trixie herself had performed dozens of times before. She would smother the fire, remove the lid, and reveal something totally different. Usually a dove, some flowers, or a small rabbit would be inside, but this was the first time she’d seen a full course meal. Either way, the secret was still the same.

Pinkie served them and systematically removed the dirty dishes as they ate. She returned to the kitchen and Trixie asked Spike something that had been troubling her for years. He thought it was about the fire in the pan.

“I know about the chemically treated flash paper,” she said. “I taught you that trick. I’m talking about the water chamber. I saw you plunge into that tank. How did you survive?”

“Well, it was much easier than I made it appear,” Spike said. “First off, the handcuffs weren’t solid as you were led to believe. They were specially rigged to pop open in an instant. Cuffs like that are almost always used in underwater escapes, to minimize the risk of danger. They only add more drama to the act. Then, when your dad lowered me into the tank, I displaced some of the water with my body. In order for anything to float, it has to weigh less than the water it displaces. That, in turn, left me with more space to move freely. But I was suspended upside down, so I did have to hold my breath while I was underwater. It was a tight squeeze, but I had just enough room to turn myself right-side up. Since hundreds of magicians and assistants have lost their lives performing water escapes, a breathing tube was concealed in the top of the tank, just in case something were to go wrong. You know as well as I do that whenever a magician attempts to pull off a death-defying trick, safety features are always built into the design. That tube and a hidden air hole were added protection in the event of an emergency. Once I was upright in the tank, I could reach up and take a breath if I needed to. But I didn’t. Also, the padlocks were real, and they were never opened until you unlocked them... because they didn’t have to be. The top of the case was loose and unsecured. All I had to do was climb out.”

Trixie stared at Spike in amazement.

“I could have escaped anytime I wanted to, but regulating my metabolism by fasting and living in an oxygen-rich environment for the last 24 hours had prepared me for that stunt. My heart was still beating even before you checked my pulse,”

Trixie gave Spike a relieved smile and they finished their meal.

Meanwhile, when Pinkie was in the kitchen washing the back of the empty metal pan, she noticed a second pan hidden inside. It was slightly smaller and it fit snugly into the original pan. Until it was needed, the second pan was secretly held in the lid by special metal spring clamps. The pan snapped into the lid and was held by the springs until it made contact with the outer pan, thus releasing the springs and the secret inner pan dropped into place.

“So, that’s how he did it,” she thought. “Well played, Spike. Well played.”

Spike sat in the hot tub at the base of the rumbling waterfall at 10:00 o’clock that night. He had completed his greatest performance to date and pampered Trixie with a gourmet dinner. It had been a long day and he was looking forward to a relaxing soak. Suddenly, smoke (not steam) started to form around the hot tub. Then he heard “Magic Man” playing from somewhere overhead. The smoke cleared and Trixie appeared, beautiful as ever—another classic appearance done with smoke, but definitely no mirrors. She took a moment to show off her dark blue one-piece, which was suitable for the pool, beach or even perilous illusion, and clearly designed for sex appeal... It didn’t get much sexier than that. Trixie glanced over her shoulder at Spike and smiled at him. She was always eager to please. Spike hoped that Trixie realized that she was about to get wet, and, for her sake, the fabric would not shrink. She walked down the steps and into the hot tub.

“Go ahead, honey,” Spike thought, “take a dip.”

A small gasp escaped Trixie’s lips as her toes made contact with the bubbling water. She gave herself a moment to get used to the heat before lowering herself further into the tub until she was completely submerged. She came back up and wiped the water from her eyes before they embraced. Now that she was soaking wet, she was ready to take Spike on. She inhaled deeply, then exhaled as she prepared for what she was about to do. She was ready to go the distance.

She felt her nipples harden as she put her hands on Spike’s chest. As they kissed, Spike placed his hands on Trixie’s rear and gave her a nice squeeze, earning another gentle gasp from her as he rubbed. Trixie pressed her breasts against Spike’s chest as they deepened the kiss. Their kissing grew more intense as Spike scooped her into his arms and gently swept her through the water. With the water slowly churning around them from the waterfall, Spike slipped a hand onto her shoulder and pulled down one of her swimsuit straps.

Trixie pushed him away with a playful smile. She swam backwards until she was several feet away, and then pulled down the other strap. With only her head and shoulders above the water, she tossed her swimsuit onto the ledge of the hot tub, and then stood with her arms outstretched. Spike tossed his own swimsuit away and Trixie swam back to him. They pressed their naked bodies together and kissed passionately once more, drifting toward the waterfall so that its cascading currents splashed onto their interlocked bodies. Spike went red when Trixie spun around and gently started rubbing her rear against his shaft until she felt him stiffen. Trixie rubbed against him one more time and smiled again as she felt Spike twitch. Spike felt his pleasure as Trixie turned around again, wrapped her arms around his neck, and they shared another hot kiss.

Then, Trixie stood up and walked to the shallow end of the hot tub. She bent over, pressed her breasts against the tub’s wall, lifted her rear out of the water, and opened her legs as far as she could. The sight of her from behind was so hot that Spike struggled not to cum. He positioned himself behind Trixie and entered her slowly. Her warm walls hugged him tightly. He couldn’t wait to be all the way inside! As Spike kept going further and further, Trixie let out little whimpers. When Trixie felt him stop, she could tell that he was afraid to hurt her. Then he slammed into her, his hands on her hips, pulling her back to meet him with each thrust. Trixie moaned, her head thrown back as Spike worked his magic. She came hard and fast and Spike howled as he felt the bliss overtake him, and she milked him for all his worth.

“The perfect way to end a day,” they both thought.

Trixie snuggled against Spike, her head on his shoulder. She was almost purring when she smiled up at him. It was her first genuinely happy smile since she pulled that egg out of his ear.

“I feel great,” she said. “And beating Obscurity was actually a lot of fun.”

Spike nodded as he looked up at the stars.

“The sky is so beautiful,” she added as she wrapped her arms around him. “I’ve been alone for a long time. I’m so glad you’re back, Spike.”

Spike smiled and said, “Me too.”

Ogres & Oubliettes: Dark Alliance, Act I

Spike didn’t show up for his shift the following morning and he wasn’t seen for the rest of the day. When the girls had dinner in the Café, they overheard Celestia tell Discord that she had just come from Spike’s suite. She said that Spike had been shaken by a dream so bad that he wanted to be left alone. The next morning, the girls gathered in the kitchen and prepared breakfast for Spike: Applejack scrambled eggs while Sunset fried bacon and sausage. Fluttershy buttered toast as Rainbow Dash fried hash browns, Rarity and Starlight put a bowl of fruit together, and Pinkie Pie helped Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo make chocolate chip pancakes. After they were done, they tried to decide who was going to give it all to Spike.

“Draw straws?” Rainbow Dash suggested.

Before anyone could say anything else, Pinkie reached into her hair and pulled out a dozen plastic bendy straws, one for each of them.

“Okay, there’s one straw with a red stripe,” Pinkie said. “Whoever picks it gets to give Spike his breakfast. Sound fair?”

They all thought about it for a moment, and then nodded in agreement. Applejack drew first, followed by Sunset, then by Fluttershy, then Rainbow Dash, then Rarity, then Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and finally Starlight. After seeing all the dismal looks on her friends’ faces, Pinkie smiled smugly.

“Well, what do you know,” she said. “I’ve got it.”

But to her surprise, she didn’t.

“Huh? All right! Who’s got it?!” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Guess!” Sunset smiled as she grabbed the tray of food and ran out of the kitchen. “Thank you very much!”

She had drawn the lucky straw.

“I wonder how Sunset always wins when we play that game,” Pinkie said.

After Sunset made her way up to Spike’s suite, she knocked on the bedroom door and was startled to hear Spike mumbling in his sleep. When she entered, she saw him buried under his covers. She finally caught a glimpse of his face – and was shocked to see that he was in tears.

She placed the tray of food on his nightstand and stood by his bed. With her right hand holding the geode of her necklace, she placed her left hand on Spike’s forehead and saw his dream. He was all alone in a thunderstorm.

“Mom? Mom! Mom, where are you? Don’t leave me! Come back, please!”

Sunset removed her hand as Spike tossed and turned, and even kicked in his sleep. Then he started screaming.

“Spike, wake up!” Sunset cried. “Please, Spike, wake up!”

Spike’s eyes opened and he instinctively threw his arms around her.

“There, there,” Sunset said soothingly. “Shh... It was only a nightmare. It’s all right. You’re safe now. I promise.”

She cuddled him until he stopped screaming. His breakfast remained on the nightstand when she left his suite. She rode the elevator back down to the lobby and returned to the kitchen, where the girls were still waiting.

“Well?” Rarity asked.

Sunset didn’t answer her.

“Is he coming out of his room?” Dash asked.

“How is he feeling?” asked Fluttershy.

“Did he at least say anything to you?” Starlight inquired.

“He doesn’t want to see any of us right now,” Sunset finally replied.

“Did you give him his milk?” Applejack asked.

“I tried, but he wouldn’t drink,”

“What about the chocolate chip pancakes that we made?” Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo asked.

“He didn’t eat those, either,”

“Did he even touch his food?” Pinkie demanded.

“No, he didn’t,”

“Sunset, what is Spike doing up there if he’s not eating?” Applejack asked.

“He’s not doing anything,” she said. “He’s just laying there... crying.”

After Sunset left his room, Spike continued to lay in bed, surrounded by his treasures: photographs of his mother and father, a porcelain figurine of a dragon, and the crystal Fabergé egg that held his Gate cards.

Ever since Spike was old enough to remember, he had been born into a world that wasn’t always kind. And even though his mother’s death caused him great pain, he never let it interfere in his daily life... until now. He had tried to tell himself that he could cry all he wanted, but all the tears in the world wouldn’t bring her back. Spike longed to see his mother again. He often hoped that she was a kind, courageous woman like the princesses he’d heard and read about in fairy tales. And when he tried to remember her, what she was like, he felt he was starting to forget. The sound of her voice when she sang, the way she put on her makeup so carefully, and the scent of peppermint whenever she hugged him. But he knew that (from what Celestia had told him growing up) his mother was a wonderful woman, simple and beautiful, and a friend to all she met.

The girls tried to coax Spike from his bedroom, but to no avail. They tried everything they could think of: Sunset and Applejack alternated between cooking and offering him sexual favors while Fluttershy tried to get him to play with her breasts and feed him their milk, and Pinkie exhausted herself trying to make him smile. Starlight tried to explain to Spike that her father didn’t go into business with anyone without doing research on them—unfortunately, Firelight found out more than just a few dirty secrets about Flimflam Resort... even Twilight actually thanked Spike for saving her and the girls’ lives from Discord when he was playing ghost. But it wasn’t enough to get him to come out of his room.

There was little they could do but wait until Spike felt better.

Well, one morning in the staff locker room, Rarity had had enough.

“I have had it!” she shouted. “We’re just sitting by while Spike suffers in his room as if we have no say in the matter whatsoever! I say we put an end to this misery! What do we do when we’re unhappy? We throw a great big party, that’s what! Well, are you girls with me or not?”

“I’m with ya!” Apple Bloom answered.

“So am I!” Sweetie Belle agreed.

“Me too,” Scootaloo joined in.

The girls all agreed and marched up to Spike’s suite in perfect unison with Discord and Zephyr Breeze in tow. Well, all except Applejack and Rarity – Applejack had asked for Rarity’s help on a special surprise for Spike, and today was her day to finally test it out.

Discord, Zephyr Breeze, and the rest of the girls entered Spike’s room to find him curled up under his hoard, and unshaven, as per usual.

“Look, Spike, we understand how you feel, but we are not going to let you waste away in bed,” Trixie began.

Spike sighed as he continued staring out the window.

“All we want is for you to be happy,” Sunset added.

“If you’re not happy, we’re not happy,” Fluttershy went on.

Spike groaned as he buried himself under the sheets, only for Zephyr to tear the covers off the bed and smack Spike upside the head with a pillow.

“Dude, get a grip!” he shouted. “Like it or not, life goes on! Now, snap out of it, get dressed, and march yourself downstairs because there is an awesome convention going on here today and we are gonna have FUN!!”

Spike didn’t know if it was the sudden change in Zephyr’s mood, or the fact that he didn’t want to get hit with a pillow again, but he found the motivation to force them out of his room so he could dress in peace.

“Hurry up!” Sunset shouted. “Or I’m gonna come in there and help you put your clothes on!”

As tempting as that offer was, Spike hurried. He showered, shaved, got dressed, and joined them in the lobby. The resort was filled with little old ladies dressed up like grey extraterrestrials and other various beings from outer space, as well as big, fat guys in ill-fitted officer uniforms, and children playing with “light swords” and miniature spaceships.

“Oh, no,” Starlight groaned at Zephyr Breeze. “You didn’t tell me it was this convention.”

It was a combination comic book, fantasy, and science fiction convention. In other words, a gathering where people who “really liked” said stuff (among other things) could get together and avoid reality. The crowd parted for Spike and the gang, all of their eyes on him, appraising and appreciating, staring in wide-eyed admiration. Spike made it through the mob untouched until he finally reached the Midnight Lounge, which had been converted into the hub of all the activity.

“I can’t believe I’m surrounded by people who not only didn’t go to their proms, but also pop a rod every time they see a robot,” Spike commented.

“I agree, man, bot heads are lame,” Sunset replied. “I’m more of a gamer.”

“Please, tell me less,” Spike told her.

“Now that these programmers have gotten used to the new platforms, we’re living in a golden age of video games,”

“I would like to be left alone with the bar. Thank you,” Spike said before reading the menu. “Super Martini-o Brothers, Pong Collins, Donkey Kongs-mopolitans... What the Tartarus are these?”

“Theme drinks,” Soarin, who was behind the bar, explained.

“How about a bourbon, straight up?”

“You mean a Pac-Manehattan,”

“How about a bourbon... Hold the nerd!” Spike stated. He faced the room again. “This is sad.”

“Not really, it’s people like this that keep the internet alive,” Zephyr replied.

“Seriously; ‘Egghead’ of ‘Big Dweeb’ Counsel, ‘Dorkfleet’ Admiral, ‘Nerd-Eye’ Master,” Spike listed them off. “The big sign over the main entrance might as well say, ‘Welcome to Geeks R Us!’”

“I like Sci-Fi movies,” Rainbow Dash shared.

Spike gave her a disturbed look.

“What? They’re cool! It’s the fans that creep me out,” she added.

“This stuff is for disconnected losers and friendless shut-ins!” he exclaimed.

“Gook-vacht!” someone exclaimed.

Spike and the group turned to see a big, hairy dude in an officer uniform standing by the bar.

“My yeoman just threw up all over her bathroom,” he said. “Can someone mop it up?”

None of them responded... except Spike.

“I think you’re looking for Juniper Montage,” he informed him. “You might try the back, by the pool.”

The man saluted and left.

Spike turned to the girls and said, “The prosecution rests.”

He sipped his bourbon as he surveyed the crowds of convention goers, many of them young men who had probably never even spoken to a female human. Some fit the stereotype of the typical gamer nerd or computer geek—overweight or skinny as a rail—toting backpacks stuffed with gear. But Spike’s eyes picked out a pair of honeys who, simply put, were incredible!

“They’re too pretty to be into this,” Spike thought.

They were; they really were. They were knock-outs!

I mean, they had it goin’ ON!!

One had long brown hair, ice blue eyes, and a beautiful face. Her figure was exaggerated hourglass, which complimented her perfect, creamy skin and big, beautiful breasts. The other was eerily similar, with wavy blue hair, green eyes, freckles, a trim waist, curvy hips, and enormous breasts... definitely not the types Spike imagined “nerding it up”.

“Some underage brats probably begged their mommies to come along and buy the latest M-Rated game for them,” he added in thought.

That’s when both women locked their eyes with his.

“I want you,” they said. “I want your hard cock deep inside my pussy. I want you to fill me, I want to feel you rubbing me from the inside, I want to feel your mouth on my breasts, I want to feel your hands all over me, I want to taste you everywhere...”

Fluttershy’s voice interrupted Spike’s thoughts. “What’s this?”

Spike must have picked up the pen that had been sitting on the bar because she saw that he had written something on his cocktail napkin.

In sorcery and mystery
Dressed up in silk and croonin’
They play their games from dawn to night
And have never kissed a woman!

“This written by the guy who fawns over me,” said a new voice.

Spike instantly recognized Applejack’s sultry twang and turned on his stool to see her dressed as Mistress Marvelous. Well, she was wearing a variation of Mistress Marvelous’ classic outfit, which consisted of a sleeveless red leotard with red gloves that went up past her elbows, a black domino mask, a dramatic black sash around her waist, and red high-heeled, thigh-high boots. On the outside, Spike’s calm expression didn’t betray him; inside, he was panting and drooling like a horny fanboy.

“Well, what do ya think?” she asked. When he didn’t answer, she asked, “Somethin’ wrong?”

“What are you wearing?” he spoke.

“Oh! You mean this? I just asked Rarity to make me something that I thought you might like. Do you like it?”

“Why did you do that?”

“I knew it!” Applejack said. “Rarity told me you would love it, but I knew you’d hate it!”

“Hey! I didn’t say that!”

“You didn’t have to,” she replied.

“AJ... no girl’s ever done anything like this for me before... you didn’t have to... but I’m glad you did... And you look very sexy,”

“Do... do you really think so?”

“You know I do,”

For the first time in days, Spike smiled. And AJ smiled back as they were joined by a big and tall guy with orange hair, dressed in a red plaid shirt, faded blue jeans, and dusty brown boots.

“Spike, this is Big McIntosh, my brother,” AJ introduced them.

The two men shook hands and Big Mac gave Spike a brochure of the convention with the main attraction’s picture on the front. A genius in computer science, Micro Chips combined cold fusion with solar energy, which not only charged his prototype car battery... but also gave the engine the power to fly. After finishing college, he became a hugely successful video game developer and entrepreneur.

“So he’s the head of his own tech company, so what?” Spike asked.

“Micro Chips is more than just a video game designer, he’s an artist,” Rainbow Dash said. “His tech in open world games let you push the boundaries of human experience. The possibilities are practically limitless. There’s even a rumor that in his next game, the one that’s being unveiled here today, we’ll be able to... enter the game itself.”

“No one’s playing it until I solve a little problem,”

The gang turned to see the man of the hour. He looked just like his picture, from the birds’ nest of hair right down to the thick, black-framed glasses.

“‘Problem’?” Twilight echoed. “What kind of problem?”

Micro Chips led Spike, Discord, Big Mac and the girls behind the stage’s big blue curtain. Behind it was a square metal structure about the size of a small room.

“This chamber uses hyper energy lasers,” he said. “I’ve been experimenting with them to break down physical matter and project it into cyberspace.”

Twilight gasped. “You mean you can transport objects from the real world into the digital one?”

“Precisely,” Micro Chips answered. “Unfortunately, it beamed someone into cyberspace a week ago during the test run: my partner, who came up with the idea for the game. I’ve been trying to get her out since.”

“Can you show us how it works?” Twilight asked.

“I can show you the demo, but I can’t stop the game,” Micro Chips replied. “I’m still working out the bugs, so until then it is off-limits.”

He briefly excused himself as he approached a podium that had been set up on the stage. The speakers rumbled as Micro Chips spoke to the crowd.

“Thanks, everybody,” he said. “I’m thrilled you could make it here today. But you’re not here to see me; you’re here to see my new game! Here we go!”

The crowd cheered as the lights dimmed and a video projected onto a giant screen overhead. It featured several of the game’s characters walking slowly forward against a backdrop of orange fire and brimstone.

“Centuries of conquest and scattered settlements have done nothing to tame the monster-filled reaches of the Western Heartlands. Perhaps it is for this reason that the realm welcomes ambitious adventurers. And Selena’s Gate, its greatest city, calls to them like a siren luring sailors to their doom. Why do they heed the city so, these brave and wandering souls? Some for the greater good, others for wealth, for power, for glory... some do not know why themselves. This is such an adventurer’s tale. Rumors abound of a dark alliance gathering against Selena’s Gate, of the hateful spirit of the Betrayer, of a stone castle of Darkness in which he seethes and plots. Adventurers flock to the Western Heartlands to forge their destinies in the fire of battle. Even now, some make their way down the Trade Way, moving southwards towards Selena’s Gate. Fortune favors the bold, adventurers. Do not falter.”

The video ended, the lights came back on, and the audience applauded.

Spike and the gang rejoined Micro Chips and he went into further detail about his new game; Ogres and Oubliettes: Dark Alliance, which was a fantasy-role-playing-adventure-themed game. They were also joined by Celestia, Chrysalis, Stellar Flare, Sunburst, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Soarin and Midnight Radiance.

“The O&O game has one hundred levels,” Micro Chips told them. “You need to battle monsters or villains while trying to find hidden treasures...”

Most of them were intrigued and excited, but something about the whole thing seemed crafty and made Spike wary.

“I created this chamber to further enhance the gameplay experience,” Micro Chips went on. “Once inside, you would operate according to the programmed rules of the video game. Also, your data would be filtered through the game’s content. You step through the portal, there’s no telling how you’ll step out.”

“What are you saying?” Rainbow Dash asked. “We might become orcs or something?”

Micro Chips’ lack of response confirmed her suspicions.

“This is why I hate video games,” Spike grumbled (soft enough that none of the others heard him).

“Oh, and one more thing,” Micro Chips warned them. “You’ll have to play through all the levels to get back out.”

“You’re kidding,” Twilight said.

“I wish I was,” he replied sincerely. “Until you can get out by winning every level of the game, the danger in there will be very real.”

“I’m going in,” Spike stated.

“What?!” Celestia, Discord, Applejack, Big McIntosh, Apple Bloom, Sunset, Sunburst, Stellar Flare, Fluttershy, Zephyr Breeze, Pinkie Pie, Trixie, Rainbow Dash, Soarin, Scootaloo, Chrysalis, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Midnight Radiance, Starlight, and Twilight all asked, one right after another.

“If someone’s trapped in there, we have to go in there to try and get her out,” Spike said.

“No!” Celestia replied. “I won’t allow that.”

“I won’t turn my back on someone in trouble,” Spike stated. “Not again.”

“Well, if you’re going, then I’m going with you!” Rainbow Dash declared.

Applejack stepped up to meet her, nodding, as did Sunset and Starlight. Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy joined in as well.

“So am I!” Discord proclaimed.

“Me too,” added Big Mac.

Twilight slowly nodded too.

The rest of them wanted to go along, but the Hyper Energy Chamber was only big enough for twelve, and they already had eleven. And once they found Micro Chips’ friend, they would have to bring her back with them.

Celestia reluctantly agreed and hugged Spike tightly as Micro Chips approached the chamber’s main external console and began typing in commands.

“Initializing environmental geography, adding virtual characters... matrix complete,” he said.

Spike, Discord, Big Mac, Applejack, Sunset, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Starlight and Twilight entered the chamber and strapped themselves into the chairs mounted along the walls. Applejack held Spike’s hand as she sat next to him and Fluttershy smiled at him. Rainbow Dash and Rarity both looked concerned, but quickly put on brave faces... for Spike’s sake.

“All right, are you prepared to enter the world of Ogres and Oubliettes?” Micro Chips asked them.

“Let’s just get this over with!” Spike stated.

Micro Chips nodded and typed in the final commands.

Suddenly, lightning flashed all around the machine.

“What’s happening?” Stellar Flare cried.

“Turn it off!” Chrysalis shouted.

“I can’t!” Micro Chips exclaimed. “It’s shorting out!”

The next thing Spike remembered after opening his eyes was he was suddenly flying above a luscious green land covered in fields, forests, and what he thought were medieval buildings. He had just enough time to position his body so that he wouldn’t land on his face when he hit the ground. He landed hard on his feet and went to one knee, steadying himself. He returned to his feet after catching his breath. He looked around, hoping to see something familiar, only to realize that he had no idea where he was. The woods were thick and hid any and all landmarks... not that he would recognize them even if they didn’t.

“Where am I?” Spike thought.

“Girls? Girls!” he shouted. “What’s wrong with my voice?”

He retained his rich baritone, only it took on an even more suave sound.

Sweat glistening on his brow, Spike ran his hand over his head... only to find that he no longer had hair!

“Where’s my hair?!”

Spike looked down at himself. He was clad in long, emerald green robes. He gazed at his strong, muscular arms and his big, scaly hands, opening and closing his fingers in front of his face. Then he stared down at his bare feet, which had long claws on their ends instead of toes.

“What happened? I feel so strange... My hands! My face! My--tail?!”

Sure enough, he had a long, lizard-like tail. He spun around in circles like a dog chasing its own tail and stopped when he saw a pond nearby. He looked at his reflection in the small body of water and saw that his face was no longer human, but reptilian. His skin was covered in shiny purple scales and he had a long snout like a dragon. He did look like a dragon, but without wings. Spike glanced over his shoulder to find a wooden staff slung over his back. He grabbed it, took aim, and a beam of magical energy fired from the gem (the size of a large marble) at the end, and burned a hole in one of the nearby trees, right next to a half-elf Ranger with long blond hair and pointy ears, dressed in a green uniform with a flowing golden cloak, and he had a parsnip plant for his left hand.

“What the--?!” he asked. “Where am I? What’s wrong with my voice? What the Tartarus is this? And what happened to my hand?”

He was accompanied by two women: one was a human Bard with pink hair, dressed in blue and yellow, with a feather in her hat, and a mandolin in one hand; the other was a Rogue in a gray hood and well-oiled leather armor, with a bandana mask covering the lower half of her face, shiny metal shoulder plates, and wielding a handheld crossbow.

“What kind of stupid-ass--?!” the Rogue began. “Who’re you?”

“Who’re you?” the Dragonborn (Spike) echoed.

“I asked you first!” she stated. “And who is she?” she demanded, pointing at the Bard.

“Who am I? Who are you three?” she replied. “Huh?!”

“Okay, what the Tartarus is going on?!” the Rogue shouted.

“Oh, my Faust!” the Dragonborn swore. “Rainbow Dash, is that you?”

“Yeah, I’m Rainbow Dash,” the Rogue replied. “Who’re you?”

“I’m Spike,”

“What? The Tartarus you are! What is going on?”

“I think... We’re in the game!” the half-elf Ranger exclaimed.

“Excuse you?” Rainbow Dash/the Rogue asked.

“What are you talking about?” the Bard added.

“That’s it! That’s what happened! We got beamed into the game and we’ve become characters in it!” the Ranger exclaimed. “You are Spike,” he said to the Dragonborn, “but you look and sound like Garbuncle the Wizard. You have the power to create matter from nothing! You’re phat with magic!”

“What are you talking about?” the Bard asked.

“Oh, my Faust, he’s right!” Spike/Garbuncle added.

“You’re telling me that we’re in the video game?” Dash asked. “No way!” she exclaimed. “This is so cool! But wait... Who are you?”

“Discord,” the Ranger answered.

“Did you just say that you’re Discord!?!” the Bard screamed.

“Yes, it’s me,” he replied, “which means, Rainbow Dash you’re Rainbothyra Dasheyes, a shifty rogue whose pockets always seem to be full of gold. Good at card tricks and good at gambling. And Pinkie, I recognize your character – Pinkamena Diane Rockkin, a bard and minstrel who chronicles heroes deeds in song. Unfortunately, you’re not that good at singing.”

They couldn’t believe what they were hearing, but it was hard to deny what was right in front of their eyes. Spike (or rather, Garbuncle in this form) waved his staff and made a few gestures with his free hand, and snapped his fingers.

He had created a pie!

“That. Was. Awesome!” Dasheyes cried.

“It’s just a little thing I do,” Garbuncle replied modestly.

Pinkie stuck one of her fingers in the pie and tasted it.

“Mmm... Blueberry,” she said.

They turned when they heard a rustling in the bushes. Discord aimed his big bow and arrow and was about to fire when a muscular black knight emerged from the darkness. He was accompanied by a tall, blonde, buxom barbarian maiden dressed in a skimpy engraved chest piece with an impossibly-low neckline, which had been fashioned to protect her feminine frame; and a dangerously short studded leather skirt that showed off her long, very shapely legs (clearly inspired by the outfit of a certain warrior princess).

“What the--?” the Barbarian asked. “What is this thing? Wait! Is this me?”

“Whoa!” Discord exclaimed, lowering his weapon. “Look at those bosoms!”

“Who designed your character?” Dash asked.

“Applejack?” Spike guessed, looking at the blonde.

“Yeah,” the Barbarian confirmed.

“You mean Lady Jacqueline of Clan Applesmith!” Discord corrected Spike. “Quick with a sword... or axe, or dagger, or any other sharp, pointy thing you can get your hands on. More than capable of dishing out and taking serious physical damage; and you can drink any man under the table! And her brother, the noble knight Sir McBiggun!”

“You mean... you’re Big McIntosh?” Spike asked.

“Eeyup!” the black knight replied heartily.

“Look at this,” Applejack motioned to her outfit. “It doesn’t protect my arms, legs, head or neck!”

“True,” said Discord. “But you do have gauntlets, shoulder plates, and high boots. And besides, if you wore heavy armor it would just restrict your ability to move,” he added.

More and more avatars continued to join them in the clearing. The next one was Fluttershy. Like Discord and Rainbow Dash, she had become a half-elf. She had pointed ears, wielded a wooden staff wreathed with holly, and wore a long white gown that fell all the way to her feet, but was slit up one side revealing her long, slender leg. The front of the gown gaped open wide, the neckline plunged all the way to her waist displaying a good portion of her generously rounded breasts and came dangerously close to exposing her nipples.

“Fluttershy, stop fussing!” Discord told her. “You’re the druid Lady Fauna Silentflyer! You can talk to, and control, animals.”

Sunset Shimmer—who didn’t look much different than she normally did—retained her red and golden hair, but it moved and flickered like a candle flame. She was also dressed in a low-cut outfit revealing lots of cleavage, including a silver breastplate... with its own nipples.

“Sunset, you’re the cleric Lady Sistine Sextus,” Discord went on. “You use the power of the Sun Goddess, Celeste, to protect and heal, and to smite the wicked creatures of the Underdark. You’ve got more magic in your little finger than most characters have in their whole body!”

Then Rarity, who had become a moon elf, wore little more than a metal bikini top, a leather bodice, an incredibly sheer skirt (slit up the side to show off her legs), a cape... and absolutely no evidence of the standard bikini bottoms that usually came with such an outfit.

“I’m half-naked!” she cried.

“Rarity--I mean, Ruvia Darkmane,” Discord introduced her. “She will kill anyone who treats her like a bimbo, even though she’s not above using her good looks to get her way.”

Starlight had turned into a stunningly beautiful, lithe and curvaceous elf with blue hair and violet skin and she carried a staff with a U-shaped curve at the top.

“Stostine Darkstar, necromancer and mistress of the shadowy arts,” Discord said. “And I am Captain Wuzz, half-elf arcane archer and ranger extraordinaire!” he added proudly as he struck a heroic pose. “This is my official Ogres and Oubliettes character! Talk about luck!”

“Luck?!” came the distinct, shrill screech of Twilight Sparkle. “What do you call this?”

The group turned and saw a female dark elf with long white hair (which had two streaks, both a different shade of gray), dressed in black leather armor, a purple hooded cloak, and holding a gnarled staff of dark ebony wood.

“Therstine Read, Drow Sorceress, mistress of evils, mechanisms and just plain rudeness,” Discord/Captain Wuzz said flatly. “Frankly, I would have expected nothing less.”

“At least she has pants,” said Rarity/Ruvia.

“That’s the way Elves dress,” Captain Wuzz explained. “Especially female Drow, who seem to know only two sorts of clothes: quasimagical chainmail plus cloak of near-invisibility... and stunningly pimped out un-dress. In Elf society, the more you cover up, the more flaws and weaknesses you’re perceived to be compensating for.”

“He’s right,” Spike/Garbuncle added. “Even the wealthiest and most powerful Elves only really wear clothes as something to hang expensive finery from. It’s common for Elf women, especially Drow, to expose a lot of skin; considering most could protect themselves with magic, wearing a skimpy outfit is akin to announcing their spellcasting ability as well as confidence.”

Their words were true.

And Twilight’s character wore a lot of clothing... A lot!

“How do you know that?” Dasheyes asked Garbuncle.

“I guess we’ve been infused with our characters’ knowledge and mindsets as well as their appearances and backgrounds,” Spike ventured a guess. “I wouldn’t have named myself ‘Garbuncle’ if I’d had the choice.”

“So, what do we do now?” Rarity/Ruvia asked.

“Remember what Micro Chips said?” Rainbow Dash asked. “To get back out, we need to fight monsters and find treasures.”

“Well, I--I mean, my character--received a message from one of the priests of Selena’s Gate, saying that my presence was needed,” Sunset said.

“So which way do we go to get to Selena’s Gate?” Fluttershy asked.

Discord and Sunset looked around until they spotted a signpost.

“Well, that was convenient,” Twilight/Therstine said.

“To reach Selena’s Gate, we must cross through the Everfree Forest,” Captain Wuzz said.

“But how are we going to get past all the dangers?” Starlight/Stostine asked.

“Fear not! I shall protect us!” Garbuncle declared. “Whoa! Where did that come from?”

“I’m worried,” Lady Silentflyer said.

“Fluttershy, you’re always worried,” Applejack/Lady Jacqueline replied. “Selena’s Gate is south, so we should go south.”

“AJ’s right,” Dash added. “It’s the only lead we have to a way out of here.”

And so, they set off quickly to the southwest. The journey wasn’t long, but by the time they were nearly halfway there, 22 brigands sprang out from behind the trees on both sides of the road and attacked them. Sixteen of them had long, untamed black hair and were armed with scimitars; the remaining six had big beards and wielded throwing knives.

Three of the bandits with scimitars immediately went after Fluttershy, but Spike stepped in to protect her. They quickly turned their attention to him and Rainbow Dash, who quickly countered their attacks. Sir McBiggun’s sword sliced through the bandits like a hot knife through butter. Starlight and Twilight beat the brigands back with their staffs, Rarity (who was completely unarmed) started taking wild swings at the bandits with her fists; and even though Pinkie and Fluttershy were armed only with daggers, held their own pretty well.

“I’ve got your back, Garbuncle!” Discord/Captain Wuzz proclaimed.

He and Applejack fired arrows at the remaining six brigands while Spike raised his staff, cast a Wildfire spell, and burned the bandits alive.

“I think that’s the last of them,” Applejack said.

“That was easy,” Rainbow Dash said.

“It’s only the first level of the game,” Discord/Captain Wuzz replied. “It’s supposed to be easy.”

“Fluttershy, are you all right?” Spike asked.

“I’m fine,” she replied, “but what about Twilight?”

They looked at Twilight and saw that she was bleeding out of her shoulder. She had been nicked by one of the scimitars.

“That hurt!” she exclaimed. “That really hurt!”

Suddenly, Micro Chips’ voice came from all around them.

“Remember what I told you! The danger is real! In this video game, you can get hurt!”

“Or worse,” Rarity/Ruvia added. “We better tread carefully.”

“You know, getting beamed into cyberspace might not be such a bad thing,” Sunset told them.

“How’s that?” Applejack asked.

“Maybe, if we continue to play along, we can find out why the machine went haywire and find Micro Chips’ partner,” Sunset said.

AJ started to agree, while Discord/Captain Wuzz was in a world all his own.

“In order to finish the game, we have to beat all the levels, which are going to get harder as we go...” he thought out loud.

Dasheyes nodded in agreement.

“The characters we chose, we all have certain skills,” Captain Wuzz went on. “So, there’s got to be a way to access our...”

Suddenly, a textbox appeared over their heads.

It was Discord’s character’s stat and skill list.

“What did you just do?” Dasheyes asked him.

Spike started reading Discord’s profile out loud.

“Captain Wuzz, a Level 28 Half-Elf Ranger... Strength, 17; Constitution, 14; Dexterity, 15; Intelligence, 11; Wisdom, 13; Charisma, 11... Skills: Arcane Quiver, Acid Arrows, Flame Arrows, Ice Arrows, Shock Arrows, Enchanted Arrows, Exploding Arrows, and Hail of Arrows. Weakness: An Ego the Size of a Small but Violent Country.”

“Why the Tartarus is my Charisma so low?” Captain Wuzz asked. “I am very charismatic! And I have ‘an ego the size of a small but violent country’? That’s a weirdly specific weakness... even, and especially, for a half-elf.”

Spike, trying to remember exactly what Discord had done, started patting himself down, and his own list appeared before them.

“Garbuncle, Level 30 Dragonborn Wizard. Strength, 18; Constitution, 15; Dexterity, 20; Intelligence: 17; Wisdom: 17; Charisma: 15. Skills: Ball Lightning, Icy Sphere, Lightning Bolt, Magic Missile, Maredenkainen’s Sword, Perception, Snowblind. Weakness: Women with Big Busts and Big Butts.”

“Even in a video game, Spike is still a horn dog,” Twilight thought.

“How did you do that?” Applejack asked.

“I think I just pressed my... tight, left pect,” Spike said.

“It’s the breast area,” Sunset added.

Applejack cupped her bust and her stat list replaced Spike’s.

“Lady Jacqueline Applesmith, a Level 18 Female Human Barbarian... Strength, 16; Constitution, 14; Dexterity: 10; Intelligence, 10; Wisdom, 10; Charisma: 11. Skills: Archery, Barbarian Rage, Endurance, Great Weapon Focus, Hero’s Arm, Hero’s Mantle, Melee Combat, Shield Bash, Shield Expertise, Two-Weapon Fighting. Weakness: Limited Magic. I can do magic?”

“Or maybe you’re vulnerable to certain types of magic, instead of all magic,” Captain Wuzz guessed.

“Or both,” Garbuncle added.

Big McIntosh went next.

“Sir McBiggun, Level 27 Male Half-Elf Paladin,” Spike read on. “Strength, 18; Constitution, 15; Dexterity, 12; Intelligence, 10; Wisdom, 11; Charisma: 10. Skills: Bull Rush, Death Blow, Intestinal Fortitude, Sword and Fist, Improved Block, Improved Critical, Shield Expert, Whirlwind Attack, Clopgeddin’s Fist. Weaknesses: A Man of Few Words.”

Pinkie’s character – Pinkamena Diane Rockkin, Female Human Bard – was pretty well balanced: with her Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma all at 12, and Dexterity at 11 and Constitution at 10. Her skills and abilities included Charm People, Detect Magic, Speed, Mandolin, Teleport, and Vicious Mockery; her two weaknesses were Cake and Hideous Laughter.

“Come on!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Seriously? Cake is my weakness?!”

Rainbow Dash, aka Rainbothyra Dasheyes, Female Half-Elf Rogue, had a high Constitution (16) with Dexterity being 15, Strength of 11, and Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma at 10. Her skills: Agility, Arterial Strike, Combat Reflexes, Crippling Blow, Handheld Crossbow, Evasion, Hail of Knives, Hidden Blade(s), Loyalty, Poison, Ransack, Speed, Stealth, Smokepowder Bolt/Bomb/Satchel, and Trickery... and her only weakness was her recklessness.

Fluttershy (Lady Fauna Silentflyer, Female Half-Elf Druid) had 14 Intelligence, with Dexterity being her lowest stat (11), and Strength, Constitution, Wisdom and Charisma at 12. Her skills: Animal Handling, Bless, Clarity, Cure Wounds, Deflect Missiles, Purity, Sanctuary, Spiritual Weapon, Turn Undead, and Unparalleled Cuteness. Weaknesses: Fear(s).

Sunset Shimmer – Lady Sistine Sextus, Female Sun Elf Cleric – had Strength: 13; Constitution: 13; Dexterity: 14; Intelligence: 17; Wisdom: 12; and Charisma: 15. Her skills were: Ball Lightning, Burning Hands, Divine Strength, Divine Resilience, Empathy, Empower, Fireball, Fire Shield, Flame Strike, Healing Magic, Lightning Bolt, Magic Missile, Meteor Swarm, Protective Ward, and Smite Evil. And her main weakness was her Wrath.

Rarity – Ruvia Darkmane, Female Moon Elf Fighter – Strength: 11; Constitution: 10; Dexterity: 10; Intelligence: 11; Wisdom: 10; and Charisma: 12. Her skills: Enchant Items, Repulsion, Spellcasting, Stamina, and Unarmed Combat. And her weaknesses: Greed, and An Expensive Date.

“‘Unarmed Combat’?” she asked.

“The ability to kick ass using only your bare hands and feet,” Dasheyes said. “That’s pretty cool.”

“Said the gorgeous, badass half-elf to the full elf whose weakness is that she’s a ‘greedy, expensive date’,” Ruvia retorted.

Starlight Glimmer, or Stostine Darkstar, Female Night Elf Necromancer, also had 17 for Intelligence, and 12 for Dexterity, but the rest of her stats were at 10. Her abilities: Animate Dead, Contagion, Dark Possession, Ghoul Touch, Undead Magics, Shadow Adept, and Spinning Strike. And weakness: Wrath (something she shared with Sunset).

“I already hate this game,” Twilight said after she looked at her own list.

All of her stats were at 10 except for Dexterity, which was at 19. Her skills included: Alchemy Lore, Chill Touch, Life Drain and Scroll Keeper.

“Therstine Read, Level 1 Dark Elf Sorceress,” Dasheyes read aloud. “Weaknesses: ‘Untrustworthy’ and ‘Chronic Backstabber’?”

“Yes! Those are my ‘weaknesses!’” Therstine hissed in reply. “Along with Endurance, Intelligence, Large Weapons, Strength, Speed, AND Wisdom!”

“Huh,” Garbuncle said, as if he were unsurprised.

“‘Strength’ is my ‘weakness’?” she spat. “Okay, for those of us who don’t understand the rules and basic laws of video games and their physics: how, the Tartarus, is that possible!?! Somebody, please, explain it to me! And why would I need a large weapon when I’m being chased through the forest by an enormous killer unicorn or some shit in this stupid outfit!!”

“You’re also a good... Scroll Keeper?” Starlight attempted.

“What does that mean?”

“It means you carry my spell scrolls and you give them to me when I tell you to,” Garbuncle explained.

“Guys!” Pinkie exclaimed. “There’s another signpost... and it’s changing.”

“What do you mean?” Spike/Garbuncle asked.

“Well, there’s not a whole lot to go on, but, a minute ago, it didn’t say this and now it does,” Pinkie went on. “‘The Trade Way.’”

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Twilight stated.

“What else?” Garbuncle asked.

“Well, this says, ‘From Both Sides,’” Pinkie added.

“The bandits came from both sides,” Applejack said. “The ones that--”

“Yes, the brutes that almost did things to us!” Fluttershy/Silentflyer cut her off. “Can we just move on, please?”

“So, if ‘From Both Sides’ was the first level, then ‘The Trade Way’ must be the second level,” said Captain Wuzz. “Which way do we go?”

“This way,” Pinkie said after a moment of thought.

“Forward!” Captain Wuzz shouted. “To Selena’s Gate!”

“A horse!” Rarity/Ruvia cried. “My kingdom for a horse!”

They continued walking down the road with Pinkie singing all the way; but they were not alone on the trail, and Garbuncle sensed peril.

“Stop singing and keep an eye out for--” he began.

“For what?” Dasheyes asked. “What? Keep an eye out for what?”

“Danger,” he finished.

The friends looked to see what Spike was staring at. They came upon the remains of a caravan: burnt and overturned wagons, dead bodies... and a wounded guard. She had amber eyes and blonde hair, she wore golden armor, and she was clutching her side.

“I thought that would be my last fight,” she said. “I’m Valkyrie, and I owe you my life.”

“Well met, fair Valkyrie,” said Garbuncle. “Are you wounded badly?”

“Not terribly, no. But I’m grateful for your concern,” she replied. “Alas... if you’d only come sooner...”

“By my bodice!” Ruvia exclaimed. “What happened here?”

“We were ambushed by the Silver Fang marauders. I had heard there were raiders on the road, but... so many! They must be based out of Everfree Forest. My lord and lady Cashmere were traveling back to Selena’s Gate from Shallowpond. The caravan was attacked... They took some of us away... I believe all the other guards are dead...”

“Who’ve they taken?” Lady Silentflyer asked.

“Please, just lend an ear: I saw Lady Cashmere being carried off over one of the brute’s shoulders... I do not know what happened to my lord. Some of the marauders took prisoners into the forest, southwest of here... but most of them continued southeast to Spork Village. They’re going to raid it... or burn it. You must help, please!”

“Hold on! Why should we help you?” Therstine asked. “We’re on this road to reach Selena’s Gate, not rescue wagoners and peasants. And even if we were, what’s in it for us?”

Her voice was hard, lacking all trace of sympathy and/or empathy.

“Lady Cashmere is a high magistrate in the city, and her husband a wealthy landowner. There’s no doubt that those you saved would greatly reward you,” Valkyrie told them. “Please help them...”

“Wait. Who are these marauders?” Lady Applesmith inquired.

“Monsters, brigands, mostly goblin-kind,” Valkyrie said. “They’ve been raiding around Selena’s Gate for months. The city’s soldiers can’t find where the lot of them hole up. So, will you help?”

“We cannot stand by while innocents are in danger,” Fauna told them.

“I thought we wouldn’t find any further excitement until we reached the city,” Captain Wuzz added. “Very well, we’ll help.”

“Of course we will!” Sir McBiggun agreed. “We’ve been walking the Trade Way for days and are bored as all the Tartaruses...”

“Then continue down the road until you see a path leading into the trees. It eventually leads into the Everfree Forest,” Valkyrie instructed. “I’m in no condition to fight, so I’ll check my fallen companions for survivors and continue down the road for help. I’ll meet you later in Spork Village. Farewell.”

Garbuncle led them down the grassy path until a voice called out.

“Welcome to Level Two, game players,” it said. “Where things get a little tougher...”

Suddenly, the party was attacked by a band of goblins (small, selfish humanoid creatures that lived in caves, abandoned mines, despoiled dungeons, and other dark places). Individually weak, goblins gathered in large—sometimes overwhelming—numbers. They craved power and regularly abused whatever authority they obtained. The first few goblins rushed them, but they were easily dispatched (even by Twilight and Starlight, whose characters were weak melee fighters). Dasheyes looted their bodies, taking anything and everything she could carry (mostly potions and bits of armor).

Shortly after they entered the Everfree Forest, the group encountered a flock of blood crows. They were not very aggressive creatures, and fairly easy prey, but they could overwhelm one if they were not taken out quickly. Captain Wuzz saw that several goblins—spearmen and archers—had taken up positions on the far side of the swamp, and he and Lady Applesmith started trading shots with them from their bow and arrows (but they kept moving so that the goblins couldn’t get a bead on them). Twilight/Therstine tried rushing them, but her staff did minimal damage.

“Your weapon’s no use!” Sunset/Sistine shouted.

“Try your special skills!” Garbuncle added.

“Skills, skills, my special skill is... Chill Touch?”

It wasn’t a very powerful attack, but it worked. Sir McBiggun blocked the goblins’ arrows with his shield, and they deflected into the trees. After the party crossed the swamp, they encountered a deadly wolf. (In this game, wolves attacked head on, but were easy to beat if the party ran circles around them and slashed at their sides—they were a big target and easy to hit.)

But none of that happened. Instead, Lady Fauna Silentflyer (Fluttershy) stood between the wolf and her friends and stared the creature down.

“Don’t come any closer!” she stated. The wolf stopped as she added, “Please don’t hurt us.”

The wolf seemed to understand. She then charmed the beast and eventually befriended it... and it stood by her side.

The final stretch of trail was full of ambushes. The party proceeded slowly with Captain Wuzz and Lady Applesmith leading the way, firing arrows ahead of themselves (getting in a few free shots before the goblins closed the distance), then she switched to her sword and shield and unleashed her Barbarian Rage.

They followed Lady Silentflyer and her new wolf companion into a cave after that. She led the way down the rocky passage, where a heaping helping of goblin hospitality awaited: five archers on either side, protected by a row of crates. The rest of the group ducked behind the cave wall while Sir McBiggun ran right through them, taking them out one by one with his sword.

The group turned the corner into another dark tunnel, and looked around the wide chamber as they passed through it. Twilight/Therstine stared wide-eyed at Lady Fauna. A few spiders clung to her back. Lady Fauna glanced at them and casually brushed them off with her hand. Therstine noticed a spider on her own shoulder. Lady Fauna gestured for her to step closer and turn around. With a stared expression, Therstine complied as dozens of spiders clung to her back. She cringed as one crawled on her neck and Lady Fauna brushed them off.

They passed through another dim passage, which was full of more giant bats than one could shake a mace at. They proceeded slowly, and didn’t disturb the bats. Finally, they reached the end. They found an underground lake, where the leader of the ambushed caravan was being held prisoner by a group of goblins. Using a ring-around-the-rosy strategy, the heroes ran in wide circles around the goblins and attacked them. Once the goblin spearmen were taken care of, Sunset/Lady Sistine turned her attention on the two archers. She ran right up to them and called a Flame Strike (Holy Fire) down upon them.

(The Flame Strike was a doozy of a spell. It did an obscene amount of damage; it could rip apart groups of strong foes, even bosses. Unfortunately, it was only useful at very close range, and it left her open to preemptive hits—but for that much damage, it was worth it.)

Garbuncle and his allies approached the caravan leader, a raven-haired beauty with bronze skin and rosy red lips.

“Set free! I am Lady Cashmere, owner of the ambushed caravan. You have all my gratitude, adventurers,”

“We should praise Celeste, then, for it is in her service that we freed you,” Sunset/Sistine added.

“Very well, I praise Celeste, priestess, and you again as well!”

“Your gratitude alone is of little use to me,” Therstine said.

“Of course not, I was merely being polite,” Lady Cashmere replied.

“But what more could a half-dragon wizard want from such a lovely lady?” Garbuncle flirted.

“Much more, I’m certain. But this is no place for idle flirtations,” she replied. “I’ll see you well rewarded upon my return Selena’s Gate. I am a merchant of no small wealth, among other things. Are you traveling south? Hire on as my bodyguards until we reach the city’s walls. I do pay well...”

“That sounds worth our while,” Therstine said.

“Yes, we’ll see you safely to Selena’s Gate,” Garbuncle agreed. “Let’s go.”

“A deal, then. Wonderful!”

Upon agreeing to Lady Cashmere’s request, the group was teleported out of the cave and to the village of Spork, where its denizens were being attacked by more pillaging goblins.

“Terrible! The marauders are slaughtering everyone,” Lady Cashmere said. “There may be some survivors trying to hold the inn. I’ll remain outside and search for villagers to help.”

The villagers were fighting for their lives as Garbuncle and company made their way through the farmers’ fields, killing every goblin they came across, until they approached the inn and opened the door. They marched in and came face-to-face with the orange skinned, gray haired hobgoblin leader. Dark eyes peered out beneath his beetling brow, and his wide mouth sported sharp, yellow teeth. The group wailed on the hobgoblin boss until Starlight/Stostine drained the last of his life force. Lady Cashmere and Valkyrie entered soon after, and the innkeeper approached Garbuncle and his friends.

“Like a righteous comet from the sky you are!” she said. “Had you not come now, I dread to think what could have happened. I thank you will all my heart!”

“And a heart any man would want to win, at that,” Garbuncle told her.

“Hah-hah, you flatter me...”

“It is Celeste, not we, who deserves your thanks; she guides my hand,” Lady Sistine said.

“Surely, then, Celeste watches over our village,” she replied. “I’ll hang a sunstone over the mantle, and we’ll toast the Sun each evening before supper!”

“And I am certain you mean to thank us with more than your heart...” Therstine led on.

“Yes, of course. Here. Please take these few small things as a matter of reward. It’s the least we can do, seeing as you saved the village and all,”

“That seems acceptable,” Therstine said.

“Our thanks,” Lady Fauna added.

Garbuncle approached Lady Cashmere.

“Well met again. Rescuing damsels and saving villages... Be careful, or you’ll give adventurers a good name outside of Cobb!” she laughed. “I’ll have to spread word of your successes to my friends in Selena’s Gate.”

“Good,” said Captain Wuzz. “There’s no glory in unsung heroics, and it is glory I seek.”

“Yes, please do,” Sistine added. “Tell them one of Celeste’s faithful has come to do good in the Western Heartlands.”

“Excellent,” Dasheyes joined in. “If any of these friends are of influence, things will be easier for us there.”

“So, shall we go?” Lady Cashmere asked. “Selena’s Gate awaits us.”

“I had some questions, first...” Garbuncle attempted.

“Later, later, when we’ve reached the city,” Lady Cashmere said. “A fine tavern, sipping spiced wine, playing my yarting, ahhh... and so! I’ll answer your questions then. Now, shall we go?”

“Yes, let’s go,” Garbuncle agreed.

Elsewhere in the realms, a Dark Elf in black armor approached a satyr-like creature wielding a staff with a crystal at the top.

“Your Highness, the interrogation of the prisoners is complete,” she reported. “As you predicted, they know... little.”

“Nonetheless, I would hear it,” the satyr replied.

“They said the Betrayer used the Midnight Castle to create ‘shadow gates,’ which he then used to move troops around the realms. They also claim that when they slew him, the castle crumbled,”

“Yes. Capper and Catrina’s current employers, the Dark Web, seek to restore the castle--and the power it holds--for themselves. They used those three fools to wrest it from the Betrayer’s hands. However, the castle would better serve me and my allies in the east. I must have it!”

“Yes, Your Highness, but... about Catrina. The prisoners claimed they killed her in her guild,”

The Storm King laughed.

“No, not Catrina. She and her minions have a reputation for being exceedingly difficult to kill. They must have feigned their deaths, just as they were never really working for the guild. It’s more likely that the Dark Web paid them to eradicate the guild, which they accomplished through our three guests,”

“I see. And the ‘guests?’ Should I kill them?”

“No, Tempest. Leave them be for now. I’ll amuse myself with them later,”

The heroes were weary from their travels, but mesmerized at the sight of Selena’s Gate; not only a town of myth and legend, but also a place where one could find fame and fortune around every corner. It was beautiful. A wealthy seaport metropolis, Selena’s Gate took its name from the moon goddess. The city’s unique shape, curved around its harbor, gave it the appearance of a crescent moon, which was how the city was given its nickname. Shortly after the city was founded, pirates attacked and took it over. The four eldest pirate captains ruled the city and to this day, pirates still docked at the city to exchange goods. With over 40,000 inhabitants (although that almost doubled in the summer months), Selena’s Gate was an important merchant city. Its strong watchmen and powerful law enforcement—the Mercenaries of the Crescent Moon—former soldiers, maintained order in the city. Aside from them, Selena’s Gate was the residence of not just pirates, but terrorists and other mercenaries for hire. A whole world-within-a-world of criminals, prostitutes, warlords, and evils of every kind. Additionally, several vigilante guilds were active in the city and worked alongside the Crescent Moon Mercenaries, but were not part of them.

Many years ago, Selena’s Gate fought back against one who would conquer them. The conqueror was defeated, but he vowed vengeance. And every year, the city of Selena’s Gate celebrated their victory. It was night as they entered the city, and it seemed strangely deserted.

“At last, Selena’s Gate!” Lady Cashmere proclaimed. “Your reward, as promised; may the coin serve you as well as you served me, adventurers. So, what will you do now?”

“Find someone else in need of our services, if you must know,” Twilight responded.

Applejack elbowed her hard and said, “We’re all adventurers by trade, so we’ll need to find some work.”

“I heard there was adventure to be had here; I mean to find it,” Dash added.

“Lady Sextus and I hope to help the city,” Fluttershy replied. “One of the priests of Celeste sent us word of a dark alliance...”

“Hmmm,” Lady Cashmere replied. “Well, I have some matters to attend to: informing the relatives of the slain guards, the recovery of the caravan’s goods, that sort of thing... But should you require my help, or are looking for work, please find me at the Singing Siren Inn. I have associates that could use adventurers of your formidable skills. Farewell, for now.”

The heroes walked along the strangely silent street and stopped when they heard someone shout, “Halt! Who goes there?”

They relaxed when they saw it was just two men wearing the armor of the city watch.

“You’d best stay off the streets after the Sun goes down,” one of them advised. “It’s not safe out here.”

“You could seek shelter in the Singing Siren Inn,” added the other. “It’s close enough.”

“Aye, more than enough cutthroats and thugs there,” said the first. “Could be one of them would know how to find those that attacked you on the way here.”

Drawn by a haunting voice, the party strode toward the inn at the end of the street—the Singing Siren. It was a large, elegantly built place, four stories high with four levels of cellars. The windows appeared to be frosted over but were merely coated with dust. According to legend, the inn got its name from an unusual haunting: a ghostly female voice could be heard periodically throughout the night. The Siren was a meeting place for anyone wishing to conduct illicit business. A representative of virtually any illegal group, established underworld, and terrorist organization operating in the Crescent City could easily be found somewhere on the premises. But it was also a safe haven for independent operators like mercenaries and bounty hunters. Patrons were expected to go armed and were responsible for their own safety.

Garbuncle pushed the door open and led his party in. The tavern was filled with a motley assortment of patrons and grizzly trophies. Mostly humans, almost all of them locals, and among them, a dark elf, a surly dwarf, Valkyrie and Lady Cashmere, whom the heroes had helped on the way; and the bartender, a half-elf maiden with golden hair and sapphire eyes, who was also the current owner of the establishment. As soon as they all were inside, everything seemed to have stopped. All eyes were fixed upon them, and the din of voices dropped to about half its volume as they approached the bar. Even behind their backs, they could feel everyone eyeing them. A game of darts, which was going on at the other end of the room, interrupted itself for as much as thirty seconds. As they walked, the haunting voice seemed to come from every direction. The singing was quiet, but it could be heard quite clearly. It was beautiful and mournful at the same time.

“Good evening, Master,” the bartender greeted Spike. “If you’re looking for accommodations, we have more than enough rooms available, Mister...”

“Garbuncle,” he answered. “My name is Garbuncle.”

“Garbuncle!” she gasped. “I remember you had a big gray beard and a pointy hat. It’s been too long.”

The patrons fell silent as the song washed over them. One by one, they all seemed lost at its call.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” the bartender asked. “I’ve heard her sing a hundred times and each time it still moves me.”

“It is beautiful,” Spike admitted. “But where’s the voice coming from?”

“It’s the spirit of a siren; she haunts this tavern, singing once every couple of nights. No one truly knows why she sings. Her spirit was here when I first bought this tavern. Some say she sings for a lost love, a soldier who died defending the city. They say she sings in hope he will hear her voice and return home. Still, that’s nothing but hearsay and tales - welcome to the Singing Siren, what can I get you?”

“Dinner and a dozen beds, if it can be managed,” he said.

She swished two pints of dark-brown beer into thick mugs, which had been drying on the rack by the sink. The game of darts was in full swing again and their presence seemed forgotten. Rainbow Dash looked over the selection of beer. There was ale, stout, lager, even whiskey. They were all served hot soup, meat, blackberry pie, loaves of warm bread, slabs of butter, and a huge chunk of cheese.

“What’s that?” Rarity asked, pointing to Pinkie’s drink.

“This, my friend, is a pint,” Pinkie replied.

“It comes in PINTS?!” Rarity asked. “I’m getting one!”

Starlight was very taken by the monster that hung over the fireplace. It had a spheroid body, a big bulging eye above a wide, toothy maw, and several stalks that crowned its body, each with its own eyeball at the end.

“That’s a stuffed Beholder,” their waitress said. “A small version of the species, I’m told, not that I’ve seen many of them. They’re also called eye tyrants, if that name’s any more familiar to you. Foul beasts that float above the ground and can cast terrible spells from their eyes. Evil things...”

Suddenly, Sunset noticed a strange, weather-beaten man, sitting in the shadows near the fireplace.

“That one in the corner has done nothing but stare at you since we walked in,” she said to Spike.

Garbuncle noticed the large creature. He had a tall tankard in front of him, and was chewing a piece of wheat. His legs were hidden beneath his heavy black cloak, which was travel-stained and caked with mud. And in spite of the heat of the fire he wore a hood that overshadowed his face; but the gleam of his eyes could be seen as he watched the Dragonborn. Garbuncle asked the waitress who he was.

“He’s a Centaur. Reclusive wanderers, generally good, neutral creatures, but fight fiercely when pressed,” she answered. “He seldom talks, disappears for months at a time, he just got back in fact... He’s known only as ‘Alden’.”

Rarity/Ruvia slurped her ale down greedily before turning to Garbuncle, advertising her assets by subtly undoing the top laces of her bodice.

“What do you say you and I ditch these dinks, stud?” she slurred drunkenly.

Spike was still sore at Rarity for using him on their “date.” He would much rather have a merry romp with the sexy barbarian lass that was seated across from him (Applejack). But he didn’t share that out loud.

Instead, he snapped, “I would rather kiss a female orc.”

After dinner, the barmaid lit a lamp and led the party slowly up the steep and worn stairs and along a tiny passage, into a room that looked out over the street and provided a magnificent view of the harbor. The furniture was still arranged as though the room was still being lived in. There was a strip of carpet on the floor and a red velvet armchair drawn up to the fireplace. An old-fashioned glass clock was ticking away on the mantelpiece. Under the window, and occupying nearly a quarter of the room, was an enormous bed with the mattress still on it.

“This is your room, Garbuncle. The rest of you are in the rooms across the hall,” the barmaid said. “My parents lived here until my father went off to war, and my mother died. I’m selling the furniture off little by little, but the bed is mahogany and quite comfortable.”

She was holding the lamp high up so as to illumine the whole room, and in the warm dim light the place looked curiously inviting. There was a small bookcase in the other corner, full of books on war and history.

“I trust you’ll be comfortable,” she said as she left. “Just shout if you need anything. My room is two doors down.”

Applejack and Fluttershy remained with Spike while the others went to get settled in their rooms. He looked even more tense since they entered the video game. Then he began to take off his robes.

Fluttershy squirmed a little as she approached him and asked, “M-mind if I touch y-your scales?”

Spike slowly nodded and Fluttershy brushed the tips of her fingers against his new dragon skin. It was surprisingly soft, cool, and smooth. She started to remove her dress, thinking Spike looked even bigger and thicker than in his human form. Applejack gently kissed Spike’s forehead before moving to his lips.

“Mmhf-!” she cried. “Ouch, my tongue!”

“I’m sorry, AJ! Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m just not used to making out with a guy with fangs,”

They kissed again as Spike’s hands freed Applejack’s breasts from their leather prison and he roamed his fingers over them as their tongues danced. Then she felt one of his hands slip up her leather skirt to cup her between her legs before her armor fell in a pool around her feet.

“AAAAAA!!” she shouted.

“What, what?” he asked frantically. “No fangs this time, I swear!”

“N-no, I’m sorry, Spike,” she apologized.

“AJ, you really just need to calm down,” as he gently pushed her onto her back and knelt between her legs.

She loved it when he took charge. She was already dripping wet when he started licking between her legs and she let out a small moan. Then she groaned at the feeling of a whole foot of dragon cock penetrating her. She didn’t last long, but Fluttershy was ready to skip the foreplay and go right to fucking. Spike pounced on her, forcing her onto her back on the bed, beside Applejack. She yelped in surprise when he entered her, then she whimpered, and her whimpers quickly turned into moans of pleasure. Finally, she bit her lip and her leg twitched as she squirted all over him. And the two women curled around him as they lay together.

“Sleep well, Spike,” they said softly.

Author's Note

I regret to inform you that with my new job, I am going to be working a lot of long hours, late nights, and weekends.

So with this chapter, this story and I are on hiatus.

I don't know for how long, and I have no idea when I will be back, but I will try to update as soon as possible.

New Looks and Pep Talks

Magnet Boutique was a clothing store that sold everything from expensive, tailor-made suits and dresses. It also specialized in prosthetics, wigs, hair coloring, and skin dye. Spike was still shaken from the events in Impossibly Rich’s interrogation room, but he and his crew were going to have to change their appearances if they were to going to get back into the Resort (now Rich Towers). The proprietor of the establishment was a tall, thin man that had brilliant orange hair with yellow highlights and a big moustache. He wore purple slacks with a matching vest, and a measure tape was draped around his neck like a scarf. The moment Spike entered the shop the owner and his three employees swiftly jumped over the counter to greet him... and the many potential customers.

“Hi, nice to see you, I am Steven Magnet. This is Lily Lace, Starstreak, and Inky Rose. Can we help you fine ladies and gentlemen?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m going to need black, 42 long, and nothing touches this skin but pure silk,” Spike stated. “And get my girlfriends something that will best show off all of their assets.”

“Okay, and would your lady friends like to be wrapped in silk as well?” Steven inquired. “Some people think it’s super tacky, but personally I love it when a harem dresses alike.”

“Okay, look, we’re deputized officers working a very dangerous case, and we need some clothes,” Applejack explained.

“There are a lot of women chasing us,” Spike added.

“As well they should be,” Lily Lace replied, “because you are a very good-looking man. If I didn’t have a boyfriend, I would take a run at you in a heartbeat. I would let you take me upstairs, put me in a bubble bath, and smack my bottom. I would let you punish me! I need, I need you!”

“Lily, honey, what did we talk about?” Steven said to her. “Listen, you kids have nothing to worry about, because we are going to turn you into the beaus and belles of the ball.”

“Thank you,” Spike said.

“Absolutely,” Steven replied. “Let’s start with you, shall we? You’ve got the chiseled chin, wonderful skin and big, broad shoulders.”

“Extraordinary shoulders,” Inky Rose put in. “I’d like to gnaw on them.”

“Let’s put a dead animal on you. Croc skin! Buttercream, buttercream, croc skin, buttercream...” Steven said. “What size is the waist? Let’s go in...”

“Hey, watch it!” Spike exclaimed. “Fresh!”

“He’s got some fire to him. I like that,” Steven commented. “All right, follow me, please.”

He led the group to the back of the store, through a heavy black curtain. On the other side was a large room sub-divided into smaller rooms. There were racks of ballroom gowns as well as feathered boas and lingerie lining both sides of the hallway. There was a beautifying area for hair and make-up with marquee lighting on large mirrors at each station and every kind of make-up one could ever need.

“Cancel the rest of our appointments!” Steven shouted. “We are giving these people whole new looks!”

Lily Lace nodded as the gang immediately started trying on clothes with Starstreak and Inky Rose’s help, all while Steven examined them with expert eyes.

“I want it extra-short,” Fluttershy said as Starstreak helped her get fitted with a cute green dress.

“Pert! Sassy! Do I like it? I do!” Steven commentated.

“And show her something with a heel,” Spike told them.

Rarity cutely pouted as Inky Rose wrapped a scarf around her (Rarity’s) neck while Starlight tried on a sleeveless ‘60’s-style dress.

“We are definitely going to have to improve, if not completely change, your current style,” Inky Rose said.

“Style?” Rarity scoffed. “Firstly, if you knew the first thing about style, darling, you would know that animal prints are passé. And secondly--’”

“Rarity!” Spike snapped as he ducked into one of the changing rooms.

Rarity stopped arguing when she saw Lily Lace enter Spike’s dressing room. Lily stopped in surprise at the sight of Spike standing naked to the waist.

“Oh, my!” she said.

Spike shushed her. Then promised her, in a very husky voice, that he would have her. Not now, not then, but soon. Very soon. Rarity’s cheeks burned at that, but her temper was extinguished when Starlight asked Rarity to unzip her dress.

“I feel bad,” Feather Bangs said as he picked out a suit. “It’s like torture.”

“This is war, kid,” Dash told him. “There’s gonna be collateral damage.”

She walked into Soarin’s dressing room and put her arm across his slender shoulders as he looked himself in the mirror.

“You okay?” she asked him.

Soarin tried to find the words. He was thinking about all that stuff the Wonderbolts used to hand out almost a century ago about women not being as good as men troops, and he thought it was a bunch of crap, at least in Spitfire, Fleetfoot and Rainbow Dash’s cases. They had proved, many times, that women could fight as well as any man. And there wasn’t anybody, man or woman, that Soarin would rather have beside him in a fight.

“I always leveled with you, didn’t I, Crash?” Soarin asked when he finally found his voice.

“Mm-hmm,” she answered.

“Well, I’m stringing along with this operation, but I’m scared. I mean, it’s no panic, there’s just a little something that gets me right up in here,” he said as he pointed to his heart.

“That’s the only way to be, Clipper,” Dash replied. “It makes you careful. Look Soarin, the brave ones don’t come home. You stay scared.”

“Yeah, you were always one of those who didn’t want any brave ones up in the air, running exercises with you,”

“That’s simple enough,” she said. “In my book, bravery rhymed with stupid, and it still does.”

“Yeah, you were really something. Imagine someone as reckless as you winning ‘Best Young Flyer in Equestria’,”

“Now, don’t think I wasn’t scared the day I won that. And do me a favor: don’t mention it now because my knees are starting to shake all over again,”

“Then how come this operation of Spike’s doesn’t make you shake?”

“It does,”

“No less than a billion bucks apiece,” Soarin thought out loud. “I guess you figured the odds are right, huh?”

Rainbow Dash punched Soarin’s shoulder lightly and she laughed; her tone free, light, and happy.

“Soarin, the way I see it is like this: the nineteen of us against this one little city. We’re in overlay,”

“Well, we might as well get ready for the briefing,”

They exited the change room to check on the others. When they did, they all started sharing what they were going to do with their share of the money when this would all be over.

“I’m gonna get me a couple of Ferraris, one for uphill and one for downhill,” said Rainbow Dash. “Maybe even one for the straightaways, too. I’ll cop every Grand Prix they run. What are you gonna do with yours?” she asked Soarin.

“I’m going to get a fifty-foot yacht and I’m not even gonna put it in the water,” he replied. “I’ll leave it in my driveway just to let the neighbors know I don’t care. Then maybe I’ll give it to somebody—like the mailman.”

“You wanna know what I’m gonna do with mine?” Chrysalis asked. “I’m going to buy an island and I’m going to live on it.”

“I’ve always wanted to swim in a pile of money,” Pinkie said.

Fluttershy laughed. “What about you, Discord?”

“I’m gonna dig an Equestria Games-sized swimming pool, and fill it with Piña coladas and a Canterlot sorority,” he said.

Inky Rose entered Spike’s dressing room, a coat in her arms, with Steven Magnet by her side. Spike took the coat from her and tried it on. It fit pretty well. Spike was impressed; they were clearly good judges of size. It was warm and pliant to his touch, and yet not too heavy. He nodded, pleased.

“The Son of the Serpent deserves only the best,” she said. “A cloth of gold would be more suited to such a knight as yourself. Accept my abject apology that I could not create such a cloth.”

“Apology accepted, Miss Rose,” Spike said. “This will do nicely. Thank you. Now, how much is all this going to cost?” he asked Steven.

“Price!” the man was horrified. “It is a gift!” Steven exited the change room, closing the door behind him. “We’ve done all we can,” he told his employees. “It’s up to them now.”

Spike stood alone once more, thinking about the eighteen friends that were waiting for him outside that door. Right at that moment any of them could have bailed out. It would have been easy. But they didn’t. They stayed. Then he thought about why he had stayed.

Fear of failure was part of the reason. If he walked away now, he would never come back. He knew that, and he had invested almost 20 years of his life. All that time was finally beginning to pay off. He had been beaten many times, but he had never just quit. Not once. Not ever. If he quit now, it would eat him up the rest of his days. Spike Drake, the quitter, who walked away when the going got tough.

Hope was part of the reason, too. His desire and faith that he could still stop Impossibly Rich. That he still had some kind of a chance.

But the top of the list was a woman.

Not Celestia, nor any of the women in his harem. A woman from long ago.

She was the reason he didn’t walk out of that city.

To walk away would be to admit defeat. To admit failure, give up, forget it.

Spike could never forget it. From the day his mother died, he made a silent vow, to himself and to his parents, that he would never rest until the people responsible paid for their sins... with their lives if necessary.

Soon, his mission would be complete.

The door to his changing room opened again and Trixie entered, wearing a rather conservative baby blue dress. Spike looked at her for a moment, thinking about whether or not to share what he was thinking and feeling. A part of him didn’t want to; she’d never understand his goals. He had tried to convince himself that he was looking for justice, but now it was looking more and more like revenge. They were so alike, he thought, yet so different.

But Trixie did understand.

She shook her head as Spike pulled on his white opera gloves. His good luck charms. As long as he wore them, nothing bad could happen to him.

It had always been that way. Spike put on the gloves and he couldn’t lose. Growing up, nearly every break Spike had ever had had come when he was wearing those gloves. It was funny: it was almost enough to scare a guy sometimes. Spike would be in a penny crap game in some back alley, down to his last three cents, the whole wad shot, when he would pull out the gloves and he would start taking on all the other kids, and he never missed.

It was the same thing on a bigger scale when he got older. Cards, dice, the horse track—they all behaved as if he owned them and the dough just fluttered in. And then, after a while, Spike’s own luck had started to come in, not as solid as the luck the white gloves brought him, but still better than most people’s.

“You don’t need those,” Trixie said. “The magic didn’t come from them. It came from here.” She placed her hand over his heart. “It was all you! You are the Magic Man... You’re the son of the legendary Double R, Barbara Drake... But now, the tables have turned.”

“What?” Spike asked.

“You’ve always warmed my cold and lonely heart. Ever since we were kids,” she told him. “It’s my turn to protect you for a change.”

Trixie removed her hand from Spike’s chest, made a little gesture with it and three playing cards with the golden Sun on one side and sapphire numbers on the opposite side, appeared between her fingers. The first was a two, the second was an eight, and the third was ten.

The eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth (and final) Gates!

“Those... Trixie, you...” Spike began.

“These are rightfully yours,” she said. “I have watched you forge your own destiny, Spike. You are more than worthy!”

Spike took them from her and thought about their friendship. And then he thought maybe, if things had been different, he and Trixie could have had everything. They’d have made a perfectly good marriage. He couldn’t stop the tears which welled within his eyes.

“It’s ironic,” he said. “The title of Most Valuable Casino Dealer is what tore us apart, and I’ve been trying to gather these wretched things ever since. I thought they were the only things connecting me to my mother. I fought so desperately to find my way back to her. That’s why she hid a part of herself in that video game before she died, to protect me from danger. She didn’t want me to walk the same path she did. She was trying to protect me from the Casino Guild, ever since they tried to kidnap her when she collected all thirteen and became the MVCD. The truth is... I hated myself. I was disappointed in my own immaturity. I couldn’t accept it, and acted out of spite. I won’t make that mistake again. I have given everyone else in my life a second chance... so I will try to help Twilight, if I can.”

Spike looked at the woman who had been his best friend for so many years. Trixie was such a dear, sweet woman. He had known her for so long, trusted her, depended on her, and loved her.

“Thank you, Trixie, for helping me grow into the man I am today,”

“I’ll always be here for you,” she said at last. “Now, let’s go out there and make some magic.”

They exited the changing room with Spike dressed to kill in a perfectly tailored purple crocodile skin suit, a matching belt, neck tie, and boots.

Did he really have them sewed up for this? Were they so tied by this funny loyalty that they’d go along with something that went against everything they believed in? Until now, Spike had been dead sure they were all in, regardless of how much they might hate the whole caper. Now, Spike wondered.

He would not see this plan fail, or, if it did, the one responsible for that failure would be made to pay. And that would be him, Spike Drake, whom Twilight Sparkle hated.

The changing room doors opened and the gang stepped out one by one.

Applejack had changed into an elaborate red silk cheongsam dress reminiscent of the Far East with a slit up her right leg all the way to the top of her thigh. She had borrowed Sunset’s ‘Shimmering Sunset’ lipstick as well as her red eye shadow. Even if they had been without makeup, the honey-haired farm girl’s lips were still full and soft, and Spike loved them that way.

“I look ridiculous, don’t I?” AJ asked.

“That is the sexiest thing I have ever seen,” Spike said.

Sunset wore a dark violet dress with a single strap over her right shoulder (also with an exaggerated slit, but up her left leg instead of right); her hair was tied back in a long ponytail, and she wore a ring that would allow her to win at the slots. It contained an electromagnetic RPM controller that created pressure on the case, which caused the rotation of the cylinders to stutter and stabilize in a way that desired symbols would appear and the machine would always bring out a jackpot.

Fluttershy’s hair was tied back tightly against her neck, and there was a fair amount of skin peeking out of her sassy, low-cut green dress that was three inches too short. Gold earrings swung beside her smooth cheeks, and a jade butterfly was in her hair. She was wearing a little light blush and high heels and looked like she was going out dancing. Nobody would ever suspect her. Pinkie Pie chose a dark wig, a skimpy black leather halter top, a studded collar, and matching tight pants. Vinyl Scratch had pocketed her sunglasses and was dressed like an Elvis impersonator in a white sequin jumpsuit, complete with a black wig. Except the top part (which displayed a generous amount of her mighty breasts) didn’t have tassels, the pants were a pair of tight booty shorts, and she wore white gogo boots.

Zephyr Breeze wore a polo shirt and slacks, as if he’d just come from the tennis court. Sunburst had on a Stetson, a gaudy shirt, round rimmed sunglasses and he had combed his thick, pointy goatee while Starlight Glimmer was in a ratty T-shirt and jeans with holes in them, and a purple beanie on her head. Soarin, his hair slicked back, stepped out wearing a blue crushed-velvet shirt and black leather pants, a gold watch on his left wrist, and a heavy golden chain around his neck, beneath his wide-open collar. It would be hard to miss him. Moon Dancer ditched her glasses and chose a tight black latex bustier, with a matching short skirt and fuck-me heels. Rarity wore a backless white top, a short black leather skirt, and rhinestone boots.

“Whoa, look at you!” Spike said to Sunset. “Gorgeous!” he said to Pinkie. “Smokin’ hot!” he told Fluttershy. “Damn!” he said at Moon Dancer. “And Vinyl, aren’t you a little slice of pie!”

“And how do I look?” Rarity asked him.

“Who would have thought you had the legs of a thorough-bred,” he replied.

Rarity scowled at him and marched back into the changing room.

“That was really rude, Spike,” Fluttershy said. “But thank you,” she added with a smile, which earned him a kiss on both cheeks (two from her, two from Sunset, two more from Moon Dancer, and two from Applejack).

“Rarity, that was a compliment,” Spike said. “You don’t need to change.”

She came back out and asked, “You really like it?”

“You know I do,” he stated.

Rarity blushed. Rainbow Dash appeared soon after, wearing a sleeveless ensemble that showed her slender neck and sharp athletic shoulders. Thorax and Pharynx had changed into three-piece suits with silk ties, and Feather Bangs was dressed in a gray suit and leather shoes. An outfit that said he had more money than brains.

Discord had donned a fake thin black mustache and pulled his hair back into a sleek ponytail. He wore a red silk shirt open two buttons at his neck, and his black Armani jacket flowed around him like a cape. He was very pleased to discover that he looked pretty good in Armani.

“Pretty darn good!” Discord said, admiring himself in the mirrors.

He looked virtually unrecognizable. And finally Chrysalis, with her hair tied back in a bun, round glasses balanced on her nose, dark blue lipstick, black leather skirt, fishnet stockings, and a green blouse that was bursting at the buttons, could have passed for a porn-queen college librarian.

“You should dress like that more often,” Spike said.

“Do you really like it?” she asked.

“You’d scare me into submission,” Zephyr told her.

The gang of friends finally clustered together and Discord told them the rest of what he had learned while working for Flim and Flam.

“What?” Rarity asked. “Taking over Flimflam Resort wasn’t her true goal?”

“The ICDG has no interest whatsoever in running a casino,” Discord stated.

“Which means Impossibly Rich was just after Spike’s Gates,” Dash said.

“In my opinion, I believe the Guild is looking for a new MVCD to succeed Spike’s mother, Barbara,” Discord said.

“A new Most Valuable Casino Dealer?” AJ asked. “They’re after Spike?”

“Spike or Twilight, that’s the reason why Cinch let them battle via Russian roulette,” Discord answered. “Those two are the closest dealer to becoming the MVCD. Twilight has ten Gate cards, Spike has three, so he’s down, but not out! Even though that’s quite a gap, he is still a Gate Holder.”

“Wait, Spike has the final three?” Sunburst asked. “Where’d you get them?”

“Trixie,” he said. “All right, now listen up! Most of you already have a general idea of the plan of this operation. But before I give you the full picture, I want to point out that in spite of what happened a few hours ago in Rich’s interrogation room... you have all stood by me. I’d say that’s a Tartarus of a good sign. Now, what I’m about to say is extremely profitable and very dangerous.”

They all nodded to indicate that they understood. Then Spike reached into his crocodile skin suit and pulled out a royal blue handkerchief with a crude map of Las Pegasus sewn into it with the names and shapes of several key landmarks embroidered in white. The ones they were interested in, especially the casinos.

Spike’s finger stabbed the handkerchief map, the eyes of his allies following, before he looked at them.

“This is our objective: the 3000 block of Las Pegasus Boulevard, otherwise known as the Mirage, the Maretro-Goldwhinnyn-Mareyer Grand, the Rich Casino and Resort, the Rich Plaza, and the recently opened Rich Towers,” His eyes made another tour of the circle of faces. “Together, they are the five most profitable casinos in this city. Our mission: to liberate billions of dollars. Now, Rich Towers feeds into the cages of the Mirage, the Grand, the Plaza and the Casino Resort, but every penny ends up in the vault of the Towers, beneath 200 feet of solid rock. Units involved: special teams made up of former employees and customers of the Flimflam Brothers’ Resort. We are going to hit Impossibly Rich hard and the take is thirteen figures each.”

Soarin had a faint, troubled frown.

“Just for curiosity, how did you figure this was a job for former casino employees?” he asked. “Why didn’t you just get some regular heist guys?”

“For the best reasons,” Moon Dancer broke in. “One, a man with a criminal record can’t get near Las Pegasus, much less the casinos.”

“Well, I guess that lets us out,” Thorax said about himself and Pharynx.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Spike told them. “You’re not hoodlums. The Las Pegasus people have a line on the bad boys, sure, but they don’t keep records on every guy that ever took a first-time fall. You have no connections with their underworld, and the Hive Casino and Grill is a legitimate business.”

“Hoods are always mixed up with other hoods,” Applejack added. “And where there are hoods, there are stool pigeons. But with us... no stoolies, no leaks.”

“You know something?” Chrysalis put in. “I think the only reason I agreed to get into this caper was so I could see you again.”

“Sounds like a Tartarus of a price to pay and I agree with you: I’m worth it,” Spike told her. “And secondly, a big time pro like we’d need in an operation like this is always yakking to other pros, I don’t care who he is. You hire a guy to do a job in, say, Fillydelphia, or Manehattan, Neigh York or Chicoltgo, in on it. The word never spreads faster than when a pro does something big. He can’t keep it to himself any more than he can fly.”

Spike’s voice was intense, his eyes were burning. They marveled. Spike, who usually played it so cool, was giving them the hard sell.

“Sure, these guys claim they do their talking only over the grapevine and nobody but the people who’re with it can listen in. Like AJ said, there’s always a leak, and they always wind up in the big house. With us, nobody will ever know.”

“And how did you fit into all this?” Pharynx asked Moon Dancer.

“I was the planner,” she explained. “I’m the one who dreamed this whole scheme up, but not how to do it though. That’s why I asked Spike; he worked out the tactics and the coordination.”

They stood quietly. The plan was so full of holes it made Swiss cheese look solid. No one else said anything, but they all knew that there was still a chance that something could go wrong. And they all agreed on one thing: to try this would be crazy, to do it would be impossible, and there were over a dozen reasons it wouldn’t work... but they were almost two dozen men and women who just didn’t care. Spike waited a moment before he went on.

“Okay, bad news first,” he continued. “Ever since Impossibly Rich won the Flimflam Brothers Resort and converted it into the Rich Towers, it now houses a security system that makes the Canterlot Treasury look like a candy store. First, we have to get in the Towers’ front door, which anybody will tell you takes more than a smile. Next, through those doors are guards with automatic weapons. This is where it gets tricky. They know our faces; that’s why we came here. Once we get into the casino, it’s a piece of cake. Any questions so far?”

“Any good news?” Vinyl asked.

“Yes, the Rich family has a long list of enemies,” Spike said, “enemies with loose cash and nothing to lose. Now, the top three casinos can clear three million dollars a day just on the floor. Rich, with her high-level players and no limits, is projecting five billion. But in exchange for the loans, she had to give up six of the nine seats on her board, so she doesn’t even control her own casinos, and a couple of them aren’t friendly. So she has to clear no less than half a trillion in the first quarter, or she gets dumped out of her own hotel. Now, the Equestria Gaming Commission stipulates that a casino must hold and reserve enough cash to cover every chip in play on its floor. That means on a weekday, by law, it has to carry anywhere between $70 and $80 billion in cash and coin; on the weekend, between $90 and $100 billion. On a fight night, or a grand opening, like the one we’re about to walk in to, tonight, no less than $150 trillion without breaking a sweat. That’s so much money that we will never have to figure an angle or cut a corner or lie or use a knife on anybody ever again. There are over a dozen of us and even if we don’t get equal shares just try to do the math.”

Listening to Spike talk, they could almost see the trillions in hundred-dollar bills. They could almost feel them in their own hands, smelling that oily perfume that came from money and nothing else. For a second they were held transfixed in that illusion communicated to them by Spike.

And then Rainbow Dash whistled, breaking them free of their fantasies.

“Exactly,” Discord stated.

“Any further questions or comments?” Spike asked. “Anybody worried?”

“I have a question,” Starlight said. “Say we get into the Towers, through the front doors, and past the guards with the big freaking guns, and into the casino, all without being recognized by the Eyes in the Sky, are we really supposed to just walk out the front door again with a hundred and fifty trillion dollars in cash and chips on us without being stopped?”

Spike stifled a sigh as he nodded.

“Yeah,” he replied.

Rarity raised her hand.

“I have a suggestion,” she said. “Forget the whole thing. I like to swing as much as the next lady, but this isn’t a combat team, it’s an alumni meeting. Spike, darling, you’re trying to catch lightning in a bottle. I grant you’re brave. But the question now is: How dumb are you? Have you forgotten that the percentage is always with the house?”

They all looked at Rarity, their eyes blank, hostile, and/or sympathetic. Rarity had never been the most liked woman in the business, now she was laying it all on the line. She might as well have been holding a gun to her own head and getting ready to pull the trigger. The men and women around the room wondered if Rarity could be that simple that she thought she could live long, refusing to throw in when she knew what she knew now.

Applejack was the first to speak. “The percentage is with the people rigging the game. And in this case, it’s us!”

“Why didn’t you tell me this back at the airport?” Spike asked Rarity.

“Darling, could you please take this seriously? This is not a game! It’s a war! Impossibly Rich will stop at nothing to hurt you!”

“I know,” he replied.

“Spike, you saved us, now I’m trying to save you!” Rarity said. “This is exactly why revenge jobs don’t work. You put yourself in a position, you know you should walk away, but you can’t. This is how people die or go to prison.”

“Anybody agree with her?” Spike asked.

The rest of them were silent.

“What about you, Applejack?” Rarity asked. “You have a brain.”

“Yeah, I got a brain, Rarity, but I got to go with Spike,” she said.

“All right,” Rarity told Spike. “If I can’t talk you out of this, I can’t. But I’m certainly not going to let you pull this off without your best girl.”

“What are you talking about?” Applejack asked. “I’m his best gal!”

“I beg to differ,” Pinkie put in. “I think I am the best.”

“No, I am!” Sunset, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash shouted.

“LADIES!!” Spike yelled. “We can discuss this after we rip off Rich.”

They all nodded.

“Okay, from this point on, we don’t know each other. I will say that again: we. Do. Not. Know each other. We don’t use our real names, and we never mention Flim or Flam. If you need a restroom break, make sure you go alone. Once we’re in the suites, we’re okay—they don’t put cameras in the suites, but the hallways and elevators are wired, so we have to make sure we stagger our breaks. And even though it’s night, all of the senior casino employees are going to be working the floor,” Spike told them.

They all nodded again.

“I will be the Big Player in the first group, Discord will BP for the second, and Chrysalis for the third. In case one of us gets caught, Soarin, Feather Bangs, or Zephyr Breeze will take over. Applejack, Sunset, and Fluttershy will spot for me. Pinkie, Dash and Rarity will spot for Discord; Moon Dancer, Trixie and Starlight for Chrysalis. Spotters, make sure that your BP can see you at all times. Try to not look at each other at all, and never work the same tables. If there is an emergency of any kind, spread the signal and we’ll all head to the designated meeting place. You all know the drill if things get ugly?”

They nodded once more.

“It’s different in there this time. The stakes are higher but the return is gonna be the biggest. The rest of the players won’t be in on the scam, so they’ll think it’s their lucky night. But we’ll never get them out the door with all their winnings. Nobody leaves this town alone. Oh, and one more thing...” Spike went back to his changing room, returned with a duffel bag, and unzipped it. It contained no less than half a million dollars in cash. “In case we don’t succeed, if we don’t win... a little parting gift for each of you.”

They each took two handfuls from the stash. Then Discord reached into his pockets, pulled out numerous two-way emergency beepers—complete with digital screens for abbreviated communication—as well as several plastic cards, and handed one to each of them. They were perfect fake IDs with false names.

“Where’d you get the pictures?” Sunset asked.

“Your MyStable and Trotter accounts,” he replied.

He had created nineteen distinct aliases, one for each of them.

“Deck Breach, professional gambler,” Feather Bangs read his.

“I don’t like my name,” Rarity said.

“Why not?” Discord asked.

“‘Sandy Broadchest’?” she read it.

“Just pretend you don’t speak English, otherwise we’ll have to put a green wig over your hair,” Rainbow Dash told her.

“Who’re you supposed to be?” Soarin asked Discord.

“I am Lyman Zebra. I’m a former agent of the Hooviet Union, now a diplomat with the Equestrian consulate. I live in Canterlot, and I enjoy backgammon, chess, and walks on the beach,”

The men slid their cards into their wallets while the ladies slipped theirs into their Victoria’s Secret compartments. Discord also gave Spike, Soarin, Zephyr Breeze, Applejack, Sunset, and Rainbow Dash cigarette lighters (that weren’t really lighters) made of polymer that reacted to ultrasonic pulses. They weren’t metallic, so the compasses on the tables wouldn’t detect them. And they didn’t affect the weight when they miked the dice, which were controlled from the manufacturer all the way to the floor.

Spike put his hand into the center of their circle.

“One last thing, if the worst should happen, I want you all to know that it has been an honor, a pleasure, and a privilege to know each and every one of you... and to call you my friends,”

Then they all laid a hand on top of his. First Applejack, then Sunset, then Fluttershy, then Pinkie, Moon Dancer, Trixie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Starlight, Sunburst, Vinyl Scratch, Discord, Thorax, Pharynx, Chrysalis, Soarin, and finally Feather Bangs. Spike looked upon their faces, and in them he saw everything from strength, courage and honesty, to empathy, kindness, hope, beauty, generosity and loyalty. They were all his friends, and even before assessing their own losses, they were eager to minimize his.

“Let’s go make a killing!” Discord stated.

Something in his tone made Spike certain that to Discord this wasn’t going to be “just business.”

This was going to be fun!

They were going to take back the Resort!!

They were going to win back everything that they had lost!!!

AND THEY WERE GOING ALL IN!!!!

Author's Note

Next time, Spike and company infiltrate Rich Towers and start winning big in the various games in order to be able to buy back the resort... and hit Impossibly Rich where it hurts!